MAIN Home Life Household Hints Furniture & Upholstery Cleaning

Follow these practical tips for cleaning and maintaining your furniture, whether it's a gleaming new addition to the bedroom, living room, or dining room set, or to preserve the beauty of heirloom furniture for years to come:

Basic furniture care

• Keep furniture from extremes of sunlight to help preserve your furniture's color and luster.
  
  
• Also keep all furniture including leather, wood and upholstered furniture away from extreme temperatures. This may seem obvious, but you can often extend the life, beauty and value of any piece of furniture by simply moving it away from heat ducts, baseboards or air conditioning units.
  
  
• Avoid wood scratches or upholstery tears by consciously keeping sharp objects away from furniture. That includes tools, jewelry, or even the family pet. Keep your dog's claws trimmed, or invest in a scratching post for the cat to ward off any temptation to sharpen its claws on your new couch.
  
  
• When entertaining, always serve drinks with coasters to avoid water marks or wine stains. Clean up any spills by dabbing immediately (do not wipe to avoid spreading the stain) with a dry cloth or paper towel.
  
  
• For everyday avoidance of permanent staining, always keep newspapers, magazines, pens, magic markers, and crayons away from leather or upholstered furniture.

Furniture cleaning tips

Although there are a myriad of ways to keep furniture clean and stain free, start by following the furniture manufacturer's suggestions for cleaning and stain removal.

Otherwise, the No. 1 rule for cleaning any type of furniture is always to test first on a small, non-conspicuous area for dulling, staining, and color fastness. This applies especially to leather upholstery that can become permanently dulled or damaged following a well-meant cleaning with strong soaps or chemicals.

More tips about furniture cleaning and stain removal around the Web:

Around the Web, get more expert advice on furniture maintenance, along with tips on getting rid of water marks, cleaning up spills, and removing stains and grime from wood furniture and all types of upholstery:

Wood Furniture Cleaning - A complete library of advice and how to's for furniture cleaning and polishing, removing scratches, water stains, wax and crayon marks, and general care of interior and exterior wood furniture.

How To Polish Wood Furniture - Including how to get rid of scratches, heat marks and cigarette burns, wood stain and water mark treatment tips.

How to Repair Wooden Furniture Surfaces - An extensive guide to removing scratches, reparing dings and dents, getting rid of discoloration, burn marks and stains with additional tips for reparing veneer and furniture hardware.

Tips for Cleaning Upholstery - Expert guide with how to's on making homemade upholstery cleaning solution with related tips on care and clearning of leather upholstery.

How to Clean Leather Furniture - Good overview with instructions on determining the type of leather upholstery to be cleaned with step-by-step cleaning instructions, including tips on getting rid of inks stains, grease, and newspaper stains and related do's and don'ts of leather cleaning.

How to Clean a Polyester Microfiber Suede Sofa - eHow guide with tips for stain removal and cleaning faux suede including a complete materials list, step-by-step instructions and related resources.

Wicker Furniture Care and Cleaning - Basic tips on maintenance, protection and cleaning with related tips and warnings about bamboo and special cleaning of wicker furniture.

also see in Household Hints -> Floor and carpet cleaning tips

also see in Shopping -> Buying furniture online