How to protect your sofa!

There’s nothing worse than making a pricey purchase and seeing it damaged not too soon after buying it, like a scratch on your new luxury car or a rip on that expensive dress. The same goes for sofas and lounge suites, in a moments notice they can be stained, scratched and sag in the middle with getting them repaired for said damages being costly in the process.

In this blog article, we’re going to discuss some of the ways you can save yourself some headache and hopeful elongate the lifespan of your favourite sofa with a handful of easy tips!

Keep those seats covered!

Sometimes the most effective solutions are the simplest! If you’re scared of wearing away the seating of your new lounge suite, then a simple throw covering can help protect against the ravages of back pockets and car keys.

However, we can hear what you’re saying: “I’ve just just spent x amount on a lounge suite and now you’re telling me to cover it in a blanket.” Which, yes we are saying that, but we’re not saying it doesn’t have to mesh into the look of the sofa itself.

Gone are the days of Grandma’s plastic covered couch with its fugly floral print (sorry Nan!), it’s now cheaper than ever to buy an eye-catching throw for your couch that not only protects it against the rear-ends of others, but also enhances its look in the process!

Adding a throw also has the added benefit of providing a covering, whether it’s for spending a sick day sleeping on the couch or just for added comfort for those long movie nights.

Protect them from your pets!

This one is definitely easier said than done, but preventing your canine and feline friends from making the family sofa theirs is a great way to prevent any damage to your couches.

Now unfortunately this is a furniture care blog, not a pet care blog. So our recommendations are only going to be surface level when compared to more reputable animal specialist recommendations, but we’ll try our best.

The main recommendation is to figure out why your pets are acting out on your couch. Are they getting enough stimulation? Are you leaving them inside all day while you work? Are their toys keeping them occupied anymore? Sometimes your pets destroying your furniture is their way of saying they’re bored and unhappy, so make sure they’re catered to in that department. We’ve actually written an entire blog post covering the topic of protecting your furniture against your animal companions with a lot of alternatives offered over there.

Other times (mostly with cats) it can just be them being a jerk, a charlatan, a rascal and a no-good scoundrel. In this instance, it may be worth looking into a anti-scratch spray that dissuades your feline friends from making your new sofa their scratching pole. However, don’t treat this spray like holy water, some cats still won’t care whether the spray is on the couch or not, so take any use of it with a pinch of salt.

Avoid Harsh Sunlight

If there’s one common performer of long form damage to any item in your home, it has to be sunlight and couches aren’t any exception to this either. Whether it’s cracked leather, bleached patterns or yellowed whites, sunlight causes havoc on any type of couch and as a result you should avoid having your sofa in any direct sunlight.

Obviously, this is easier said than done. No one wants to live like a vampire for the sake of keeping their sofa pristine. But it’s definitely something to consider when placing your lounge suite within your living room. Even if the sunlight is unavoidable no matter where you place it, you could try placing your lounge suite in a way where less noticeable locations like the back of the sofa soak in the most sun.

As for fixing sun-bleached sofas, this is where things get a bit more fickle. If your sofa has removable coverings and is a solid colour like white or blue, then it could be worth looking at purchasing some fabric dye or bleach and restaining your coverings back to their prime look. For the parts of the couch you’re unable to submerge in a bucket of dye, you can fill a spray bottle with part of your chosen dye and the rest with hot water and spray directly onto the couch, using a rubber glove to rub the solution into the couch to better engrain it into the fabric.

As for leather and patterned materials, this is where you might be out of luck. Depending on the quality of the leather sofa and if you manage to catch it early, you may be able to use a leather re-colouring balm to hopefully restore your sofa to like new condition. But if your leather sofa has already started cracking and flaking, then unfortunately it’s now too far gone without needing a professional upholstery.

The same applies moreso for faded patterned couches, with professional work being required depending on how intricate the design is. Depending on the work required, this can cost from hundreds to thousands of dollars to restore the couch to a like new condition, at which point you have to consider if it’s instead more viable to purchase a new couch entirely.

Get a stain remover

If you’re the type to enjoy a red wine but don’t want to risk staining your fresh new white couch, then we’d definitely look at investing into a stain removal device.

It used to be that carpet cleaners could only be rented and for a significant cost, meaning that most people relied on spray-based stain removers which while effective for lighter stains, could only, at best, fade a bright red stain. But nowadays, carpet cleaning machines can be purchased for a fraction of the price and stowed away in a corner of a utility closet while doing 10x the job of their comparative sprays.

When it comes to actually dealing with the stains, the sooner the better! Remember to absorb or clean off as much of the offending liquid as possible before either spraying the stain remover or attacking it with your carpet cleaning device of choice. Sometimes it can take a couple of goes to fully remove the stain so remember to be patient and persistent for the best results.

As for those more stubborn stains that, despite your best efforts, refuse to come out, we again point above to dyeing your couch to match your chosen colour. Once again however, this option is limited to those with fabric couches in solid colours, but in the case of leather you won’t be worrying too much about stains anyway.

As for protecting your couch against stains in future, Scotchgard can do a great job of helping make any spills and stains more manageable to clean up. It achieves this by giving the fabric a hydrophobic coating so that liquids don’t soak into the material but instead sit on top, ready for you to mop up with your chosen wipe.

Conclusion

At this point in the article, you should be fully locked and loaded to protect your new sofa from any harm that may come in its way, from stains to fading to rips and tears you’ll have it under control.

Always remember however, that not everything can stay “new” forever. So don’t be disappointed if over the years your sofa gets more progressive tired and worn as it’s used, this is normal especially for those in more hectic living situations like young or large families. 

Instead, just learn to love the couch as it is, it’s the family couch! This is where movie nights are watched, christmas mornings are spent opening presents and where Dad’s probably going to have a nap in the afternoon sun. What is a couch if not the host where memories are made? So rather than treating your sofa as some sacred artifact, instead take care of it the best you can with the knowledge that this couch is being lived on to its fullest extent.

FAQ

My sofa is beyond repair! Where should I purchase a new one?

If your sofa is on its last legs and you’re looking to replace rather than repair, and you live within New Zealand, then great news! We offer a great selection of sofa’s recliners and modular lounge suites for any type of home!

As for outside New Zealand, our best recommendation would be to look for someone like us. We would advise shopping at a larger big box retailer as their quality control can wildly vary at best or abysmal at worst, instead, shopping with a smaller retailer ensures you’re able to get a quality product alongside service that ensures you’re happy with your product afterwards.

Is it worth purchasing a second-hand couch with the intention of repairing it?

In short, not really. Unless it’s a killer deal for an incredibly easy fix, most couch repair is costly, and in some cases, not even guaranteed to have a “full” repair. When it comes to purchasing second-hand furniture, the best mantra to go by is “you get what you’re given”.

Should I let my pet get on the couch?

When it comes to allowing your pets onto the couch, this honestly depends on you, your pet and how you’d like your couch to be treated. For most, the answer should be a yes, there’s nothing better than having a fuzzy friend cuddled up next to you on a friday night netflix binge.

Where we may throw up a couple red flags would be to do with how the animal treats the couch while your not present. Do they try dig into the squabs or treat the throw pillows as chew toys? Do they shed a ridiculous amount of hair that’s clearly visible? Or maybe they’re just a bit old and at risk of drooling and even being a bit incontinent? Then it may be worth teaching them to stay on the floor if they want to join in on the evening viewing.

However, just because you’re not allowing them on the couch doesn’t mean you have to exclude them from joining in with the rest of the family. It could be worth looking at placing a cat tree or dog bed close to where the couch is so that your animal companion can sit closeby and receive all the attention they want. Even having an old blanket you can use to cover the couch can make a great compromise for those that have chosen to have a dirt bath during the day.

My recliner makes a terrible groaning noise when I extend it, how do I fix that?

If your recliner is making the same noise you do when getting up, then thankfully this can be easily fixed! (unfortunately for you, it’s not quite as easy to fix the reason why you groan.)

To fix a squeaky recliner, all you’re going to need is a can of WD40 or similar spray on lubricant, then extend the chair out fully and find any points of contact or joints and spray them with the lubricant. We would recommend then hopping into the chair and just repeating the recliner motion to fully integrate the lube into the mechanism.

We would also recommend using the included straw attachment to more accurately spray the affected area, as depending on the fabric of the couch the lubricant could either stain or discolour if sprayed too liberally.