I recently acquired a, shall we say, well aged couch and recliner from my cousin. The recliner is in really good shape. No stains rips or tears. The cross beam holding the metal piece that locks the rocking mechanism in place when you recline it is broken, but I happen to have a spare 1 x 2 laying around so that's no big deal.

The couch is another matter all together. Functionally its in perfect shape. The cushions are still firm and comfortable, there's no tears of anything. But given that there's white in it, it does look pretty dingy. I want to clean it before I move it into the living room, but I have no idea what I'm doing. I can get rid of the surface dust and cat hair, but not the dinge. There's a few stains too, but nothing big. Any suggestions?

 

You could look into having it re-upholstered.

Pics of dinge?

 

Steam cleaner? Do you have one? It REALLY depends on the type of material. You need to read up on how to care for that particular fabric.

 

I'll take some pics when I get home from work and post them up this afternoon. Not entirely sure what the material is. I'd rather not have it recovered. At that point I may as well have just bought a new couch.

I don't own a steam cleaner, but I thought about renting one. I don't think they're all that expensive to rent for a day or two. If I go that route there's a few other things I'd like to steam clean as well.

 

Okay, I started on the couch this afternoon. Hitting it with a pet hair brush actually made a pretty big difference. I guess some of the dinge on it was actually just dust. Its still bad enough that I want to clean it, and there's a few small stains. It actually sat in their sitting room for years and who knows the last time anybody was on it. Anyway, here's some pictures of the dinge and stains.









Sorry for the huge crappy cell phone pics.

 

steam cleaner or one of those upholstery/carpet cleaning machines

 

That's what I'm afraid of. I tried some Scotch Guard fabric cleaner this afternoon. It did a little for some of the stains, but nothing for the general dinge. Guess I know what I'll be looking into tomorrow.

 

Bumping this up. My gf wanted a steam cleaner for upholstery and furniture cleaning. She has cats...

 

303 Carpet/Upholstery Cleaner with a Bissell Little Green should improve your situation.

 

Thank you for the suggestion!

 

Ask Whiskers what he used to clean off his couch.
and if you say my wife's underwear you are