The Ultimate Guide to Maintaining Living Room Furniture
When you purchase living room furniture on credit for your home, you’ll want to keep it in the best possible condition. Clean and well-maintained furniture can take your home’s décor to the next level and can make your home a more pleasant place to dwell in. In fact, cleaning your furniture can even help reduce your allergies since it gets rid of nasty pollens and dust. Luckily, furniture is easy to take care of and doesn’t require a ton of time or effort to maintain. To learn how to care for your furniture, look at our ultimate guide to maintaining living room furniture.
1. Place Your Furniture Away From Sunlight
When you bring furniture into your home, you should always place it away from sunlight. Sunlight can have an adverse effect on both leather and fabric furniture, causing discoloration, fraying, and fading over time. The easiest way to eliminate sun exposure is to place your furniture away from windows if possible. You can also use blinds or curtains to limit sun exposure when you are not in the room. Finally, if you need to place furniture near a window, another option is to use a covering when you are not using the room.
2. Clean Spills Immediately
Spills from food or drinks can easily damage both leather and fabric furniture. To minimize the damage, clean any spills as quickly as possible, especially on fabric furniture. While liquid seems to sit on top of leather furniture, fabric is an entirely different story. Fabric tends to absorb liquid and can stain easily, so it’s essential to clean any spills immediately to prevent further damage. Even leather furniture can absorb liquid and stain over time. Therefore, it’s best to clean spills quickly from your leather furniture as well.
3. Dust Often With a Damp Towel
Dust accumulates quickly on furniture, and no one enjoys sitting on a dusty sofa. To prevent the buildup of dust, you can gently wipe down your furniture with a damp towel or cloth. Keep in mind that the towel or cloth should be damp, not entirely wet. If you use a drenched towel, it might end up making a huge mess, and you’ll end up soaking the sofa instead of cleaning it!
4. Flip the Cushions Regularly
To keep your sofa and chair cushions in great shape, flip them regularly. Flipping your cushions helps them last longer and allows them to keep their form. You can even flip your pillows and other accessories that you keep on your couch to ensure that everything lasts for a long time.
5. Bring Out Your Vacuum Cleaner
When you flip your couch’s cushions, you might see some dust or crumbs hidden in the folds of your couch. The easiest way to clean every nook and cranny of your sofa is to bring out your vacuum cleaner. You can use your vacuum cleaner to remove dust, dirt, and debris from all your furniture in an instant. You can also use it to clean underneath your furniture or in hard-to-reach areas.
6. Clean With Soap and Water
Since your vacuum cleaner can’t deal with everything, you can use a bucket of warm soapy water to clean your leather and fabric furniture. This will help remove additional dirt and grime that collects within or on top of the material. After you finish cleaning with soap and a towel, wipe down your furniture with regular warm water to rinse off the soap. Then, you can dry your furniture with a soft, clean towel. Following all this, your furniture will not only look better, but it will also smell fresh and clean.
7. Condition Leather Furniture
Leather is a smooth and beautiful material that requires some additional care. Over time, leather can dry out and crack, leaving unsightly marks on your furniture. Luckily, you just need a bottle of leather conditioner and a towel to prevent this issue! All you need to do is dab a small amount of leather conditioner onto your furniture and gently rub it in with a towel using circular motions. When you finish conditioning the leather, let your furniture air dry before you sit on it.
8. Provide Protection From Pets and Kids
If you have pets or kids in your household, then you probably get to experience a very fun and energetic life. However, both pets and kids can sometimes damage your furniture, so it's best to protect your items from their shenanigans. You can use furniture covers to protect your sofas and chairs from pet hair, dander, dirty feet, spills, and more. Using a cover will help guard your furniture against damage, and it will make it much easier to clean in the future.
9. Follow a Cleaning Schedule
The easiest way to remember to clean and take care of your furniture is to follow a cleaning schedule. To keep your furniture in the best shape, you should vacuum it once a week, clean it once a month, and flip your cushions once a week or once a month. If you have leather furniture, you should condition it once per year and no more! Conditioning your leather too often can create a residue on the material that is unpleasant to touch and difficult to remove. Unfortunately, there are many people who forget to care for their furniture and rarely clean or vacuum the items in their homes. You can increase your furniture pieces’ lifespans when you regularly take care of them. Additionally, your furniture will look and smell better. So, write your schedule down, set reminders on your phone, and mark your calendar when you have some time to show your furniture some love.
10. Enjoy Your Beautiful Furniture
And there you have it, that’s the ultimate guide to maintaining living room furniture. Using these helpful tips and tricks, you’ll be able to enjoy and keep your furniture in excellent condition for many years. To add beautiful new furniture to your home, be sure to visit Grand Furniture and look at our stylish and affordable options.
