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Dining room chair cushions or any chairs with cushions present a bit of a challenge, especially when food or drinks get spilled on them. Want to know how I resolved my stained cushion dilemma? Read on!
New Dining Room Set
Several years ago, I bought a beautiful dining room set with 12 chairs. Four of the chairs are being used in the kitchen with my round table; they match perfectly. And when we have a family dinner or company over, they are used with the dining room table. This was supposed to be the last dining room set I would have to buy. The previous set lasted me 18 years. Sure, it was a little old, and the cushions a little stained, but for the most part, it held up pretty well for a family of five, who entertained a lot.
Why Use this Fabric on a Dining Chair Cushion???
This new set, however, wasn’t doing so well. First, we began to notice that water stains created large brown circles on the fabric. I had the coverage for fabric care, so I contacted the company and they sent out a representative to clean the chair. While he was here, I watched to see how he cleaned the fabric. I asked what he was using and why.
He said he was using an enzyme based cleaner to clean the chair with his steam machine. Also, he indicated that he used distilled water. The reason, because distilled water doesn’t have minerals and iron in it. Minerals are what cause the brown circles to form. After he steam cleaned the cushion, he had me set the chair outside in the sun to dry. This ensured the fabric would be dry all the way through the cushion.
This was a few years ago, and calling a professional out every time we had a dirty cushion seemed like a hassle to me. Thus, I started laying a towel over the cushion whenever our grand kids were over, to protect them. Unfortunately, this didn’t protect my cushion when my daughter spilled red wine on it. (Which came out nicely using OxiClean, and my small carpet cleaner.) Nor did it protect them when my grand kids came in and sat on them with a wet bathing suit. So, I figured there must be a better way.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when I decided to actually take a cushion off a chair and wash it in my laundry sink. I realized very quickly that the distilled water wasn’t actually what helped so much. But that drying the cushion in the sun is what made the most difference. So, I took the washed/rinsed cushion and used my mini carpet/upholstery cleaner to make sure I got most of the water out. Then, I placed the cushion outside on my patio in the direct sunlight to let it dry.
The cushion came out beautifully! Additionally, I took a spray bottle of “NeverWet” made by 3M, and sprayed the cushion outside in the back yard (being cautious as it is like a clear spray paint). Once again, I placed the cushion in the sun to dry out and air out – there is a bit of a smell, but that does go away. I was able to get three cushions done, before the weeklong rainstorm hit. As a side note, if you need rain – take on a large project that needs the sun! Just sayin’.
The Real Test – The Grand Kids and Spaghetti!
The good thing is that my granddaughters stayed over for a few nights and we were able to test out the cushions’ stain resistance. My oldest granddaughter, Addie, spilled some of her spaghetti sauce on herself, and the cushion. I told her to wipe it off and I would deal with it later. Well, after they went to bed, I went to take care of the stain on the cushion…… and there WAS NO STAIN!!! Apparently, when she wiped it off, it came right off! I was so excited!
Thus, after the sun finally came back out, I removed the cushions from the remaining chairs and began the process of cleaning – drying – spraying – drying. After all of that, I had to put the cushions back on the chairs. While I was looking at the chairs sitting upside down on my worktable, I noticed that the feet were a problem. I had tried so many different ways to make the chairs easy to move without damaging my wood or tile floors. And the current round stick-on felt pads were really only good at collecting hair and dirt from the floor. Yuck! Thus, I started looking around for an alternative.
Update! (7.2020)
I found the absolute best feet for dining room chairs! These are Teflon Furniture Sliders sold by Amazon. They have been the best solution for my chairs. Now, the chairs slide easily back and forth, and the floor is not ruined or marked up by scratchy, sticky, pads.
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