Fabric

When selecting an upholstery fabric for a sofa lounge suite or dining chairs, you should take into consideration the following important information, ensuring your purchase adds value and ambience to your home and lifestyle.

Professional advice from an experienced furnishing consultant offers extensive product information for your individual look and style.
Over the last 10 years furnishing fabrics have undergone some exciting new developments using advanced computer technology. Metallic and pearlised looks feature strongly, as well as micro fibre products including new suede styles offering superb finish, quality and longevity. Whether you are thinking of re-upholstering a valued family antique or purchasing new furniture, it is worth seeking the right furnishing advice for your home.

Maintenance


Maintenance of your furniture is very important. How long it will remain in good condition depends on the care given, such as turning and swapping your seat cushions regularly, (that is if you have the ability to do so) ensures your foam and fabric is being worn consistently especially if one side of the sofa is sat on more than the other.

Vacuum your upholstery regularly as dust and other particles grind into the fabric wearing the weave and fibres prematurely aside from leaving it aesthetically dirty. Fabric protection is only helpful if you make sure you treat the stain immediately. It is not a plastic protective coating as most would like you to believe and will not shield your upholstery.

What it will do is protect the fibres which make up the construction of the fabric and if a spill or soil occurs and is treated immediately, will aid in the ability to remove it easily. There are fabrics available which have a fabric protection milled into the process. It does work with the right product, speak to the furnishing supplier for this information.

If the fabric has been protected " do not apply another chemical guard, as a reaction between the two chemicals may cause damage to the fabric.

Fading and colour fastness

Try not to have the curtains wide open on your upholstery on an extremely sunny and bright day. Upholstery fabric will eventually fade just as apparel fabric will when hung on the line over and over again in high exposure, especially if it is blue or red based.

Leather

If you have a leather product, clean with a damp wet cloth every couple of weeks to keep the dust and grime off. Once every six to twelve months it may need conditioning. It is much like the human skin, it will dry out and require conditioning but not every day as we do ! Be careful what products you are convinced to buy for leather care. Some are highly chemically based and the leather already contains chemicals in its process, There have been some sad cases where to the two chemicals have had a reaction and the leather lost.