How to clean a microfiber couch

There are probably 100 blog posts on how to clean a microfiber couch...

But this one... is awesome... because it ACTUALLY worked... most things in my life don't work out quite as splendidly as this did.


I did a WHOLE lot of research, because I really loved these microfiber couches, and they were well within our budget.  But these poor dears needed a lot of work.


Just so you can see how much love these needed.  This is the love seat before I cleaned it...

After a whole lot of research, I discovered all couches have cleaning codes.  I didn't know this.  Ours was located under the cushion on one of those "do not remove under penalty of law" tags

This couch was VERY luckily "W" so I decided to use my favorite cleaning supply... DAWN BLUE DISH SOAP!!!

Seriously, this stuff is magical, and SUPER inexpensive.  Dawn blue works the best.  I wouldn't skimp and use the no-name brand, dawn is pretty cheap.

I filled a water-bottle with hot water, and put about a tablespoon of Dawn Blue Dish Soap in it.. (maybe a little more, I get carried away). Then swirled it around to mix it up.

So I soaked the cushions and scrubbed them with a sponge.

Then, I let it dry.  It looked okay, but they were really, really stained.

So I unzipped the covers, and made my husband pry them off (they were kinda tight) and then we threw them in the washer with some gentle Tide detergent (not very much, not even quite half a cap-full)

Then I threw them in the dryer on cool for a few minutes, not enough to get them dry, but just enough to start the process.  Then I made my wonderful hubby squeeze them back onto the cushions.  They were gorgeous.

Here's a before and after:

After one gentle cycle in the washer, I was so pleased with the results!

I started on the couch, same process. I soaked the couch with my dishsoap and water solution.  Then scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed.  Then I borrowed my moms handy-dandy carpet cleaner with an upholstery attachment, and sprayed clean water on it until it was saturated.

Then I used the attachment to suck up the water, AND DIRT (it was way way dirty water).

I sucked it up until little to no water came out of the couch, and then I made sure to go over it one more time to make all the fibers go the same way.

Then we let it dry overnight.

When we woke up, It was so clean, it looked like a new couch!

[insert clean picture of love seat here]


The fabric on the arms was a little stiff, so I vacuumed it with the upholstery attachment on my vacuum.  Now it is soft and new!

Isn't it so pretty?

It makes my living room look much bigger and cozier! (which is what we are aiming for)

I've also learned that regular maintenance really is the key to clean microfiber.  Vacuum your furniture with an upholstery attachment once a week (or at the very least once a month) to avoid ground in dirt and grime.  Clean wet spills immediately, using as little water as possible.


Have you ever cleaned microfiber? How did you do it?