How to Clean Leather Upholstery Yourself

Your upholstered furniture is starting to look dull and soiled? You can call your local professional upholstery cleaners to deep clean it, or you can perform the cleaning yourself. In order to clean your sofa and other leather upholstery successfully and safely, you should follow several important rules.

Here is a brief guide for cleaning your leather upholstery by yourself:

Clean stains as soon as possible

The quicker you react to spills and accidents on your upholstery – the easier it is to clean the mess up successfully without leaving an ugly stain on your furniture. Make sure you bot out as much of the spilled liquid or remove as much of the spilled substance from the upholstery before proceeding to treat the stain with the appropriate cleaning solution and method.

Hoover the upholstery first

Whether you will be cleaning the entire leather upholstery or treating just a stained area, always take the time to thoroughly hoover the fabric before proceeding with the cleaning. Vacuuming will remove the dirt and residues stuck on and in the furniture so that it doesn’t get embedded even deeper as you go ahead with the cleaning.

Inspect the upholstery

Perform a meticulous inspection of the upholstery in its entirety, in order to locate any stains or particularly soiled areas which will need to be pre-treated with stain removal solutions or which will need some additional washing and care. Also, look for any labels and tags on the furniture which have washing and cleaning instructions or cleaning codes for specific requirements you need to follow.

Pre-test the solutions

This is especially important if you are about to clean furniture which doesn’t have cleaning codes or which you haven’t cleaned before. Find a spot under the pillows or on the bottom or back of the furniture were to apply some of the cleaning or stain removal solutions you will be using. Inspect the treated area after about 20 minutes to make sure that the fabric is not damaged or otherwise affected by the solution.

Pre-treat the stains and soiled areas

Use the most suitable stain removal or cleaning solutions to pre-treat any stains on your upholstery. Use the cleaning solution to pre-treat the most soiled areas as well.

Go ahead with the cleaning

If your upholstery cannot be washed with water, apply the dry cleaning foam or powder on it and let it sit for the time recommended by the manufacturer. You may need to rub the dry cleaning solution in with the help of a brush or other suitable instrument. Then hoover the cleaning solution off.

If you will be washing the upholstered furniture, make a mixture of water and dry cleaning solution, or make your own home-made cleaning solution with white vinegar, mild detergent or ammonia instead. Apply the solution on the upholstery with a sponge or brush, but make sure you do not oversaturate it more than necessary. After the cleaning, you should repeat the process but with clean water in order to rinse the upholstery off.

Let it dry

Leave the windows open or use a fan to quicken the drying process. Do not sit on or use the furniture before it has dried completely.