There’s a few decisions in life that are really hard to make when it comes to your home.
Like, picking out the right paint color for the exterior of your home.
Oh, yes that was probably the most agonizing decision of all.
Or if you happen to be remodeling, picking out a stain color for your wood floors.
That one was hard too.
But when it came to picking out our counter bar stools ~ I debating and struggled with it so much! I knew the look I wanted, but with 3 young kids I knew I could never have light colored upholstered chairs. I mean, that would be the dumbest mistake and the biggest waste of money I could ever make. Right?
Here we are at Target last year. 1 kid in trouble in the background, the other 2 that can’t stay still or in the same aisle. Me? Agonizing over which style & color to pick for our home with my 3 little rascals in mind and all their messy spills.
Luckily, my husband said, “Just get the ones you really like.” Target was having a great sale on them + our red card discount + free shipping. I ended up getting the Brookline Counter Stools in the Glacier color from Target online. Here’s the link if you want to view them in regular bar stool height.
I still can’t believe I took the gamble & just went for the light colored upholstery! It was a gutsy purchase. But what this post is mainly about is how to clean upholstered chairs. Because I have 2 great tips to share with you all!
I knew I wanted to immediately get them sprayed professionally with a Scotchgard treatment. So I called our local Service Master. I got all 4 of them sprayed for $40 total. I got that good deal by taking the chairs directly to them (at our local office) another plus is that since we had just received them, they were not assembled. So they were able to spray every corner and cover all the fabric with Scotchgard. Had they come to our house to make a service call the price would have been a lot higher.
I had posted this picture above on IG, and it was there that I received the ULTIMATE TIP for cleaning my upholstered chairs!!!
From @mrsmbfrazier:
“I know this sounds odd but it works. Clean up most stains with plain old reverse osmosis water (such as Dasani or Aquafina). Never ever use soap. The chemical breakdown of soap attracts dirt. So, now that you’re starting with a fresh start try the water. I’ve been doing this for 15 years. It works!”
So I had to give her tips a try.
Because trust me, my upholstered chairs see many stains!
Many.
So all I do is use some Reverse Osmosis Water.
Pour some reverse osmosis water on an old cloth and rub it around the stains. I usually do this when I’m vacuuming or doing the laundry (at least once a week to make sure the hard stains will come up.)
Let them air dry.
And presto – no more stains!
Trust me, we eat our favorite Spaghetti on these chairs, my husband and I drink our coffee while we sit on these chairs. The kids drink their fruit juices, eat chocolate cake – you name it.
Sure, sometimes I may have to treat a stain twice with some reverse osmosis water, but it has always come up! Its hard to believe that this simple trick can work so well. Obviously, when we know we have a spill or when my kids drop a piece of greasy pepperoni with some red sauce from their pizza, we will spot treat it with the water right after dinner. But it has always come up. It IS the combination of the Scotchgard treatment and the water. But for a $40 investment, I have the counter bar stools that I really wanted.
I thought I would also share that Target online will have these chairs for sale quite often. Like right now, they have them for 15% off and then they’re offering an extra 15% off when you purchase $75 or more. Yes, getting any piece of furniture is an investment, but its nice when they are on sale, and so timeless in style. That is another huge reason why I loved these so much. The tufted back, and the wood legs matched our floors perfectly. The first time we had a spill I was crushed. But we immediately used the reverse osmosis water, and I knew I had made the right decision and had no regrets with the light gray color.
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