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Readers have asked me dozens of times over the years about this! Today, we are sharing how to clean a fabric couch and chairs!

I have responded to this email so much over the last few years, I thought a blog post would be really helpful for everyone.

My favorite thing about writing articles for Chemistry Cachet is the research and testing I get to do. I try out so many methods for each blog post like this to determine what works best. This is why it can take many months or up to a year for me to write a new post for certain subjects. Especially skincare topics!

Anyways, here is how we are cleaning our fabric couch and chairs. Plus, one of my favorite purchases of 2022!

How To Clean A Fabric Couch and Chairs

When you have kids or pets, the fabric on  your couches and chairs can get dirty quick!

We have had our current couch since right before Amelia was born, so it has been around to see many kids messes…

I also purchased some fabric chairs (they only have them in blue nowfor our dining room a few years ago, and they get DIRTY and gross after every meal. Amelia is one messy eater lol

The good news is, you can clean them up very easily with these steps and keep them looking new.

Be sure to head to our Instagram page, follow us and save a few posts too. We share fun videos, tips, and behind the scenes.

Step One: Vacuum

The first step to cleaning your fabric couch, chairs, and other furniture is a good vacuuming. This gets rid of hair and some dust plus any debris.

I always use the fabric attachment for this step, and I make sure to go over the surface several times to remove anything excess.

Vacuuming your fabric furniture once a week at least is a good way to maintain the surface also.

Step Two: Treat Stains

If there are stains, now is the time to treat them. I typically use this DIY upholstery stain cleaner, but you can use anything to treat stains. Make sure you check the tag on your fabric to see what type of liquid it can take. Some stains clean up well with rubbing alcohol too.

Here is a guide on reading the fabric label.

Most regular fabric does well with a stain remover and an upholstery cleaning machine (mentioned below).

Step Three: Use An Upholstery Cleaner

This little machine has been fantastic for cleaning fabric! I purchased this after a friend of mine told me about it. There have also been some videos on social media recently with this machine.

I have been testing it out for awhile, and we love it!

It is like getting your fabric professionally cleaned, but easy to use at home.

Before and After Using Upholstery Cleaner For Fabric Chairs

I snapped a quick picture of Amelia’s chair before and after we cleaned it! LOL

Check out our video on Instagram for this too.

On her chair is chocolate, spilled milk, smoothie, and lots of food crumbs. Believe it or not, she is not as messy as she used to be. But having fabric chairs means they stay dirty with kids.

We used the upholstery cleaner on this chair and it cleaned it right up.

The after picture you can see it is still damp. It will make your fabric damp for a few hours until it dries, but not super wet. Just damp which is good.

You Can Use This On Carpet Too

I love this machine because you can use it on carpet stains too! Amelia spilled some fruit smoothie (she spills her smoothies all the time ?) on our carpet that had prunes in it. There was a purple stain on the carpet, so I used this machine to clean the spot. It worked great. Another thing I use for carpet stains is our homemade carpet cleaner. 

What Type Of Solution To Use In Upholstery Cleaner?

I get asked this question often from readers. Everyone wants a good DIY solution to add to a carpet cleaner or upholstery cleaner. I used the bottle that came with the machine to clean the fabric couch and chairs, but I am working on testing out a simple DIY solution you can try. Stay tuned for that! I don’t share a homemade solution unless it works as well as the store-bought, so it can take awhile to get the ratios down.

I hope you enjoy this post, and I highly recommend that little upholstery cleaning machine. It is one of my favorite purchases of 2022. I love the size of it because it isn’t very large, so it stores easily in a closet or laundry room.

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