Filthy Upholstry

[boigrrrlwonder]

DP and I are just starting out. His grandmother gave us a bunch of chairs. I can't get the dirt out - I think they're stained. I think the original color was off-white, but I'm not sure. DP really wants to keep the furniture, so for his sake, I want to try and salvage the chairs. Any advice?

[4evermom]

What kind of chairs? Are they dining room chairs with fabric just on the seat? Because they are really easy to replace. The seats are just attached with screws. Unscrew them, take the seats off, take the fabric off, probably should replace the padding depending on it's condition and your $. Then attach new fabric with a staple gun and screw the seats back on.

I've been meaning on renting a steam cleaner and trying it on our upholstered furniture to try to get the grunge out of the arms and backs of the older chairs.

[Brightside]

I've had good luck with a steam vac. I think I borrowed a hoover with the attaching upholstery hose. I cleaned furniture, even my old car unholstery and it looked brand new (minus wear) when I was through! I love those things - I think they work really well. Just make sure if it's grungy and takes a while to clean that you suction as much water back out as you can, and see that it dries as fast as possible. (I used towels and really tried to work the moisture out.)

[sunanthem]

If there are any pillows or cushions you could take off the covers and have them washed or dry cleaned, too. I love steam cleaners also. If its just not coming out, and its a cherished piece, I would look into reupholstering it.
Or do what I do and use slipcovers.

[jennlindsey]

Steam cleaning works pretty well if you have an upholstery attachment -- though if it's a reaaally old stain, you probably won't get it all up. I can sympathize, as we have some Ikea dining chairs (bought used) with non-removable seat pads that have seen some funky stain action. Spot cleaning usually tends to make the stain more obvious in the long run, I've found -- but the steamer gets them semi-presentable again, at least!