Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Cleaning Your Microfiber Couch/Now I Don't Have To Buy A New Couch

Whenever we have people over I normally apologize for one of three different things (sometimes all three).
"Sorry the house is so messy."
"Sorry the carpets are gross." and
"Sorry the couch looks disgusting. I promise those stains are just milk, water or yogurt thanks to my toddler." They don't look like milk stains. They look like the stains you see on motel furniture right before you bolt out asking for a new room or peeling out of the parking lot screaming. (I've never actually done that part but I have reacted that way in my heart.) 

So when I stumbled upon a Pin that claimed to clean my couch to display furniture quality, I immediately pinned it, without reading it, and wrote the ingredients I needed onto my grocery list. 

I really wish I had thought to take ONE before picture but I didn't think about it. I honestly was expecting it not to work. And at one point I very angrily ranted to Palmer about how I wasted my time with this stupid attempt. But once the couch dried it actually did look better than it had in quite a while. 

So, if you have a microfiber couch, I would recommend you try it and see what you think. I haven't had to apologize for my couch in a few months so that says something!

What you need:

Note: not my pictures. Who am I kidding, I don't plan ahead that well.

*Update* Lo and behold, I found a bottle of rubbing alcohol at Dillon's that had a spray bottle attachment. Glory be, they must have seen this post and concluded brilliance. 
Here's a picture, just for fun.


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 counter intuitive  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.

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 you 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.


The result.
This mom of the year was supposed to be making dinner when I did this so I didn't think to smooth out the lines in the microfiber.

Something I didn't do that I would definitely recommend doing was using the white bristle brush to "fluff" or soften the microfiber again. I didn't do it and the cushions had the texture of cardboard for several days. 

I got the tutorial from 551 East and she has a helpful FAQ at the end of her page. 


2 comments:

  1. Well, there’s no sense buying a new couch if you could try and make the current one look brand new, right? With all the DIY cleaning solutions you can find in the internet, I guess the job won’t be impossible. It just takes a little bit of scrubbing, and it will surely come back to its former glory. All the best!

    Bo Tolbert @ HJS Supply

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  2. Wow! Those couch cleaning tips seem to be really effective. The products you used all seem to do wonders. Your couch looks so clean and refreshing to lounge on now. Hahaha! Thanks for sharing that! Kudos and all the best!

    Courtney Morris @ Onyx Cleaning

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