How I Cleaned My Microfiber Couch (and lived to tell about it)

I had a variety of titles to choose from for this post:

• The Number One Reason To Keep Your Pets Off the Furniture
• My Most Embarrassing Post Yet
• Hey, Want To See Something Disgusting?
• My Pile of Microfiber...Ugh

This list goes on. 

My advice of the day: No matter how cute your 10 pound puppy might be, resist the urge to let him on the couch. One day he will be a 79 pound puppy who drools, chews on bones, and leaves hair everywhere.

Enter our couch. This couch is about 6 years old. It's been through a lot. Typically, I spot clean the pillows and cushions with rubbing alcohol or my homemade carpet cleaner and that works rather well when I keep on it. 

Lately, I've failed to keep on it.

The dirty, hot, panting dog has disrespected this piece of furniture a tad too much. Tons of water spots covered the cushions, either from dog drool, literal water spills, or my impatient spot cleaning. In addition to the stains, the material had gotten a little stretched out and saggy in places too.

Ugh. I knew the couch was beyond the point of spot cleaning. It needed something more intense. I researched all over the internet how to clean a microfiber couch. Some people successfully washed their cushions, others adamantly moved for professional cleaning only. Some people attempted to remove the covers and couldn't get them back on. I wasn't sure what to believe. 

I decided to try and wash the covers myself. There comes a point where something becomes dirty enough that I'm willing to risk ruining it to get it clean. 

And when I started pulling covers off the pillows and cushions, I was even more disgusted by the yellow and brown stains on the reverse sides. I was more than ready to risk putting them in the washing machine.

I started with just two pillow covers, figuring it'd be easier to replace those if they did fall apart in the wash or get ruined. To my joyful surprise, they turned out good as new!

I washed each pillow cover and cushion cover in cold water with one tablespoon of my homemade laundry detergent (half the amount I'd use for a regular load). I washed them on the delicate cycle. Then I put them in the dryer on air dry for one hour and finished them up on low heat for 15 minutes. The covers were just barely damp when I put them back on the cushions.

Returning the pillows and cushions to their respective covers proved much easier than I anticipated. 

While the covers were washing, I took the opportunity to clean up the rest of the couch. It needed it.

I didn't find any spare change, but I found more than enough spare crumbs. No more eating on the couch, my dear Mister....

I sprayed the piles of dog hair with static guard and, after letting it sit for about 15 minutes, I was able to vacuum up most of the hair and crumbs without a problem. I wiped down the leather with my DIY furniture polish and took the opportunity to vacuum really well underneath the couch too. 

I couldn't believe the difference when it was all put back together. 

No more water spots. No more smells. 

No more wrinkles. 

It smelled and looked like new....for about fifteen minutes.

Have you dared to wash your microfiber? Did it turn out great? Is there something else you risked ruining just to get it clean?

This post was shared in a link party over at: