Whether you have children or pets that constantly leave a mess all around your house, or the sofa slipcover has been on your favorite settee for a long time, cleaning the cover can quickly breathe new life into your furniture. However, before you get all the tools ready and start cleaning, ensure you learn all the best ways to wash furniture covers, so your couch looks new again.
1. Brush off Dust and Dirt
The first thing to do is to check the material of your couch cover. Luckily, most modern slipcovers come with all the necessary labels to tell you exactly how to clean them. Some can be safely cleaned in the washer, others can be cleaned with a solvent-based solution, and there are covers that can be dry-cleaned only.
Whatever the case, getting rid of dust is something that can be done to all of them. In general, you should be able to brush off dust and food crumbs with a piece of any soft cloth, but if you have pets, you will also likely need a vacuum cleaner or lint remover to remove hair that doesn’t come off.
2. Pretreat Old Stains With a Solution
Stains are common accidents on couch covers, and it’s quite easy to get rid of them while they are fresh. But what should you do if you discover an old stain? If the stain is too stubborn to come off by simply scrubbing it by hand, make sure to pretreat it first. You can use a steam cleaner for this purpose. Commercial spot cleaners or baking soda mixed with water will do the job too.
But make sure to pretreat the stains while your cover is still on the couch — cleaning this way will make it easier for you to spot all stains before the cover is removed and increase your chances of getting rid of stubborn stains for good.
3. Take Cover off the Furniture
While taking covers off the furniture might seem like a lot of work, in fact, quite the opposite is true. All you need to do is simply reverse the slipcover installation process as described in the manufacturer’s recommendations supplied with a couch, and off you go. If your sofa covers have zippers, simply unzip them and pull them off, and if they come with elasticized straps, just untie them first.
4. Wash It in the Washing Machine
Before throwing your slipcover into a washer, check the care tag for washing recommendations that come with it. For example, microfiber slipcovers can be washed in cold water (30℃), separately, and at a gentle cycle.
For covers with old stains, you can add a little mild detergent to help remove stains and give your covers a nice and fresh smell. If your covers have zippers, make sure to zip them before putting the covers in the washing machine to avoid damage. Other than that, there’s little else to do.
5. Dry Your Slipcover
Drying the slipcover is easy and quick. Some people choose to line dry it, while others skip this step entirely and just put a slightly wet cover back on the couch, allowing it to take its shape naturally. If you go with the latter option, it is important that you let it go dry completely first before your family can use the couch again. Otherwise, it won’t take long before another wash is needed. Please avoid speeding up the drying process by tumble-drying or ironing, as exposure to high temperatures will likely ruin your covers.
To wrap up, washing furniture covers is much simpler than it sounds. If you follow this step-by-step guide, it will be quite easy to keep your couch in top-notch condition for years to come.
