Care and Cleaning

How to Care and Clean Your Furnishings

Now that you’ve invited Ashley into your home, you’ll want to enjoy the furnishings for years to come. To ensure that you do, we encourage you to follow through with proper care and cleaning. This useful guide covers all types of furniture—from upholstered to painted—and mattresses and rugs.

Fabric Upholstered Furniture

We offer countless options in upholstery—from fine leather and skillfully matched manmade alternatives (faux leather), to cotton, nylon, polyester, rayon and wool blends. For your reference, our upholstered products have a tag either under one of the seat cushions or beneath the unit itself. The tag provides a universal cleaning code indicating best cleaning practices.

Universal Cleaning Codes Include:

DC

Dry Clean Only

E

Use the Millennium Leather Care Kit

N

Use the Millennium Leather Care Kit

N FBR

(Natural Fiber Rugs) Immediately blot spills to remove excess liquid with a clean white cloth or plain paper towel. Blot again with a solution of one teaspoon mild detergent with one teaspoon of white vinegar in a quart of warm water. Do not saturate.

S

Clean only with a dry cleaning solvent. Do not saturate. Do not use water. Pile fabrics may require brushing to restore appearance. Cushion covers should not be removed and dry cleaned.

SW

Spot clean with upholstery shampoo, foam from a mild detergent or a mild dry cleaning solvent. Do not saturate with liquid. Pile fabrics may require brushing to restore appearance. Cushion covers should not be removed and dry cleaned.

W

Clean only with water-based shampoo or foam upholstery cleaner. Do not over wet. Do not use solvents to spot clean. Pile fabrics may require brushing to restore appearance. Cushion covers should not be removed and dry cleaned.

WS

Spot clean with upholstery shampoo, foam from a mild detergent or a mild dry cleaning solvent. Do not saturate with liquid. Pile fabrics may require brushing to restore appearance. Cushion covers should not be removed and dry cleaned.

X

Do not clean with either water or solvent-based cleaner. Use vacuuming or light brushing only.

Wool

Blot spills up immediately with a clean white cloth or plain paper towel.

FR Chemicals

Ashley's upholstered furniture is designed and labeled to comply with California's TB 117-2013 Flammability Standard Requirements for Upholstered Furniture, and we are committed to designing our upholstered furniture with the goal of meeting the requirements of TB 117-2013 without the use of flame retardant chemicals. To that end, after working closely with our supply chain, upholstered furniture manufactured by or for Ashley as of January 1, 2015 does not use flame retardant chemicals. In addition, all our upholstered furniture, no matter where it is shipped in the US, includes a label that complies with the requirements of California's SB-1019

TB 117-2013 is a California regulation that provides testing methods for measuring smolder resistance of cover fabrics, barrier materials, resilient filling materials, and decking materials for use in upholstered furniture. Materials tested under the standard either pass or fail the standard.

Leather Upholstered Furniture

Leather isn’t perfect and that’s the beauty of it. All leather or “genuine” leather has natural markings, including variations of shade and tone, as well as nicks, scratches and wrinkles—characteristics that distinguish it from manmade materials.

Expect that some marks will appear on the surface of your leather. Their origin might be anything from healed scars and barbed wire scratches, to skin “stretch marks” and insect bites. By no means should they be considered a defect; nor will they affect the durability or construction of your piece. Such “imperfections” are your assurance that you have a true leather hide.

Also keep in mind, grain patterns and coloring of leather will vary from hide to hide and also within the same hide, making leather all the more interesting and unique.

How to Care for Leather:

How to Remove Spots, Spills and Stains from Leather:

Water Spots:

A water spot can be removed by wiping the entire area seam to seam with a damp cloth so there is no “demarcation point” on the leather and the leather can dry uniformly.

Pet Urine Stains:

We recommend “Natures Miracle" available in pet stores for removing pet urine stains and neutralizing the area. Follow product directions on the product. Please note that anytime you are “washing” or cleaning leather you must do the entire cushion, seam to seam, edge to edge, so as not to end up with a water stain. If leather can dry evenly there is no "demarcation point.”

Ink Stains:

Ink remover sticks are effective in removing or reducing noticeable ink markings from most leathers.

Oil/Food Grease Stains:

Small oil stains can be treated and successfully removed if addressed immediately. Rub corn starch briskly into the stain with your fingers until the heat from the friction is felt. That heat loosens the oil and allows the corn starch to absorb the oil before the leather can. Vacuum or brush the powder off. Repeat until the stain is gone.

Water Stains:

What does it take to clean water stains? Clean water. Should you have a “ring” or demarcation from glass condensation from a glass, soak a new sponge with room temperature water; wring sponge as much as possible. Starting at the spot, dampen the leather and move the sponge to the edges of the cushion. Allow moisture to become less and less as you get further from the spot. Don’t scrub, just wipe.

Wood Furniture

Whether you have an all-wood piece of furniture or a furnishing made of a mix of wood, manmade wood and wood veneer, you want to protect it from damage, maintain its perfect finish and keep it looking beautiful for years to come. Here are some tips to help you do that.

How to Care for Wood Furniture:

How to Spot Clean Wood Furniture:

Glass Furniture

Nothing opens up a room like the beauty and transparency of glass. Of course, you’re so careful not to break it. But you don’t want to dull it or scratch it, either. A few simple steps can clearly go a long way.

How to Care for Glass Furniture:

Metal Furniture

Whether to inject a rustic element or give a piece of furniture a modern, industrial flair, at Ashley, we incorporate metal in our furniture in so many ways. Much of the metal you’ll find is powdercoated, resulting in a smooth, even surface.

How to Care and Clean Metal Furniture:

Painted Furniture

Colorful and unique, hand-painted furniture is a great way to express your individual style. It’s important to place these furnishings out of direct sunlight so the color and vibrancy of the painted finish remains fresh and crisp.

How to Care and Clean Painted Furniture

Marble, Slate and Natural Stone Furniture

Natural stone such as marble and slate brings an earthy, organic element into a space. They’re universally loved for their one-of-a-kind quality. From piece to piece, and even on a single quarried slab, there will be certain color variations. Stone surfaces will have pits and fissures that appear as cracks. They result from immense heat and pressure, which formed the stone eons ago. These characteristics do not impair function or durability; rather they add to the beauty. And while marble, slate and natural stone are certainly quite durable, by no means should be treated as indestructible.

How to Care for Marble and Slate

How to Spot Clean Marble, Stone

Liquid Spills: Blot away the excess liquid with a clean, dry, white cloth; turning the cloth frequently. Spray the area with a marble cleaner or warm water and wipe.

Food Spills: Remove food with a non-abrasive item such as a plastic spoon. Blot with dry, white cloth. Spray the area with a marble cleaner and wipe.

Rugs

How to care for your Ashley rug? That depends on what it’s made of. Some rugs are fine to spot clean. Others, such as our polypropylene or wool rugs, should be dry cleaned only. So please check the cleaning instructions on the corner tag located beneath your rug for best results.

How to Care for Rugs:

How to Spot Clean Rugs:

Mattresses

Rest easy with the fact that your Ashley-Sleep® mattress doesn’t require much care and maintenance. For starters, all Ashley-Sleep mattresses are designed to be no flip—now isn’t that a relief!

How to Care for Your Mattress

Cushion Care