Tag Archives: textile

How can I keep my carpets, area rugs, and upholstery looking their best?

Area carpets, wall-to-wall carpeting, and furniture pieces are all investments we make for our homes. We purchase area carpets to not only to protect our floors and warm our toes, but to represent our personalities. Wall-to-wall carpeting softens echoes and gives us great comfort. Furniture pieces are inviting to family and guests while serving as great design statements.  So how should you go about keeping them all looking great for as long as possible? Well for starters, protect them!

When we say to protect your textiles, we don’t mean cover the loveseat in a thick plastic cover like what you used to stick to at Grandma’s house. We suggest that you spray it with a stain resistant barrier, often referred to as fabric protection. Typically, fabric protection is sprayed on in a fine mist to evenly coat the tiniest of fibers.  For best results, it’s important to allow ample drying time for the product to set.

sofa

The protection barrier will assist in repelling liquids, allowing them to “float” on top for a period of time. Spill some grape juice in the living room? Thanks to your protection, you have ample time to blot the spill before it seeps in. Dirt and sand can settle into the pile of carpets and grind it down under traffic, creating irreversible wear spots.  Along with regular vacuuming, treating the carpets with protector will help prevent the dirt from settling in.  Now think of how often you sit on your couch in shorts and a t-shirt with your arm on the rest or your head cushioned by the back. Oils from our skin and hair are absorbed by textiles sometimes creating tough stains. With protection on your furniture, it will resist these oils and you’ll see better cleaning results.

If you’ve just purchased new carpeting or a new piece of furniture, ask the seller if it has a factory applied stain resistant. If it does, understand that it is not something that lasts forever. Overtime it loses effectiveness and wears away. Keeping up on having your piece protected It is crucial to keeping brights their brightest and darks their deepest. If it has not been pretreated, call around to your local carpet and upholstery care companies such as Chem-Dry, and they’ll be able to apply it for you.

So remember, you can apply this form of protection to area rugs, wall-to wall carpeting, upholstered furniture, cushions, and decorative pillows.  Some even spray it on their curtains, outdoor furniture, umbrellas and more. Don’t forget about that that car and boat interior either!  Protect textiles when they are new and immediately after each cleaning. With this little bit of preventative maintenance, you’ll cut costs not having to replace these items, and when you find that perfect piece, be confident it’s a protected investment .