We’ve all been there. You’re relaxing at home, watching some shows or movies with the family, and you get to a funny part. You laugh or jostle a limb, and that drink you’re holding spills all over that fabric-upholstered chaise lounge in your home theater.
Fabric makes for theater seating with tons of comfort, but compared to other materials like leather, fabric tends to be more prone to spills and stains setting in the fabric.
When you buy high-quality entertainment room chairs, you want it to be an investment—something you’re able to hold onto for a while. The last thing you want is to have it begin to accumulate stains. Fear not, for every kind of stain out there, there’s a solution that with a little effort and elbow grease will likely lift that stain right out. Read on to discover the different types of stains and how to get rid of them on your media room couches that have fabric upholstery.
Keep Those Tags!
If you’re someone who loves to cut the tags on clothing and furniture to keep things looking as seamless and clean as possible, we get it. But think twice before you go and snip the tag on that theater chair made with plush microfiber or another fabric. The tags on fabric furniture can be a lifesaver when it comes to stains because they should tell you what you can and can’t do with that specific piece of furniture.
The next time you’re around the fabric reclining chairs for your home theater, make sure to acquaint yourself with the tag and look at the cleaning codes. You’ll likely see one of the following letters:
- S – clean the fabric using only a water-free cleaner. Solvent cleaners are your friends here, and will help the best in removing stains on this fabric.
- W – you’ll want to stick with water-based cleaners or mild detergents here. Try spot-cleaning the stain with these first and then follow up by gently scrubbing the affected area with a soft-bristled brush.
- WS – you’ve got options! WS means you can use either a water or a solvent-based cleaner on your fabric. As always, apply the products gently and make sure the room is ventilated so the fabric can dry.
- X – this code means that you should avoid applying any liquid and only vacuum your furniture clean, or you can gently scrub the furniture. Without being able to use liquid, baking soda will likely be your best friend if you have this code.
- D – you won’t encounter this too often on seating for your media room, but this code stands for “dry clean only.”
If you have microfiber theater seating or media room chairs upholstered with velour, you’re more likely to encounter either S, W, or WS on your tags, with X and D being saved for more uncommon furniture fabrics like wool.
What Kind of Stains Are We Talking About?
While a stain on your new entertainment room chairs with white fabric is nothing more than the annoying kind to you, the source of the stain determines how you’ll want to treat it. The following are likely the most common types of stains you might encounter on your seating:
- Oil/grease-based stains – these are usually caused by spilling foods that are cooked in oil and are particularly greasy. While it sounds counterintuitive, do not blot these with water, as it’ll only help spread the hydrophobic grease around your entertainment room furniture.
- Wine-based stains – stains from wine and other antioxidant-rich foods are thankfully noticeable—those bright purples and reds are pretty hard to miss, especially when it’s on a lighter-colored fabric.
- General food stains – they’re annoying; they happen. Most food stains are super easy to lift right out with the right tools.
- Dirt-based stains – maybe you ran straight for the reclining entertainment room chairs after a long day doing some yardwork, and you didn’t take your shoes off. Whatever the case might be, stains caused by dirt—while unsightly—are also easy enough to get out.
What to Use to Clean Your Furniture
So, you spilled something on your favorite media room loveseat with microfiber fabric. Thankfully, most stains are easy enough to lift with some simple household solutions.
The most tried-and-true method for regular food stains—or stains that just occurred—is to use a mixture of a cup of warm water, 1/3 cup of vinegar, and a generous squirt of dish soap. Mix this concoction together, pour a little bit onto that home theater seat where the stain is, and gently scrub with a soft-bristled brush or cloth until the stain lifts. Blot the area dry, and your seat is as good as new!
For tougher stains that might contain oil or grease, you’ll want something more heavy duty. Grab some baking soda, and sprinkle it generously across the area where the stain is, leaving it there for about 15 minutes before vacuuming it away. The baking soda is effective at absorbing residual oil and grease right off of fabric upholstery. After you’ve used the baking soda, take the above mixture of vinegar, dish soap, and warm water and gently scrub your multimedia room furniture with a toothbrush to loosen the rest of the stain.
For stains like wine that are more intense, mix together half a cup of hydrogen peroxide with a tablespoon of dish soap after gently blotting the stain. Apply the solution on the fabric generously, and wait around half an hour before blotting that away—the end result should be a fresh and clean chair. If you don’t want to be a household chemist and want to go more of a store-bought route with your cleaning products, these are some of the top products out there for stain removals.
As always, before applying any sort of solution or liquid onto your upholstery, always make sure to do a test spot on an inconspicuous location before to make sure the solution doesn’t react with the fabric in an undesired way.
Stains will always happen, and as the saying goes, there’s no use crying over spilled milk. When you have the chance to act quickly with a stain, you’ll be more than likely to get it out using one of the above methods. It might take a couple tries, but a clean, blemish-free, fabric entertainment room couch is well within your reach.