Creating whimsical features in your home

Two Ways to Revive an Old Sofa

by Edwin Johnston

If you have an old sofa that no longer looks its best but you are not yet ready to replace it, here are some steps you could take to refresh its condition and appearance.

Deep-clean the upholstery fabric

One reason why sofas can start to look bad is due to many years' worth of dust, pet dander, coffee or tea stains and general grime accumulating on the fabric. Unless a sofa has removable, washable covers, it's not always easy to prevent this build-up from occurring. However, if you're willing to put a few hours of work in, you might be able to significantly improve your sofa's appearance by deep-cleaning its upholstery fabric.

The first step in this process should be vacuuming the entire sofa with your vacuum's upholstery cleaning tool. This tool is designed in such a way that its bristles gently scrub at the fabric as its being dragged over it, which will help to loosen the dust, pet dander and dirt particles that may be trapped in it. When doing this, you should not simply pass the attached upholstery tool over the sofa fabric once; instead, you should methodically run it over each section several times; this will remove more of the trapped particles than just making one pass over each area.

After you've done this, you should then use a foam-based upholstery cleaning product to remove any stains. The foaming action will help to lift the dried-on food or drink that has been absorbed into the fabric. After applying this product, you should use a clean toothbrush to gently scrub the stained areas, to help remove any traces of the stains. Finally, apply a sprinkling of baking soda to the entire sofa; leave it on the sofa for an hour or two, before thoroughly vacuuming the entire piece of furniture; this will deodorise the fabric and remove any lingering odours that might have been caused by your pets lying on the sofa or by food spillages.

Replace the upholstery fabric

If the sofa has 'good bones' (i.e. if its internal structural parts aren't damaged), but the upholstery itself is threadbare, extremely faded or has stains that you haven't been able to remove, then you might want to have it reupholstered. This can totally transform the look of an old sofa, not only because you can choose a more modern fabric with a completely different colouring to the old fabric but also because the new fabric will be in perfect condition.

It is important, however, not to try to do the reupholstering yourself but to leave this to a professional. The reason for this is that if the reupholstering is done badly by a novice, not only will the sofa not look good but it might be uncomfortable to sit on, due to, for example, certain parts of the fabric bunching up on the seats or the armrests and irritating the skin of those who sit on it.

For more information on upholstery fabric, contact a professional near you.

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