No matter how carefully you treat your upholstered furniture, the day will come when your favorite upholstered couch or chairs will look worse for wear. Fortunately, there are some easy things you can do to extend the life of your upholstered furniture. From simple tricks like remembering to rotate the cushions to hiring a professional upholstery cleaning company , the following tips will help keep your favorite upholstered furniture looking great for years to come.

Vacuum and Rotate Cushions

Soil, dirt, and dust can settle into the fabric of your upholstered couch or chair and wear down the upholstery gradually over time. To prolong the life of your upholstered furniture, vacuum the cushions regularly, about once every week. While you are at it, rotate the cushions and flip them over so that the wear spreads evenly across the entire cushion.

Block out the Sun

Few things are more relaxing than enjoying a cup of tea or reading a book on your favorite upholstered chair while sun shines through the window and warms you to the core. Unfortunately, upholstery can be damaged by exposure to the sun’s rays. Use drapes or blinds to shade your upholstered furniture to keep it feeling and looking its best.

Pre-Treat Your Furniture

As far as preventative maintenance goes, there are a variety of pre-treatment products that can prevent stains and keep your upholstery looking and feeling like new. Do your own research or talk to an upholstery cleaning company about what sorts of preventative products can be used on your furniture for best results.

Invest in Professional Cleaning

Depending on how much wear and tear your furniture sees, and depending on how well you maintain the upholstery yourself, you should have upholstered furniture professionally cleaned at least once or twice a year. Professional upholstery cleaning will tighten the fibers, remove stubborn dirt and stains, and lengthen the life of the upholstery .

No other flooring material can match the comfort and warmth of carpet. Unfortunately, no other flooring material requires quite as much maintenance as carpet, either. Regular vacuuming will help keep your carpet looking and smelling clean, but even that isn’t enough. To help keep your carpets in tip-top shape, here are some carpet cleaning tips and guidelines from a professional carpet cleaning company in Tampa, FL .

Vacuum Regularly

Vacuuming your carpets at least once a week can prolong the life of your carpet by preventing a buildup of gritty particles that can tear up the carpet’s fibers. When vacuuming, divide the floor into quadrants and vacuum each quadrant two or three times before moving onto the next. This will allow your vacuum to remove all the ground-in dust and dirt.

Treat Stains Immediately

Spills happen to just about every carpet, and they can be incredibly difficult to clean. The most important thing to remember about carpet stains is the sooner you treat them, the easier it will be to keep your carpet clean. Carefully blot the entire area with a paper towel or washcloth. When you apply spot cleaner, work from the outside of the stain toward the inside. Don’t rub the spill, but blot it carefully to spread the stain.

Bring in the Pros

Even with regular vacuuming and spot cleaning, your carpet will still accumulate unsightly spots and stains. Where home cleaning methods fail, professional carpet cleaners can get the job done. Not only will a professionally cleaned carpet look, smell, and feel like new, but it can also prevent illnesses and help ease allergies and asthma attacks. Carpet professionals recommend you have your carpets cleaned every six months.

When looking for a carpet cleaning company in Tampa, FL, look for a service that uses truck-mounted steam cleaners and deodorizers. These methods result in the cleanest, freshest smelling carpets.

If there are two words that strike more fear into the heart of carpet owners than red wine, we certainly don’t know what they are. However, red wine stains aren’t the kiss of death most carpet owners fear them to be. For starters, try to blot as much of the spilled wine as possible. Use a white towel and apply steady pressure on the stain, lifting and blotting until all of the liquid has been soaked up. Next, mix one tablespoon of liquid hand dishwashing detergent and one tablespoon of white vinegar with two cups of warm water. Apply the mixture to the stain with a clean white cloth, blotting frequently with a dry cloth until the stain disappears. You can also try a detergent/vinegar solution for really stubborn red wine stains.

If all the scrubbing in the world won’t get a red wine stain out of your carpet, call a professional carpet cleaning company . Carpet cleaners use high-powered vacuums and steam cleaners to remove even the most stubborn of carpet stains. While you’re having your carpets cleaned, have your upholstery furniture cleaned to make your entire home look, feel, and smell like new.