In this post, we’re going to show you the result of our efforts to remove a water stain from upholstery—specifically fabric upholstered walls.
If you haven’t already, read Part 1 of this story.
As we mentioned in part 1, removing water stains from upholstery is one challenge; not getting the fabric TOO CLEAN is another.
And that’s exactly what happened in this case. Because the homeowner’s fabric upholstered walls are over 20 years old, cleaning the water stained spot resulted in a minor shading difference. The place that was water stained now looks a liiiiiiittle too clean..
Here’s how this “close but no cigar moment” took place:
We spent 5 hours trying to remove this very stubborn stain using a progression of cleaning methods, and they worked well but didn’t quite remove the entire stain.
So… We asked the homeowner if she wouldn’t mind if we moved to a more aggressive spot cleaning method, and we explained the risks: slight lightening of the fabric or even tearing it. She said to go ahead and try it, so we did.
We were able to remove the stain without ripping the fabric completely.
But… It did lighten the fabric so that it didn’t completely match up with the surrounding fabric that hadn’t been cleaned in over 20+ years.
Here’s the before and after picture to show the difference:
As you can see from the before and after picture, it’s hard to see a shading difference. Nonetheless, we aren’t completely satisfied with the result, because we do strive for perfection.
Removing water stains from upholstery is no easy task, especially when you’re dealing with upholstery that has “age stains,” or “stains of time” we like to call them.
The homeowner was so sweet, making sure to say “if you can’t make it perfect, no one can.” What a lovely lady. =)
