Inside: Learn some practical tips for keeping your white furniture white and clean, even when you have a house full of kids.
We recently moved into a new house, and as I’m sure you are aware, moving often means getting new furniture. In our case, we needed a sectional sofa to fill a large great room with 20 foot ceilings. After looking around, we decided to get a 5 piece sectional from the Futon Shop. What I love about the Futon Shop is that they have all-natural furniture with the option to have organic fill. They are non-toxic and chemical free which is really important to me and my family. As you can see in the picture below, they are comfy and we often find our youngest son sleeping on it.
One tip when buying from the Futon Shop (or anywhere, really) is to measure the space and make sure it is big (or small) enough. We initially purchased a smaller size, but when we put it all together, we realized that we needed one more piece, which we then purchased. The dimensions are posted on the site, so you should be able to measure before buying. Learn more about the Futon Shop and its natural furniture here.
They have so many different options for colors fabrics, and in the end we chose to go with a white color. Now, many of you know that I have 3 boys, with another on the way, so you are probably thinking I am crazy for having white furniture. I have had that thought myself if I am being completely honest, but it went really well with the overall design and color scheme of our home so we went with it anyway.
Before making the choice, I did some research and found that you really can take some steps to keep white furniture clean. It isn’t easy, and of course there are going to be accidents, but I wanted to share some tips today about keeping that new white sofa clean.
Pre-Treat the Fabric
The first thing you should do when you get your white furniture is treat it with fabric protector. This can make a world of difference because they are designed to repel spills and other messes. Based on my experience, this is not going to protect it from everything, but it definitely does a good job of repelling small spills and other accidents. There are many options to choose from, but I always recommend trying it on a small piece of the fabric on the underside of a pillow or somewhere else that isn’t visible to make sure it doesn’t cause any issues.
Follow the Manufacturer’s Guidelines and Wash Often
The sofa that we got from the Futon Shop comes with easily removable covers for the cushions and pillows. This makes it easy to remove them and wash them in the washing machine from time-to-time. If you are using white slipcovers, you can take those off as well and wash them when needed. The important thing here is to make sure that you are following the manufacturer’s instructions for washing. Many fabrics require using only cold water and air drying. If you follow the instructions for washing the fabric, your furniture will last longer and should stay cleaner as well.
Don’t let Spills Sit for a Long Time.
The longer you wait to clean a stain, the more difficult it will be to remove and maintain the white color for your sofa. For example, if your child drops a popsicle on the couch, you should wipe it up right away and use a spot stain remover and probably wash that part of the couch at the very least. If you let it sit, it will be very difficult to get rid of later.
Make and Enforce Rules
This may seem like a crazy idea to all of you moms of boys out there, but if you want to keep your white furniture clean, you have to set rules and you have to enforce them. For example, we have movie night every night in our family room. With movie night, we serve ice cream, but my boys know that the rule is that we do not eat the ice cream on the couch. In fact, our overall rule is that there is no eating on the couch ever. It was hard for them to adjust, but they are used to the rule now and that has helped me keep our beautiful sofa clean.
If you are going to spend money on a new couch, you should definitely take the time to make sure that you are doing what you can to keep it clean. I hope that these tips are helpful for you! Let me know in the comments below if you have any other tips.