Velvet, buttons and bay windows
Rathgar's Victorian and Edwardian houses suit a particular kind of furniture. Velvet tub chairs and button-back sofas in the front room, a chesterfield-style sofa in fabric by the fireplace, a pair of armchairs in the bay window. In the kitchen extension and upstairs there's usually something more modern for everyday use.
Some of these pieces are re-covered antiques and some are good reproductions; either way, the fabric matters more than the age. Period-style upholstery is beautiful and fussier to clean than a plain modern sofa. The fabric has a pile that crushes and marks, the buttons create deep folds where dust collects, and years beside a sunny window take their toll. The video here was filmed on a sofa job in Rathgar.
Velvet: test first, brush after
Velvet has a dense, short pile, and it shows everything: water marks, crushed patches and the shine where people sit. Some velvets are cotton, some polyester, some viscose blends, and they react very differently to water.
So velvet gets extra care:
- Check the code. W or WS velvets can be cleaned with water; S and X velvets can't, and we won't try.
- Test underneath. A hidden spot on the back or the deck, with a white cloth checked for dye.
- Low moisture. Less solution and more extraction, so the pile doesn't flatten or ring.
- Groom the pile. We brush the velvet in the direction of the pile while it's damp, so it dries even.
Even with care, velvet that has been crushed for years may not fully recover, and a shiny seat stays shiny. The chair at the top of this page was heavily soiled before cleaning; orange velvet like that shows every mark.
Button-back and deep-buttoned chairs
Deep buttoning creates folds and pleats where dust, crumbs and pet hair collect out of reach. We vacuum into each fold with a narrow tool before any cleaning, then work the upholstery tool carefully around the buttons rather than over them. Buttons are sometimes covered in a different fabric, or held with thread that has weakened with age, so we keep the pressure light.
Chesterfield-style sofas in fabric are cleaned the same way, panel by panel, with extra time on the rolled arms. That's where hands rest, and grime builds up in the pleats that run round the front of each arm.
Sun fading and soot from the fire
Two things in period houses affect upholstery more than people expect.
Sunlight. A chair in a south-facing bay window fades on one side. Cleaning brightens the colour by taking off the grey film, but faded dye can't be put back, so a two-tone arm stays two-tone. If the chair is going back into the same window, a sheer curtain or turning it round every few months slows the fading next time.
Open fires. A sofa near an open fire or a stove picks up a fine, greasy film of soot over the years. That comes out well with pre-treatment, and the fabric often turns out to be a lighter colour than anyone remembered.
spotless.ieVelvet chair or button-back sofa? Send a photo of the piece, the label and the worst marks on WhatsApp. We'll tell you what to expect and give you a fixed price, usually the same day.
Families in big old houses
Rathgar houses are often family homes, and the everyday sofa gets everyday treatment: children's drinks, crayon on the arms, a dog on the cushions. We vacuum pet hair off first, pre-treat the arms, headrests and seats, and clean the whole piece so it ends up one colour. Old urine that has soaked into foam can leave an odour behind, and we'll say so if it looks likely from the photos.
Zip-off covers stay on the cushions. Washed separately, they tend to shrink or fade and stop matching. We don't clean leather or faux leather, or silk, which water-marks too easily.
Drying in a cool front room
Drying typically takes a few hours. Velvet and thick cushions in a high-ceilinged front room can take longer, so put the heating on and leave a window open, and keep pets off until the pile is dry. Don't sit on velvet while it's damp: the pile takes the shape of whatever presses on it and can dry that way.
Rathgar and Dublin 6
We cover Rathgar and the roads around it, Terenure, Rathmines and Harold's Cross. For carpets, see Dublin 6 carpet cleaning, carpet cleaning in Rathmines or Terenure. Nearby, there's a page for upholstery cleaning in Terenure. Rugs on Rathgar floorboards can go on the same visit: see rug cleaning.
Velvet and buttoned pieces are priced individually and a family sofa by its seats, with the total fixed when we quote. Ciprian, who leads the cleaning, trained with Prochem in 2018, and every visit is fully insured. For fabrics and codes in more depth, see our main upholstery cleaning page, and for velvet care between cleans, the sofa care guide.
