You Can Test the Stain Resistance of a Sofa Before You Buy It.
If you’ve ever bought furniture, you may know that before you make a final purchase decision, you can take samples of the upholstery fabric you plan to buy home with you. As with the hardware store paint swatches, these swatches can better help you imagine how your new chair or sofa might look in your space. But they have another use: they can help you get rid of future stains. That’s why you should stock up on samples before you buy a new sofa.
You can check stain removal capabilities
The next time you’re shopping for a new sofa—especially one that’s marketed as “stain resistant”—ask the sales rep for a few fabric samples, take them home, and stain them specifically to see which ones are easiest to clean. . Contaminate them with chocolate, fruit juice, mud, or red wine. Then try to get those stains out. (Here’s a guide to removing chocolate , here’s a red wine tip, and here’s a list of fabrics that are the hardest to peel and how to handle them .)
Any fabrics that give you trouble should be ignored due to their ability to cover the sofa, especially if you have kids or host a lot of parties or holiday dinners in your home .
you can patch test
You should also keep a few samples of fabric on hand for existing upholstery somewhere in the house. (If you can’t get samples, cut some fabric out of a hidden part of the sofa or chair, like the dust flaps on the back.) ability on your scrapbook or sample, and then practice removing it using whatever methods you think fit.
As with new skin care products or hair dye, it’s best to do a trial run before you get to the real work to avoid serious permanent mistakes in the middle of the couch.