How to Clean a Faux Velvet Sofa?

Faux velvet sofas are elegant pieces that instantly add grandeur and beauty to any room. This luxurious look doesn’t come easy, though. The soft, shiny synthetic fabric is a dust magnet and needs constant care to keep it looking neat.

Proper care, regular maintenance, and clever stain removal are all essentials if you have a faux velvet sofa. In this guide for upholstery cleaning, I’ll show you how to clean a faux velvet sofa and keep it in mint condition!

Regular Faux Velvet Upholstery Cleaning
Dust and dirt pile up on faux velvet pretty quickly. If you have kids or pets, this is likely to happen more.

Where you live also matters. If the air is dusty outside, and you like to keep the windows open, your sofa will pick up all the tiny particles.

Faux velvet loses its sheen and tends to look dull if not cleaned properly and regularly. Here’s how you can retain its freshness:

• Choose the proper vacuum cleaner attachment, and a soft upholstery brush is ideal.
• Select a low-power setting on the vacuum cleaner, as higher powers could pull and pinch the fabric.
• Gently vacuum the sofa, moving the brush in the direction of the nap. If you’re unfamiliar with that term, the nap is the raised fibres of the fabric.
• Keep vacuuming till you remove all the visible dirt and loose debris. You don’t need to overdo it.
• Use a soft-bristled brush to revive the sofa’s nap and sheen. You don’t need to do this daily. An occasional fibre lift would be great.

Spot Cleaning a Faux Velvet Sofa
Faux velvet sofas are just as prone to spills and accidents as any other piece of furniture around the house. Even if you place your sofa in a low-traffic, adult-only location in your home, it can still get stained.

Here’s what you need to do to eliminate or minimise this issue:

• Act quickly. Immediate action facilitates removing stains, and you often get better results if you blot out the spill before it penetrates the fabric.
• Use an absorbent cloth, and don’t rub or press the spilt substance. Surface blotting is the way to go.
• Before applying any cleaning solution to the stain, try it on an inconspicuous part of the fabric. Leave it for 10 minutes, and if it doesn’t cause any discolouration, clean the stain with it.
• A DIY mixture of water and vinegar should be enough to clean up most stains. Use a solution containing equal parts of each, but you can decrease the vinegar for more superficial stains.
• Avoid over-saturating the fabric with the cleaning solution. Just put a few drops on a microfiber cloth and move it from the outside inwards. This should limit the spread of the stain.
• If the stain is greasy, you can add some dish soap to the mix. Use the suds to clean up the stain, and if necessary, add more of the cleaning solution, but try to be thrifty.
• Open a nearby window, if possible, to let the fabric dry.

Deep Cleaning Your Faux Velvet Upholstery
For a deeper and more thorough cleanup, using an extraction machine on your faux velvet sofa can be highly effective. An extraction machine thoroughly cleans by injecting water and cleaning solutions deep into the fabric and then extracting the dirty fluid, which revitalises the fabric and removes ingrained dirt.

Remember to use the extraction machine with the nap in the direction of the fabric. This helps lift the velvet fibres, making them plush and perky. Also, keep the machine at a safe distance to avoid over-wetting the sofa or causing heat damage.

Allow the upholstery to air-dry completely before using the sofa again.

When to Consider Professional Upholstery Cleaning
Call a cleaning service and ask the professionals to help you clean the sofa if you find yourself in any of the following situations:

• The stain is too stubborn, and home remedies aren’t working.
• The damage is substantial, and there are stains in multiple spots.
• You don’t think it would be easy to clean up the sofa. We have the equipment, chemistry and expertise to clean upholstery effectively and safely. Feel free to contact us for a free quote through the request form or by phone with our friendly customer service team.

You can see the differences between our services in the before and after photos.

Bonus Tip for Faux Velvet Upholstery Care

Consistent care pays off. This applies to cars, human relationships, gardening, and just as much to faux velvet sofas. The difference here is that sofas aren’t that demanding.