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I ❤️ Cleaning!
Buying a used boat – really buying a used anything – you’re going to need to get good at cleaning. I love to clean! But so far my limit to cleaning is using 409, Bar Keepers Friend and Swiffer Wet Mopping Cloths. Now that we own a used boat, I need to up my game – BIG TIME!!!
I do not like when things smell, and unfortunately, our ‘new-to-us’ boat came with used saloon (aka interior living room) cushions that likely had years of baked in sunscreen, stains, sweat and odor. We needed a #simplesolution pronto.
Thinking of Grandma
Our cushions are turquoise, and while I don’t love the color, new interior cushions are not the most important item to buy right now, so I’m going to need to live with these for a while. Plus turquoise is my grandma’s favorite color ~ she would love them! I can think of her every time I look at them. Grandmas are the best!
So what would Grandma do to clean these cushions? She wouldn’t have googled anything but instead gone to the store to see the different cleaning products available. It turns out that I’m a woman of action too, Grandma, so that’s exactly what I did.
it works Brilliantly!
The first product that I tried worked brilliantly. So much so that I wished I knew about this product sooner for other upholstery stains. I could’ve really used this when Zeke was around! I’ll pass this info on to you. It’s called Zep Advanced Oxy Carpet & Upholstery Stain Remover. You can buy it at a home improvement store such as Menards or Lowes. I’m sure you could probably find it at Walmart or Target but I don’t shop there or have those stores near me. Of course, you can find it on Amazon!
It may be difficult to see the difference in some of the before and after pictures below, but trust me, it is a night and day difference! I’ll try to zoom in on some of the stains to show the improvement.
Our saloon cushions are standard upholstery fabric, which is very similar to our indoor couch cushions, that should not be getting wet (as opposed to our exterior cockpit cushions which frequently get wet). This means that my simple solution would work for your own sofa or couch cushions too. I’d recommend testing in a spot that can remain hidden just to ensure that the spray will not leave a ring or stain on your material. I did not have any problems of this happening with the boat cushions, and I sprayed generously! After all, there were dark dirt spots that may have been over 25 years old!
If you have a stain that you can’t get rid of on your couch or vehicle upholstery, I’d recommend following the step-by-step guide below.
Tackling the odor
Next, I needed to tackle the smell. Although I would prefer the smell of chemicals to odor, I wanted to deodorize it. I found something at Menards – Whip-It Odor Bully Odor Neutralizer Spray, which was again the first product that I tried and it worked nicely. The packaging really piqued my interest with it being a “plant-based” solution. After all, I was spraying enough chemicals on the cushions already. Note: Don’t buy this on Amazon unless you can find it cheaper! I paid much less for this at Menards (~$6). I’m just linking here so you can see the product details.
Once again, I over-sprayed on the boat cushions but I probably wouldn’t need to spray too much on my own couch cushions … unless we were having guests over and Zeke was still with us! I may say this a lot but I really do wish that he was still here with us! His messes, hair and smells were all worth it because of his love, and snuggles! 🐶❤️🐕
Cleaning Cushions Step-By-Step Guide
Ok, so here’s the easy step-by-step guide (printed version) that I took to get the stains and odor removed:
What You Need:
- Kitchen Dish Brush (only needed for difficult stains)
- Clean Microfiber Rag
- Zep Advanced Oxy Carpet & Upholstery Stain Remover
- Whip-It Odor Bully Odor Neutralizer Spray
Steps:
- Generously spray the cushion with Zep in ~ 3″ x 3″ section. Use your judgment based on your stain, I would spray 2 – 3 times to get a good foam going when I scrubbed in step 3.
- Wait ~ 1 minute to set in.
- Scrub stains with dish brush or microfiber rag in a circular motion.
- Repeat steps 1 – 3 as needed until the stain is gone.
- Spray Odor Bully on all sides of the cushion. Again use your discretion, you may only need to spray once.
- Stand cushion on end to completely dry.
- Repeat for all cushions.
Estimated Time:
20 minutes per cushion. At least 24 hours of dry time.
Once again, if you do not have a filthy cushion, it would definitely take you less spray, less scrubbing and less dry time because you won’t need to get the cushions as wet as I did.
Also, you may have an option to remove the foam from outer fabric. I started to do this but found that it was very difficult to get the fabric back on the cushion. I did not see any difference with the end result, so I opted for the simpler solution and did not remove the foam for the rest of the cushions.
Tell Us what you think
If you tried this solution or have any other tips for cleaning cushions, please let me know what you think in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!
– Kara from Zeke Life
Live like Zeke
You’re such a good boy!
