Freshen up your Futon

I love futons- they not only look great,  but also add extra seating and sleeping to a small home on tight budget.

Protect the Mattress

There are lots of ways to protect your futon from showing signs of wear and tear.
By rotating mattress around on a regular basis this will help keep it fluffed and prevent it from having flattened spots from sleeping.  This will give the futon mattress a longer life.

Stain Relief

For stains on the surface of the futon cover, wipe with a damp washcloth or rag.  Use warm water and a mild laundry soap to erase any stains on the surface.  Try to catch a spill as soon as possible,  the quicker you are, the better chances of it not staining permanently.  Use a clean soft damp cloth and blot,  never scrub.  This could result in grinding the stain inward.

Yucky Odors

Futons just like anything else will absorb odors,  thankfully,  there are really easy ways to freshen up your futon.  To make your futon smell clean and free from odors use febreze or baking soda.  To do this open up futon to lay flat,  spray febreze on futon mattress and let dry for about an hour.  Odors should be gone, leaving the futon smelling fresh.
If using baking soda, open flat sprinkle with soda, let set for a couple of hours and vacuum up.  This should have your futon smelling fresh again.
Using the outdoors to freshen up a mattress is easy too,  on a nice summer day, make sure there isn't too much humidity in the air,  open up mattress on the deck and let the fresh air,  air it out.  Just leave outside opened up for a couple of hours and the odors are gone.
Remember, the futon mattress has 2 sides,  make sure to do these on both sides.

Vacuum

Vacuum your futon several times a month and this will keep it from having that stale look and smell.  It will fluff the fibers and remove any dirt or grim that lies on the surface.

Cover

Futon covers can be real handy to maintain the over-all health for your futon,  usually they are machine washable and quite affordable.
When buying a futon mattress cover make sure you get a machine washable one.  If it didn't come with one purchase one right away,  a mattress cover will protect it from staining and wear and tear.
Covering a futon with a sheet before sleeping on it will prevent staining from sweating.  Any bed sheet the same size as the futon mattress should fit.

Closing

Because futons are so versatile they will tend to get soiled easily and quickly.  Keep them clean for long life of looking good.  Freshen up your futon and you will enjoy it for years to come!!
Come check out this and other futons at Up North Furniture!!