Welcome to my blog!
If you are coming from Pinterest I'm so glad to have you here!
At the end of the post I will have answers to some FAQ's.
If I don't cover your question feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to answer it.
However, PLEASE leave and email address with your comment/question so that I can get back to you.
Thank you!
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When Jake and I got married we bought a microfiber couch for screaming deal.
I remember sitting in the furniture section at a local store and raving to Jake how great microfiber would hold up with kids.
Ummm yeah.... apparently I was clueless about microfiber at the time.
Don't get me wrong, the couch is in great shape, but microfiber (at least light tan microfiber) shows stains and water marks like nobodies business.
Case in point:
(And please don't judge! Last week we had the stomach flu and sippy cups and popsicles attacked the couch.)
Yeah that's nasty.
So I found a great how-to on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a try.
What you'll need
Make sure you get a WHITE sponge and WHITE bristle brush so that there is no accidental color transfer onto the couch when you are scrubbing.
(I used a light brown sponge because that's what we had on hand and it matched to color of our sofa; so you could go that route as well. )
Pour the rubbing alcohol in the spray bottle and SATURATE the stained area.
I know this seems counterintuitive, but rubbing alcohol evaporates much faster than water so it won't leave a water mark.
Take your sponge and start scrubbing the area.
Don't be afraid to use all your muscles and scrub hard. :)
You'll start to see the dirt coming off onto your sponge.
Ewww!
If your sponge get's really dirty before you are finished, switch it out for a new one to avoid rubbing old dirt onto clean areas.
Let the areas your sprayed dry. They will look darker than the rest of your couch and will feel kind of hard to the touch, but don't worry about it.
That's what the bristle brush is for.
Once the couch is COMPLETELY dry, take your bristle brush and with swirling motions, refluff the areas you cleaned.
Seriously, I was getting ready to try and convince Jake to let us get a new couch, but it looks NEW.
God bless rubbing alcohol and sponges.
I promise the results are so awesome you won't want to let a sippy cup within 3 feet of your couch. :)
FAQS:
Will doing this effect the warranty on my couch?
I have no idea. Every warranty is different. The best way to answer is call the store you purchased from or the provider of the warranty.
Does the alcohol smell make my couch smell like alcohol?
No. The room your couch is in will smell like alcohol or about 15 or 20 minutes but just ventilate the room as much as possible while you are cleaning and after.
How often can I do this to my couch?
I do this about once a month and there hasn't been any damage to our cushions.
It didn't get all the stains out. Why?
I'm not a stain master so this is just my thought. Stains like grease or food are much harder to get out. My son wiped his hands on the arm after eating french fires and I had to scrub 2 separate times to get it out and even now there is a very faint mark.
If you don't get it all out the first time, wait a day or 2 and clean it again. And don't forget to really scrub and REPLACE your sponge when it gets dirty. Otherwise you will just be rubbing old dirt onto new places.
Does this work on other colors (still microfiber)?
Yes. I wish I still had pictures that people sent me of their before's and afters, but I've seen it done on dark microfiber and red microfiber etc.
Does this work on other fabrics or materials?
I haven't tried. If you are curious try it on an inconspicuous spot.
There is a ring were I sprayed the alcohol. Why?
More than likely you didn't scrub/dry that spot adequately. Remember even though the alcohol evaporates very quickly it is still a liquid. You want to saturate your area but not drench it.
If you are left with a ring, spray the area like you would a stain and scrub it out.
How long does it take to scrub and dry?
This really depends on how dirty your couch is. It took me about half an hour total to clean ours but now the monthly spot checks take 10 minutes max.
How soon can I sit on the couch after I clean it?
Once it dries and you use your brush to fluff it you can it on it.
I hope this helps! Again if you have a question I didn't answer please leave a comment with your EMAIL address so that I can get back to you. :)
FAQS:
Will doing this effect the warranty on my couch?
I have no idea. Every warranty is different. The best way to answer is call the store you purchased from or the provider of the warranty.
Does the alcohol smell make my couch smell like alcohol?
No. The room your couch is in will smell like alcohol or about 15 or 20 minutes but just ventilate the room as much as possible while you are cleaning and after.
How often can I do this to my couch?
I do this about once a month and there hasn't been any damage to our cushions.
It didn't get all the stains out. Why?
I'm not a stain master so this is just my thought. Stains like grease or food are much harder to get out. My son wiped his hands on the arm after eating french fires and I had to scrub 2 separate times to get it out and even now there is a very faint mark.
If you don't get it all out the first time, wait a day or 2 and clean it again. And don't forget to really scrub and REPLACE your sponge when it gets dirty. Otherwise you will just be rubbing old dirt onto new places.
Does this work on other colors (still microfiber)?
Yes. I wish I still had pictures that people sent me of their before's and afters, but I've seen it done on dark microfiber and red microfiber etc.
Does this work on other fabrics or materials?
I haven't tried. If you are curious try it on an inconspicuous spot.
There is a ring were I sprayed the alcohol. Why?
More than likely you didn't scrub/dry that spot adequately. Remember even though the alcohol evaporates very quickly it is still a liquid. You want to saturate your area but not drench it.
If you are left with a ring, spray the area like you would a stain and scrub it out.
How long does it take to scrub and dry?
This really depends on how dirty your couch is. It took me about half an hour total to clean ours but now the monthly spot checks take 10 minutes max.
How soon can I sit on the couch after I clean it?
Once it dries and you use your brush to fluff it you can it on it.
I hope this helps! Again if you have a question I didn't answer please leave a comment with your EMAIL address so that I can get back to you. :)
