Cleaning My Microfiber (Microsuede) Couch

By Jessica

 

In his family, my husband is known for spilling things, they even use him as a cautionary tale when giving the younger children drinks or open bowls of things that are easily spilled, it's that bad. He's constantly coming home with some sort of stain on his work clothes or calling me to ask if I'm going to be able to get X out of whatever it is that he's wearing that day. 

Which would be part of the reason I selected not only the fabric but also the color for our current sectional sofa. 

Of course I have the dogs and their various slobbery messes to worry about as well, but the threat of husband spills was always in the back of my mind. Up until this week, it's only been the occasional stray smear of chocolate from a wayward chocolate chip out of his granola bar, or spill of water but he made up for that in spades by spilling almost a full beer on it the other night while watching True Blood. (yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and call that out too) 

Did I mention his iPad and brand new iPhone 5 happened to be on the couch right next to him? Yes. As he frantically dried those off with the towels I handed him, I ran to the internet to see what the heck I could do to deal with my couch (and the smell because let's be honest, I don't want my living room smelling like a frat house) and it turns out the answer was more alcohol. Following the instructions I found on One Good Thing, I used the solvent based method because I couldn't locate a tag anywhere on my couch and because I didn't have any rubbing alcohol handy, that meant using Tito's vodka. Most of the areas cleaned up with one treatment but down in the cracks where two cushions meet, seems to have soaked up the most beer and therefore needed the most time to air out, treat and re-treat. And honestly most of the re-treating is due to the smell, not any staining. 

Highly recommend giving this a shot if you've got any stains on your microfiber (microsuede) couch!

(Photo: my living room before the floors and art changed)

Comments

[Em]

I might have that exact same couch. I purchased a stain guard with it (like Scotch guard but specific to the store) and it is guaranteed for 7 years. I've had it for a year now and it's held up nicely. I'll have to keep this in mind though. I recently spilled an entire glass of white(thankfully) wine on it thanks to my dog jumping on me and I cleaned it up using doggie enzyme cleaner (Nature's Miracle). Seemed to do the trick.

[Jessica]

I use borax and warm water to clean up my couch, it even took out cat pee smells!