Designer Dez says here’s how to keep your furniture clean and fresh!
Just about every one of my clients asks me how I protect the furniture I just bought and keep it looking good for years to come. The elements they are wanting to protect it from range anywhere from babies to husbands on down to their well-loved pets. This may be you, I know in my case it’s me hands down.
I have 4 dogs and let me tell you it can be tough keeping our upholstery and rugs clean. My husky mix sheds like there is no tomorrow so you will always find hair around our house and on our furniture. Our two pit mixes although they know they are not allowed to get on the furniture, feel that just the top half of their body is ok. Yes, I’m a pushover and let them, that adorable sad puppy dog face gets me every time! Then there is my dachshund who is old so I get it but he has decided to ruin my dining room rug, ugh! the joy of pets! I am also married so I feel my clients pain when it’s their husband, men will be men!!!
A great tip when shopping for furniture is to think about your lifestyle and how you use the space. Leather by far will outlast fabric but sometimes leather isn’t an option or you want to soften up your space and incorporate some fabric. I personally have a leather sofa and fabric chairs, the easy maintenance of leather was my main goal. Before our leather sofa, we had a fabric one, keeping the sofa clean was a daily choir mainly because of the hair.
Once you have decided on what materials will go in your space you need to make sure it is well protected, especially from those unforeseen accidents. I have a little secret to share with you, this will protect your investment for years and years to come!
Are you ready for it…My secret is fabric protection not just any fabric protection but Ultra-Guard. When you mentioned fabric protection most people associate it with scotch guard and let me tell you I have even tried it, it doesn’t work!
A little history about Scotch Guard that you may not know…They discovered that Scotch Guard had contained PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate), In animal studies that were performed PFOS can cause cancer, delays in physical development, stunted growth, endocrine disruption, and neonatal mortality; Neonatal mortality might be the most dramatic result of laboratory animal tests with PFOS. They had also discovered it in blood samples from children all over the world. Scotch guard has since changed their formula to a silicone/water based repellant, this has been known to discolor fabrics as well as attract soil to the surface.
For those that may not know me, I love things that are Eco-friendly and this is why I love Ultra guard… Their stain free product contains none of the nasty PFOS chemicals. They spray the product onto just about any upholstery you can think of including rugs which we all know can get quite dirty. Unlike scotch guard, the product won’t discolor or change the way a fabric or yarn feels, it will also resist water or oil based staining agents. My favorite part is that they have a 5-year warranty, which I LOVE!!!
Always remember good quality furniture will last you along time so take care of it. A quick vacuuming at least once a month will keep your furniture looking good. If you have leather keep it conditioned. Leather is like your skin and will get dry and crack if you don’t moisturizer it, this should be done at least once every six months.
Keep following me for my upcoming post on DIY upholstery cleaning hacks, for any question on our topic please post a comment or shoot me an email!