Sofa, armchairs, ottomans, and the other soft furnishing are a significant investment for every homeowner and require specific maintenance if you want them to look good and be hygienic, even after years of use. Weekly vacuuming and regular professional upholstery cleaning are a must to prevent the textile from wear and tear. But there are a few other tricks that will help you prolong the furniture’s lifespan and keep it looking as good as the day you bought it for a very long time.

Here are 5 easy upholstery cleaning tricks that will save you money, time, and efforts.

REVIVE THE UPHOLSTERY COLOURS WITH A BRUSH

If you see that your sofa’s colour has started to look a bit dim, don’t reach out for the furniture catalogue yet! In some cases, the reason the fabric seems dull is dust, trapped deep into the upholstery’s fibres. Next time you start cleaning your sofa get a brush and dust off the surface thoroughly. This will help loosen the threads, and when you run the vacuum over the furniture, you will extract more dirt than usual. After you are done, the upholstery’s colours will look fresher and brighter.

FLUFF THE SEATS AND CUSHIONS TO PRESERVE THEIR SHAPE

At some point, furniture cushions start losing their shape. We sit and lean on our sofas day after day, so it is usual that they start looking deformed. There are two things you can do to prevent this and protect the couch from wear. Every now and then, get all the removable cushions of your furniture out and fluff them properly. This will keep their filling from flattening and prevent the fabric from stretching. You can also flip the removable parts if they are two-faced to avoid irregular wear and deformation.

GET RID OF PET HAIR EASILY

Even the most expensive and new home vacuums aren’t able to pull out all of the pet hair from the upholstery. Especially, if you are dealing with short and thick kinds of fur. Yet, the best thing you can use to pull out pet hair from the upholstery is paper tape. Wrap a piece of tape around your palm like a glove, with the sticky side out. Tap the fabric gently, and you will be surprised how much fur you will collect. You can use this hack to remove food crumbles and grit easily.

CLEAN GREASE STAINS WITH SALT

A grease spot is always bad news. If you leave it untreated, there’s a risk it will turn into a permanent stain. The most efficient thing to do, when dealing with an oily stain on your upholstery, is to soak the grease with salt. Cover the spot with kitchen paper to remove the excessive oil. After that, apply a generous amount of table salt directly onto the stain. Let it like this for 30 minutes, the vacuum your upholstery. The condiment will absorb most if not all of the oil. After this step, clean the fabric with an appropriate stain removal product.

USE BAKING SODA TO DEODORISE YOUR FURNITURE

Baking soda has the fantastic property to make bad smells disappear! Spatter generous amounts of regular baking soda onto the upholstery of your sofa and leave it to sit like this for 30 minutes. Vacuum the furniture when the time is up. Baking soda deals with smelly fabrics better than most ready-made deodorising products. You can use this hack to deodorise your carpets and clothes as well.

These little tricks will help you keep your soft furnishings in good shape. However, appoint deep upholstery cleaning at least once a year to remove deeply settled dirt and kill bacteria in furnishings. Hire only professional upholstery cleaners to get the best results and prolong your upholstery’s life.