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I have been in the interior design industry for 15 years and consider myself to be knowledgeable and experienced; yet the issue of how to clean and care for upholstered furniture had never really been defined in a way that I understood. Everything that furniture, fabric, and even cleaning manufacturers will tell you is completely confusing. They use their industry terms and codes which to anyone else sounds like jargon. It’s not very helpful; but fear not – I will explain this somewhat complicated issue in layman’s terms.

I was determined to get to the bottom of this cleaning and care issue when I recently confused my client even more by trying to explain how to care for her beautiful, new sofas and chairs. This client, like many, has young kids and pets. Of course, I wanted to be strictly careful that there could be no chance that her new furniture could get irreversibly stained. Naturally, we stain protected all her upholstered pieces to protect them and ensure that they could be cleaned.

It’s important to note that not all stain protection is created equal. I learned this the hard way, so bear with me as I explain a little about the stain protection products that are out there. Unfortunately, there were two, different types of stain protection products that we used to treat my client’s new furniture. This will affect how she cleans the fabric on the different pieces, which is either cleaning codes “S” or “W” (more on that later.)

My client and I chose to custom order some stunning sofas and chairs from one of my favorite manufacturers, CR Laine. CR Laine offers to apply Stain Guard to most of the fabrics in their factory before they ship. That sounds like the easiest solution, right? Wrong, and here’s why: they don’t trust the product that they’re using on all of their fabric choices because it can change the look and feel of some “high pile” fabrics. The cleaning instructions for Stain Guard were nonexistent and when asked about them, the answer was ambiguous.

In the future, I plan to recommend to all my clients that we use only Fiber-Guard on all the fabrics and carpets in their homes. This is what I have used in the past, and on all the remaining chairs that did not have stain protection applied by CR Laine. Fiber-Guard is a product that can go on ANY fabric to protect from staining as well as UV rays; and they even provide a cleaning kit.

All of my client’s furniture has stain protection on it for more worry-free living, but in order to clean a stain, she’ll need to use different cleaning solutions on the different pieces. The Stain Guard is a cleaning Code “S”, indicating dry cleaning solvent, while Fiber-Guard is a cleaning code “W” for water-based cleaners.

It’s best to blot up any stains or liquids as soon as possible with a clean, soft cloth. Try not to rub the stain further in to the fabric or carpet. This is true for either solvent based or water based cleaning.

Taylor from Stain-Removal-101.com has the best explanation of the cleaning code “S” that I have found. Taylor explains, “When I use the term solvent, I am referring to liquids, sprays and powders, which do not contain water. People’s expectations when they hear the term “dry cleaning” is to see a “dry” product, and are therefore often surprised to see a liquid product. However, the solvents are only “dry” in the sense that they do not contain water. They can still be in liquid form.” To learn more about Taylors cleaning tip, visit http://www.stain-removal-101.com/dry-cleaning-solvent.html

The cleaning code “W” is for water based cleaners. These are much better for the environment and healthier for us humans, especially if you have allergies or sensitivities.

To sum up: the best stain protection product to use on fabric and carpets is the water based Fiber-Guard. They’ll supply you with their Responsibility Care Spotter cleaner. You can find this product through interior designers like me, or through RugRenovating.com.

Heather McManus

Artistry Interiors