Keep your Upholstery, Curtains and Drapes clean!

When you step in to any household, one of the first things that catches your eye more often than not, is the furniture that’s waiting to greet you, and upholstered pieces of furniture are particularly striking. These include dining room chairs, couches, foot stools, padded storage boxes and loungers. Upholstery is the materials in which a piece of furniture is encased with or comprised of – these include but are not limited to fabric, padding, webbing and springs. 

As upholstery has become a more popular feature either when buying furniture – or later down the track as a restorative measure – the materials in which are used in this process have become quite varied. The interior materials, while not always visible, play a big part in whether the piece of furniture is comfortable or not. Surface fabric can always be changed or cleaned, but the interior upholstery remains an untouchable and important aspect of your favourite household items. 

There is a huge variety of options when it comes to choosing a piece of furniture or the material in which to restore/upholster your current furniture with. Natural fabrics are made from natural fibres that come from either plants or animals. Examples of natural materials include cotton, leather, jute, linen, silk and wool. Synthetic fabrics – otherwise known as “engineered” fabrics, are textiles produced from man-made fibres. Synthetic fabrics tend to be more durable, resistant to cleaning and resilient against everyday contact. It’s a common feature of many furniture companies to stock both natural, synthetic and a combination blend of the two in their upholstery selections. 

Prices can of course vary, and the way in which you care for these different materials is a big consideration when choosing what material to go with. Listed below are some basic DIY cleaning tips that you can implement to keep your items looking great. Periodic cleaning is super important – particularly if you are investing in a piece that you want to last through the generations. While the cleaning technique will need to be adjusted according to the type of material at hand, you can absolutely make a periodic maintenance job easier for the professionals through regular upholstery care habits!

Don’t Underestimate the Vacuum Cleaner!

Dust and residual dirt can soon become your arch nemesis if you don’t keep on top of it on a semi-regular basis. Unless vacuumed properly, surface dust and dirt can actually be worsened during a more thorough cleaning process due to compaction and eventual smearing as they are wiped away by chemical products. While a vacuum might not look friendly enough for the antique velvet sofa from grandma, you can use a lint-roller or soft brush head to wipe away dirt from delicate surface areas. As for the worn and beloved living room couch; using the vacuum to regularly remove surface dirt and dust is an effective and time-saving practice. Be sure to remove the brush-head component to really suck up dirt build-up between crevices or cracks. for any hidden dirt or particles. Turn cushions over too, to tackle those hidden dust balls and crumb piles that are starting to encroach on the under-surface. Once you have the loose stuff removed, a periodic cleaning job will be much easier to implement – and much more effective! 

Without impulsively slapping on the wrong chemical, do try and be proactive when it comes to combating stains in their early stages of contact with your upholstery. Why? Well think of it like this – tomato sauce is a tough one to remove. But tomato sauce that you’ve let sit there without attention for several weeks? Even tougher. A trained cleaning-professional will just about be able to remove any stain you face them with – provided it hasn’t been living there for a prolonged period of time. To get the best service and result from a professional upholstery cleaning service, try and keep stains at bay as they crop up. It’s important to know how to identify and spot-treat stains.

Start with the Obvious

Whether you’re tackling a brand-new stain or finding ancient discoloration that you didn’t know was even there – spot clean these areas first. If your upholstery is looking pretty good as a whole, there’s not much point attempting to deep-cleanse the entire item yourself – leave this to the pros. However, if you can identify a few spots needing attention, check with the manufacturer’s guidelines for cleaning directions. If there are none, apply a little warm water mixed with white vinegar to the surface to gently break down the stain. If vinegar sounds a little scary, there are products available to purchase that are designed especially for different materials. Don’t forget to specify what type of material your upholstery is made of when purchasing a cleaner in store and be mindful of ingredient lists when taking the plunge online. 

Most importantly – do a patch test. Regardless of the product you’re using, ensure you test a very small area of the upholstery to observe what the end result may be if you slap it on everywhere. Allow the patch to dry completely before checking for any damage. When you’re feeling confident, begin spot cleaning using a microfiber cloth and strict attention to the recommended quantity. Some material-types will have a strict code of conduct for professional-cleaning only. This is where you need to hang up the cloth, put down the vinegar and give Drytron a call! 

Curtains, Drapes, Upholstery, call Drytron!

There is nothing better than the smell of clean furniture. While new household items start off smelling squeaky fresh, this will not remain without some periodic cleaning. The effects of weeks, months even years of human, pet and food contact can really affect the feel, smell and look of your favourite furniture pieces. So, you’ve read through some easy DIY upholstery-cleaning tips – now it’s time to call on the best professional upholstery cleaning team in Melbourne for a periodic cleaning job that will rejuvenate your home. Curtains, drapes and upholstery cleaning are all services provided by the expert team at Drytron. Through a tried-and-test six step cleaning process, Drytron will assess your situation and keep your furniture looking and feeling as good as the day you brought them! Call our team today or book online for a free quote and get the deep-cleaning process started.

Book Online or Call: 13 12 50

Your home is full of opportunities!

For some of us, leaving the house for our regular gym visit is a luxury. While it might leave some of us with tender muscles and a beetroot-red appearance, it can serve to be that one hour or two of the day where we are able to work on ourselves, with ourselves, for ourselves. 

The thing is, not everyone has the ability to join a gym or even to leave the house in order to implement health and fitness behaviours. Whether you work from home, don’t like gyms, have kids to worry about, are trying to stay within a budget, or you just like your own space – well look no further. Your very own home environment is filled with options when it comes to implementing and maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle. Ok you might have to walk out the front-door and down the street… but if you don’t like the idea of having to drive to exercise, we’ll help set you up with an insight into how you and your home can work together! 

Use what you’ve got!

Before we get into the how and the when, take a look around at the what! Do you have stairs which you can use for running sequences or interval training? How about a wide and open space in the living room in which to do on-the-spot cardio and strength training? 

Your own home can contain a lot of elements that you can use to your health and fitness benefit. As mentioned, stairs are fantastic tools for cardio-fitness, running, stretching and even some yoga poses. Be careful if your stairs are wood as this can make you susceptible to slips and tumbles. A good pair of sneakers will easily grip any floor surface, and textured socks are also effective when finishing your exercise with yoga or Pilates. Outside, inside, on the side… stairs and inclines, paths and open spaces, heavy jars and random bars – all of these household features can be incorporated into an exercise routine. Take a walk around, make note of your options, and use the internet if you’re needing creative health inspiration. You’d be amazed at what you can do just by effectively utilising your own space.

Get to know your surroundings via exercise

Have you always wanted to properly explore your neighbourhood, but never seem to find the time to do so? Take your exercise outside and go for a walk, run, jog or bike-ride around your local area. Exercising outdoors is also a great way to discover new places closer than you realise. Parks, walkways, hills are all elements of a neighbourhood that you could utilise in your health plan. If you’ve got kids, take them on an “adventure” to an unknown patch of grass. If you’ve got a pet, delight them with a trip to new smells down hidden alleys. Run up and down dead-ends if you want to have an end-point in which to cordon off your running distance – the opportunities are endless. Exploring is great for the mental health too, and when tied in with your physical health efforts, it’s a win-win! Personal training sessions can also be organised to occur in your house, should you request it. Be your own strength and conditioning coach, or, if you need some extra guidance – call a local health and fitness trainer to talk through your exercise goals.

Plan your week on a Sunday

Planning ahead is key to any effective and maintainable health and fitness plan. Create a space on your fridge, office or bedroom wall, in which to stick up a nice, bright and colourful weekly plan. Separate it into the days of the week, hours of the day, and leave room for both eating and exercise. Creating a weekly plan is a sure-fire way to set you up for positive behaviours in the coming days. There’s no reason to avoid it if it’s right in front of you – and especially if you’ve put it together yourself, for yourself. Studies have shown that 87% of men and women who made a health and fitness plan and physically placed it somewhere visible in their home, stuck to the plan and carried out their goals. Tick off each day as you complete it, vary your recipes and/or exercises, and watch as the weeks pass and your health condition soars. 

Remove the junk supply – Restock the good stuff

If your particular focus is on eating and nutrition, well, the home has got to mirror that mindset. What this means is ensuring your cupboards, fridge and drawers are only stacked with the items beneficial to your health journey, and you won’t find yourself susceptible to temptation. Everyone has a different outlook on food, snacking, ingredients and diet plans – do whatever works for you. But make sure that you don’t self-sabotage by keeping certain food products that you know will derail your momentum. Customise and re-work your food storage to reflect your daily routine. Storage and packaging can be a great means of portion control and aesthetic improvement of your kitchen. If you’ve got other family members to answer to, simply allocate yourself a shelf that is all your own and that way you only have to look in one place to find your healthy foods. Make it work for you. 

Create your own meditation/relaxation space

It can be easy to neglect mental and spiritual wellbeing when embarking on a health journey. A lot of residual health issues and goals can be linked to mental-state and a want for happier feelings. If you’re somebody who craves peace and quiet, or if you need a balance between cardio/outdoors and quiet meditation time, then find a space in which to implement this. Offices or spare bedrooms can be easily transformed into post-workout meditation, yoga and reflection areas. Light candles, place incense, have a music playlist that calms you – whatever you need to reach that internal “Zen” – put it there. Meditation and mental relaxation are very important in conjunction with a physical health routine. 

A healthy mind also aids in the ability to sleep better and for longer. Poor sleep has repeatedly been linked to a higher body mass index (BMI) and weight gain. In fact, despite the varied requirements for peoples sleeping habits, if you’re sleeping less than you should, there’s a likelihood of obesity increasing by 55% in adults. A healthy mind equals a healthy body! Keep these two hand-in-hand and there’s no way you won’t achieve your goals. 

If you’re using the floors, the stairs, the couch or the foot stool to stay active in your home – congratulations. You have identified ways to keep fit and maintain a routine within your own four walls. Don’t forget about the health of the items in which you’re depending on for your weekly health initiatives though – I.e. carpet, upholstery and even the drapes which can affect home-circulation and breathing-capacity. Call Drytron, for expert advice with their carpet cleaning service, rug, upholstery and curtain-cleaning. Drytron carpet cleaning Melbourne will make sure your home is as fresh and healthy as your new health and fitness plan! 

Call our friendly team to discuss your cleaning requirements: 

Book Online or Call: 13 12 50