Caring for your Laura James Sofa
Sofa Fabric Care
Caring for your fabric sofa not only improves its longevity but maintains it's shape and appearance. Laura James champion giving your new sofa lots of love and care so you can spend day after day and night after night lounging in your living/family space for years to come. For more information on caring for your fabric sofa, please give our guide a read for handy hints and tips.
General sofa care tips
Proper sofa care and maintenance starts with protecting the area around it. To avoid marking your floor try using using castor cups or felt pads on your sofa's feet, especially on delicate hard floors or impressionable carpet. We suggest using a side table or coffee table to rest all food and drinks.
Protecting sofas from fading
Fabrics are affected by sunlight and heat, so we recommend keeping your upholstered sofa away from direct light and heat sources, including radiators. While all fabrics will fade over time due to the nature of the material and weaves, avoiding heat will help to minimise excessive appearance changes. Also, although obvious, we highly recommend keeping them away from naked flames, too...
Keeping sofa cushions plump
Over time, cushions will lose volume, so to help maintain the shape and keep them full of bounce, we suggest plumping firmly from the outside edges every few days. If your cushions aren't fixed, it's also a good idea to turn and rotate them to avoid uneven wear if you've got a favourite snuggle spot. Our feather filled cushions may also shed some feathers overtime, this is normal and to be expected that some feathers will work their way through the inner liner during use.
Sofa spills
Accidents are bound to happen. But it's important to attend to them immediately to avoid causing permanent damage to your sofa's surface. Soak up liquids with a dry cloth, then use a hairdryer to avoid water marks, holding 20-30cm away from the fabric. If you've spilled something that might leave a stain, like red wine, call a specialist for some professional help.
Cleaning your fabric sofa
We suggest that you hoover your sofa regularly to avoid dust building up as this can, over time, create marks and stains on that fabric that can't be reversed. If your sofas in need of a deeper clean, seek out a local professional to give it a clean rather than trying to do it yourself.
Velvet sofa care
Velvet's known for its beautiful texture and pile, which, depending on the way it's moved or brushed can change the appearance, colour and finish of the fabric. As a result, it's not unusual for velvet to appear 'crushed' when new. We suggest brushing your new velvet sofa with a soft clothes brush to fluff the pile back up. Because of the way it's woven, velvet pile will naturally crush over time, but this is part of its antiquing process and doesn't affect its durability.
A few tips from our manufacturer:
• Always brush velvet in the direction of the pile
• Turn the cushions regularly, and gently brush or vacuum (with an upholstery attachment or cloth-covered regular nozzle) weekly
• Soak up spilled liquids immediately by blotting with a dry cloth – this will help to prevent water marks that can't be removed.
• Don't rub or put pressure on the affected area – you might push the stain in deeper. Once you've soaked up most of the spillage, use a hairdryer at a distance to make sure the velvets properly dried.