Dear Charles the butler,
We recently purchased a Natuzzi sofa in beige microfibre. Unfortunately our cat vomited on it twice during the night and by the time we found out it had dried. I tried to clean it with water but the stains are still there. Are there any chemicals that would clean it? Maria
Hello Maria,
If only we could train our pets to be sick on the kitchen floor rather than on rugs, furniture and beds! OK, let’s deal with the stain. You have two options: you call a professional upholstery cleaning company or you can attempt to clean it yourself. Now this depends how confident you are. I personally would give it the old college try, but of course it’s up to you. Remember that every stain revolves around three things: speed, cleaning agent and technique.
Speed
I assume and hope you tried to take as much of the vomit’s “volume” off the coach before anything else. A spatula or soft plastic spoon is ideal for this. Dealing with stains quickly is very important to success.
Cleaning agent
In a large bowl, mix 2 cups of warm water, 1 tbsp of table salt, ½ cup white vinegar, 1 tbsp clear dish soap and 2 tbsp rubbing alcohol. Mix well by hand until all is dissolved.
Technique
Dip a clean sponge into your homemade solution. Remove some liquid from the sponge and then press into your vomit stain. Don’t rub in the solution. Instead, apply it to the stain and then absorb the moisture with a clean paper towel or an old clean towel. Again, don’t rub it in. What you are essentially doing is applying the homemade cleaning solution and then absorbing the liquid vomit mixture back in a clean cloth. Do this repeatedly back and forth until it appears that all of the vomit stain has been removed. Now before you try this, please test it out on an area of the sofa that will never be seen. I’m confident in the technique, but I want to know how the microfibre fabric will respond to the cleaning agent. Once you test it, this will give you the answer to either proceed confidently or call a professional. Please let us know how this stain removal technique turns out for you.
• Got a question? Send an Email to askcharlesthebutler@metronews.ca
