Top Furniture Tips

We love to spend quality time with our pets but they do not need to spend quality time on our upholstered furniture. Pet hairs on furniture are quite a problem not only to the fabric but also on our health as well. Hairs of dogs and cats or other animals in the house when inhaled by children could trigger an asthma attack.

Pet hairs can be stubborn to remove by bare hands alone. You will need to have some simple tools and materials to do the trick. I have enumerated quick and easy ways that you can follow which will not necessarily have to cost you a lot.

The first thing you can do without using any tools is to dampen the palm of your hand a little. Then dab the pet hairs off the upholstery in one direction (horizontally or vertically). The hairs will ball up and stick to your hand.

Or you can use a fabric softener mixed with water and spray it on the furniture. But first you should test the spray on a inconspicuous place to avoid damage to the fabric. You can then brush off the pet hairs with your bare hand.

Cats love to lay on furniture

Some people have commented that rubbing a damp regular kitchen sponge on a carpet or upholstered furniture makes the fur of cats or dogs roll up into clumps which you can easily pick off afterwards.

Latex gloves and/or rubber gloves also works well in removing pet hair on your furniture. Simply dampen the gloves, rub it on the surface and the hairs will stick to them readily. Rubber gloves are good too in removing lint. You can reuse the glove as many times you want.

Another solution are pet hair rollers. These small rollers can be held by the hand and comes supplied with disposable sheets of sticky paper having a number of series of holes. The idea is to roll the pet roller over the area of pet hair and the hair sticks to the sticky paper.

Dogs also likes to lay on the sofa

For those who would like to try a commercial product I recommend Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair, 1 sweeper
. It removes pet hair from upholstered surfaces quickly and easily. Simply slide it side to side in short strokes—the rollers rotate back and forth to lift and trap unsightly hair. One Pledge Fabric Sweeper picks up as much pet hair more than any sticky roller sheets.

Remember what Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. It would be better if you could at least minimize if not totally avoid getting pet hair on your furniture. There are a couple of suggestions I would like to give.

Fabric furniture  more often than not collect pet hair, while leather upholstery does not or if they were, pet hair can be easily brushed off. The fact is also true on suede furniture.

If  you will allow your pets  to sit or sleep on your sofa you can put a towel on a certain spot and encourage them to stay only on that place.

Another thing you can do to lessen the amount of pet hair on your furniture is to vacuum your dog or cat. Yes, you can! I know of some pet owners who do it and the animals love it especially when they get used to it.

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Water marks on your wood furniture should not be so hard to remove after you have known the ways and means. As in most other wood stains, the ugly marks left by spilt water or a glass of water placed directly on top of wood furniture falls into two categories: white rings and black marks. Either way, the tools and procedures of removing the stain are quite the same. But taking action immediately as soon as the stain occurs greatly reduces the difficulty.

Gentle Buffing

As soon as you see the stain, try buffing it gently with a clean, dry cotton cloth. It is important to act quickly so that the water does not penetrate deep into the finish. For a white ring stain you can rub it off by using a very fine steel wool saturated with lemon oil. The lemon oil will act as lubricant between the wood and steel wool.

You can also rub the stain with a toothpaste (not the gel type) applied on a damp cloth. Leave it for half an hour and then polish with a furniture polish.

Paste mixtures of baking soda and water or salt with cooking oil are effective as well in removing water stains on wood.

Using white toothpaste to rid water mark

 Mayonnaise Buffing

Sometimes the solution can be found on your refrigerator. Another buffing trick of stain removal on wood furniture is a combination of mayonnaise and cigar or cigarette ashes. Rub the mixture gently on the surface and as usual polish it off with a furniture polish. Or you can simply spread the mayonnaise on a paper towel and place it on top of the white stain, leave it for about 15 minutes.

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

This one is a wood cleaning product which has garnered not a few positive reviews from consumers. It can be used not just to rid water marks on wood furniture but on many other surfaces as well like kitchen appliances, tiles and grouts. The product basically is melamine foam which was said to be effective as abrasive cleaner.

Dry Ironing

If all the above methods above did not remove the water mark on your furniture you may want to try a different approach. It was found out that putting a hot iron (without steam) over a cotton cloth on top of a stain a few seconds is effective in removing water marks. The stain may not disappear at the first time so do the procedure repeatedly. A lady from Ohio commented that she couldn’t find her iron. What she did was to improvise by grabbing a hair dryer. She held the device a few inches from the stain for about 5 minutes while simultaneously buffing with a dry cloth. She was amazed how it works!

Oxalic Acid

When all other means of removing stain on your wood furniture fail, refinishing would be the last resort. This method is mostly done on black marks which cannot be removed except by taking off the finish on the stained furniture. The stain is then attacked by bleaching the spot where the black mark appears. Oxalic acid is used as bleaching agent because it does not make the wood white but retains its natural color.

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Stain on wood furniture can be more stubborn than stain on furniture made from other materials. It is recommended that the stain be removed just as quickly as it had occurred for best result. Also, there is no single cleaning agent than can remove every type of stain because the compounds that made up each stain and the surface in which it resides is composed of different things.

While some would suggest that it would be wise to refinish if your furniture got stain on it especially if it is large and nasty, you may still want to try the options  listed here before going to such extreme to save you some money.

Water Mark

This is the most dreaded and most common type of stain. It could quickly spoil the beauty of a piece of furniture. The solution is to rub some toothpaste on the stain with a clean damp cloth in a circular manner. You can also place a cotton cloth over the stain and press a dry iron with no steam over the cloth. Remove the cloth after several seconds. If the stain remains  repeat the process until the stain is gone.

White Stain

This stain is also similar with water mark. There are several testimonies that putting a clean white towel over the white stained table top and then placing a dry iron with steam on top of the towel would make the white stain disappear. It was also found out that the white stain did not reappear even after a few days. It is noted however that most of the tables that had used this technique with success were of varnish finish.

Milk Stain

Dip a piece of white cloth in ammonia then rub it on the milk stain. An alternative is to make a paste of baking soda and white toothpaste (not gel) and rub it gently on the stain in a circular motion until it disappears.

Protein Stain

Stains caused by food or urine can be removed by rubbing a white cloth dipped in rubbing alcohol for about 5 minutes. But before doing so you should first make a test on an inconspicuous place. Alcohol can damage some type of finishes.

Grease Stain

Grease stains are easily removed by pouring salt directly on the stained spot. Allow the salt to remain for several minutes before wiping with a clean cloth. Grease stain can also be removed with a cloth dipped in wood cleaning solvent.

Beer Stain

This type of stain may darken or could possibly warp the wood. What you can do is to clean the spot with a solution of ¼ cup white vinegar per 1 quart of water. Wait to dry. If after several days the wood darkens you may need to refinish it, if not, apply a high quality wood conditioner.

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How to Remove Stain on Upholstered Furniture

In my last post Simple Furniture Care Tips, I mentioned removing stain on your upholstered item but barely discussed it. Today I will try to elaborate on the topic to help you make the appropriate action on what kind of cleaning method to apply for each type of
stain on the fabric. As I have suggested before, look for an inconspicuous spot first to test your cleaner before attacking the stain to avoid discoloration or damaging the fabric.

Coffee Stains

We all love to sip coffee on the sofa while watching television or reading the papers. To get rid of a coffee stain, mix one teaspoon of a mild, ph-balanced detergent with one cup of warm water, then blot from the outside in. Follow this with blotting the stain with a mixture of one-third cup white vinegar with two-thirds cup water. When finished, use a clean, white towel to absorb any excess, allow the area to dry

Ink Stains

Option 1: On a clean white towel spray hairspray and then dab at the affected area. Follow it up by blotting with a clean, dry towel.

Option 2: Treat a clean, white towel with isopropyl rubbing alcohol. Blot it out with a clean, dry towel.

Option 3: Apply nail polish or acetone on the affected area and blot from the outside edges toward the center.

Option 4: Using a clean, white towel, use spirits of turpentine, blot again as with the other treatment options.

Cheese Stains

For cheese stains, mix one teaspoon of mild, ph-balanced detergent with one cup of warm water. With a clean, white towel, blot at the cheese stain. Then mix one tablespoon of regular ammonia with one-half cup of water, again blotting the stain. Finally, blot the stain with clean water to remove any detergent or ammonia and let the area dry.

 Beer Stains

Dish washing liquid works well in removing beer stains. Mix ¼ teaspoon of any dishwashing liquid that doesn’t contain lanolin or bleach, with one quart of water. Blot with a clean damp sponge until the stain is lifted. Blot again with cool, clear water to get the soap out and dry by blotting with a thick, clean towel. Please note that it’s best to use a clear dishwashing liquid as using a dishwashing solution that’s cloudy or creamy in texture will leave a sticky residue. Also try to avoid using too much soap as it can lead to further staining.

 Grease and Oil Stains

Step 1: Scrape up as much of the motor oil or grease as possible from the upholstery without spreading the stain further.

Step 2: Place an absorbent, such as cornstarch or baking soda, onto the stain, and let it soak in for approximately 15 minutes.

Step 3: Scrape or vacuum up the absorbent, which has absorbed some of the grease and oil.

Step 4: For the grease stains still remaining take a clean white cloth and sponge the stain with a dry-cleaning solvent. First, be sure to test this solvent on an inconspicuous area of the upholstery to make sure it is safe.

Step 5: Next, blot at the stain until the solvent is absorbed.

Step 6: Repeat steps 4-5 until the stains are removed from the upholstery.

Here is a video for more additional tips on removing stain on your upholstery:

You should make it a habit of taking care of your furniture regularly because the beauty of furniture care is that it helps to protect your investment, as fine furniture is an important purchase. Proper furniture cleaning and care will help maintain your furniture’s finish and ensure that it looks great year after year. Following a few guidelines should help extend the life of your precious furniture.

Polish your wood furniture regularly

New Furniture

The first thing to do especially for a newly bought furniture is to keep it out of the sun and away from sources of heat like air conditioning units, baseboards or heat ducts. Heat makes wood brittle, paint becomes faded,  and rots the upholstery fibers.
Whenever you have guests or visitors in your house, avoid water marks or stains by always serving with coasters. If there is a spill, clean it up quickly by dabbing with a clean dry cloth. Never wipe the spill to avoid spreading the stain.

Couch Cleaning

On many occasions, your kids along with their pets play on the couch and leave some marks on the cushion. If your couch has detachable parts with removable cushions, simply take them off the foam and wash machine them with a detergent depending on the material your couch is made of. For a smelly, soggy removable couch cushion, you may wash them by, first, disabling or skipping the agitation step of your machine washing cycle. Soak the cushion in soapy water, rinse and then spin. Add a cup of vinegar to the wash if there is urine in the cushion to remove the smell.

Removing Upholstery Stain

The first thing first in removing stain in upholstered furniture is to consider the fabric. Check the manufacturer’s information to be sure about the fabric. You should start working first on a small hidden patch of the fabric and  test out the cleaner you will be using before you go on to the more obvious part to ensure no damage or discoloration is  done.

With regards to stains on wood furniture there are appropriate ways on how to remove them which I had discussed in my other post.

Your furniture will take good care of you if you take good care of it. You must be consistent and careful in cleaning and maintaining each type of your furniture so that it will last and look great for years. And by doing so you will not only enjoy the comforts of the furniture throughout its life but also save lots of money.