The way your home looks after it's been professionally cleaned is amazing. However, that clean look can be amazingly fleeting once you and your family start living as you usually do once again. But there are ways to make that cleanliness last, especially for upholstery. A few tasks every month plus a few more once in a while are all you need.

Before the Cleaning Appointment

Before the cleaning appointment, vacuum the upholstery to remove loose dust, pet hair, and other dirt. Place pets in another room and warn children to stay out of the cleaning service's way. If there are fragile items near the furniture that will be cleaned, such as an ornament on a table right next to an upholstered chair, move the ornament. That eliminates the risk that there will be an accident that damages the item.

Just After the Appointment

As the upholstery dries, try to open windows or set fans near the furniture. Keep pets and children out of the rooms where furniture was cleaned, too. It can take a few hours for some items to dry thoroughly; while the cleaning service will give you a rough estimate, you're best off not using that furniture for a few hours more than what the service tells you. Just because the outer surface of the furniture is dry does not mean all of the furniture is dry, including the interior side of the upholstery.

In Between Appointments

Don't ignore your upholstered furniture when there's no cleaning appointment around the corner. Vacuum it at least a couple of times a month, and use gentle products to spot-clean. Train your pets not to sit on the furniture (OK, it might be a little difficult to train cats to stay off), and ban shoes, sandals, and other footwear from the furniture. Upholstery cleaning does a great job in general of keeping everything clean, but you shouldn't take that to mean that it will be able to get rid of all dirt. You need to take some steps to keep the furniture in good shape as well. By the way, change your HVAC filters regularly, too. That lets your air conditioner and heater remove dust and pollen from the air more efficiently, and that helps a bit with controlling dust.

Whether you want just one cleaning appointment or to set up a service schedule, professional upholstery cleaning makes your furniture look, feel, and smell great. If you've noticed your furniture becoming dull and smelly, it's time to call an upholstery cleaning service.

Contact a professional to learn more about upholstery cleaning.