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Love Your Pets, Not Their Mess: How Your Furniture Can Help Fight Pet Stinks And Stains

7 January 2015

Allen Griffin

You may love your furry friends, but there's no denying that pets sure are messy. If you want to keep your home free of stains and odd smells, knowing your way around pet-friendly furniture is the first step. Before you redecorate, consider how more information on your furniture and accessories could help protect your home from pet damage.

Pick Furniture Impervious To Pet Problems

Furniture is one of the most common victims of pet hair, dirt, and messes, which means the most effective way to keep stains and smells from taking over your home is to decorate with the hardiest furniture you can find. For the most part, hair and stain resistance comes down to the upholstery. If you want your furniture to remain untarnished for as long as possible, your best bet will be to have to upholstered with one of the following three materials:

Crypton Super Fabric: This artificial woven fabric is renowned for its popularity in heavy-use applications, like hotel furniture or hospital accessories. It is incredibly resistant to liquids, making it a strong contender in the fight against stains. In fact, the surface creates a barrier that locks out almost all dirt, microbes, and other materials that might harm your furniture or stink up the place. This not only extends the life of your furniture greatly, but also allows you to clean up messes far more easily than traditional woven fabrics.

Ultrasuede: Older than Crypton by a couple of decades, ultrasuede is another artificial fabric that makes for excellent upholstery. Made mostly of polyester, it typically has a woven appearance, but also comes with significant stain and tear-resistance, meaning your cat or dog's claws aren't likely to permanently scar your couch. It is very resistant to liquids and microbes, though not quite on the level of Crypton fabric. Ultrasuede is usually designed to closely resemble true suede fabric. 

Genuine Leather: The classic choice for homeowners looking to stock up on stain-resistant furniture, leather is a sleek and stylish way to cut down on mess in your home. Liquids and dirt are typically easy to brush away from a leather surface, but it can be damaged by pet claws. While leather furniture is usually seen as a luxury due to its smooth feel and rich color, its price today tends to remain within the grasp of most homeowners.

Opt For Smart Pillows And Blankets

The base fabric of your furniture pieces is very important, but the pillows and blankets you use can matter just as much. After all, what's the point of a stain-resistant loveseat if the throw pillows are covered in hair and discolored by pet messes? If you want to keep your furniture accessories looking their best, you can take protective steps to ward off stains and dirt.

Choose Machine Washable: The best pillows for pet owners come with machine washable outer casings that can be unzipped or unbuttoned and tossed in the wash at a moment's notice. This is crucial to protecting your pillows from pet mess since it shields them, so the thicker these cases are, the better. Unfortunately, this can limit your choice of decorative pillow, since fabrics like silk or pillows decorated with sequins are unlikely to be machine washable.

Protect Your Bed:  Cats and dogs love sleeping with their owners, but that means they're also prone to accidents in bed. Duvet covers are a must for any pet owner for this reason, even if you don't sleep with them every night. Mattress pads are also essential for keeping your mattress stain-free, no matter how sick or dirty your pet is when it jumps into bed. Both mattress pads and duvet covers are just like pillow cases: thicker is better.

Keeping your home looking pristine can be difficult when you have pets, but it doesn't have to be impossible. With smart decorating choices, you can make it far easier to avoid stains and keep your house looking shipshape.

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