What is your couch cleaning routine?

March 11, 2025 12:13 PM

How do you keep your couch clean, as in, what are your light cleaning and deep cleaning regimens for your couch, and how often do you do them? Difficulty level: two cats.

Happy to hear about specific products, specific machines, opinions about whether the consumer-grade machines are any good to begin with, and really anything about deep cleaning a damn couch. Picture this couch: the seat cushions can go in a washing machine, and the button-tufted cushions cannot.

posted by kensington314 to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

I have a microfiber West Elm couch that has some age on it but still looks good. For day to day, I have a Samsung Jet 60 that I got a good deal on on slickdeals, and it has a smaller spinning brush head for furniture and that gets the hair and kind of lines the microfiber up neatly. When it starts looking dingy or gets a spot, I do the whole thing with a Little Green, sucking up the liquid as best I can and the rest dries in a couple of hours with the ceiling fan on high.

With the Little Green I think you have to commit to doing the whole couch or at least that whole panel once you get going, otherwise you can see the outline of where you cleaned pretty clearly. That whole job takes maybe 20 minutes and it leaves the couch feeling really clean once it dries, whereas it can begin to feel a tiny bit slick beforehand.
posted by ftm at 12:26 PM on March 11

For spot cleaning, FOLEX is amazing. It took a red wine spill out of my oatmeal colored couch lickety-split.
posted by sarajane at 12:54 PM on March 11 [2 favorites]

two big dogs, two cats, we've been throwing a cover on our couch for years

you can purchase heavy custom made pet covers (expensive) or shop for a mid-weight blanket

either way, you mostly just shake it out once in a while and throw it in the wash otherwise
posted by ginger.beef at 1:21 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]

We have a fuzzy West Elm sofa and two pitt bull mixes who occupy it much of the day. The best recommendation I have is the Grime Reaper, which is a silicone or rubber upholstery brush. A professional upholstery cleaner recommended it to me on reddit and it's the first real game changer we've had in a while. Also, its name is great.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 1:22 PM on March 11

Yes, I use knit throws on the couch when I'm not sitting on it (and on my lap when I am because claws). There's even a throw folded longways across the back. For years I did spot cleaning and vacuuming and decided this was much easier, if not as aesthetically pleasing.
posted by JanetLand at 1:24 PM on March 11

Best answer: So you’re … sweating the technique?

We vacuum ours with the upholstery brush head attached and turbo mode on. Our sofa has a removable slipcover that’s labeled as dry clean only, but I’ve laundered it with no ill effects. This makes more of a difference for the slipcovers for pillows and cushions, but even the one for the body of the sofa itself benefits from this treatment. I try to remove it from the dryer when it’s slightly damp and let it stretch/dewrinkle in place.
posted by fedward at 1:26 PM on March 11 [2 favorites]

Not that useful in your case, but we ended up buying a leather couch. It has some light scratching, but it's clean.
posted by signal at 1:41 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]

Re: leather, my sister had a burgundy leather loveseat and two cats. In very short order, it looked like a burgundy and white polkadot love seat, with little bits of batting polking through. Perhaps nail holes would be less noticeable with a light coloured leather? Don't know, but wanted to give you a heads up as to her experience.
posted by kate4914 at 2:13 PM on March 11

I keep a rotating set of plush blankets from Society6 on my sectional. They keep a lot of the cat hair from getting lodged in the couch. I get the 68- by 80-inch ones, double them over, and tuck them behind and to either side of the seat cushions, and they stay in place for at least a few weeks usually that way.
posted by limeonaire at 3:04 PM on March 11

I vacuum the couch regularly with brush and hose attachments, lint roll occasionally, and fill a spray bottle with cheap vodka and spritz the couch thoroughly once a month or so, which does make your couch smell like a lush for an hour or so but is very effective removing pet and human odor.
posted by Wavelet at 7:45 PM on March 11

APPLAUSE FOR CAT NAMES AND FEDWARD’S WIT
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:23 PM on March 11 [2 favorites]

I have a microfiber couch and 7 cats. All I do is somewhat regular use of a Chom Chom roller and occasional full vacuuming of the couch. I've tried using the Little Green Machine on it, but the water came out nearly clean; it just doesn't hold dirt.

I also keep several cat beds on the couch (large sectional), and that contains a lot of the hair.
posted by ktkt at 12:13 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

For everyday, a big cotton blanket over the seat and back of the couch to catch most of the hair and various bits from paws and such. You can get purpose made one, but any normal flat blanket like you'd have on a bed is fine, as long as it can go in the washing machine. It's best if the material is a bit "sticky" against your upholstery so it's not falling off all the time. It is a casual look, but the more you can prevent mess on the couch itself the less work you'll have in cleaning.

Then, when you vacuum, shake out the blankets, throw them in the wash if necessary, and use an upholstery attachment to take off any hair, dust and dander. Vac branded as a "pet" or "animal" model come with this attachment usually, or you can get aftermarket attachments. Maybe once a month or so, take all the cushions and stuff off and vacuum in the crevices, all sides of all cushions, arms, back, etc. If you can, flip the cushions over when putting them back, this will help them wear more evenly.

For spot cleaning, a Little Green or similar--I consider it very nearly a must have for pet owners. Never fear the sound of an oncoming hairball again! For the soap, get the one specifically for pet odors. (They work on human-based odors as well.) Generally, you'll not need to do a full upholstery shampoo more than once a year or every other year max. The Little Green can do it if you're patient or usually the big carpet cleaners you can rent from hardware and grocery stores will be able to do upholstery as well.
posted by radiogreentea at 10:05 AM on March 12

3 cats here, and one thing I often do is keep a separate blanket or towel for the cats to lie on & get their hair all over. Additionally, I use a handheld Dyson vac & lint rollers/brushes for light, regular cleaning. For deep cleaning (eg, someone horks up a hairball) I remove & launder the cushion covers, and I have an upholstery vac in case anyone hits the parts of the couch that cannot be removed for washing.
posted by aecorwin at 11:11 AM on March 12