When you are hosting a gathering, or if you have children, then staining seems to be something that you always have to deal with. The nature of certain foods and drinks will always put your beautiful home at risk, especially if you have lightly colored carpets or furnishings. The basic rule with stains is to keep them wet until you know properly how to get them out, and in most cases, the stain will be in a carpet. However, some other soft furnishings can get stained as well, and in these cases there can be difficulties, in that they may be made out of less durable fabrics, and require specialist cleaning. Whilst this piece cannot cover all of the specifics of cleaning things like rare silks or cashmere cushions, there is a world of advice that can make lifting stain a fair bit easier, as half of the battle is knowing what to do!

For a start, carpets are usually the victims of the worst staining, so let’s look at them. A light colored carpet is regularly stained with food or drink from people simply being careless, so how to get rid of it? The best plan of action is to dab at the mark with a flannel or paper towel, to get rid of any residue mess. This will ensure that you are able to rub at the stain without spreading the excess around, which would only make the stain bigger! If you have it, apply a stain remover immediately. There are a variety of different cleaning products that are made for staining and they will all have instructions as to what surfaces that they can be used on. Carpets are usually made of similar materials, and will be highly durable, given their purpose or being trodden on. So, apply the stain remover, allow it to work on the stain for five minutes, and then take a rough sponge or brush and scrub away at the offending area. You should find that a good stain remover, if applied early will remove the stain fairly easily. If you do not have any in the house at the time, then you should apply water, and keep dabbing away, attempting to keep the pigments in the stain wet, so that they don’t dry in to the carpet fibers. Dabbing the stain will lift the water which holds the pigment out, so that the stain gradually gets lessened.

With more delicate materials like silk curtains etcetera, you need to seek professional advice. Every material is different, and every cleaning product is different, so there is no definitive answer as to how you should proceed. Basically, the answer comes in the form of a great cleaning company, who can advise you on the right cleaning product for the right fabrics. In the worst cases, is may be necessary to take the stained item to a dry cleaners, and see if they have any advice, or can help.

When it comes to stains elsewhere in the home, you should be able to protect against them. The only place where stains really happen on hard surfaces are on under-treated wood floors, which should be sealed and fine to wipe clean, as well as the walls. Walls need to be painted in a protective type of paint, which can be wiped clean. Emulsion will simply get watered down if you do this, so ensure that you home is painted in a way that makes cleaning the walls easy.