It’s a classic horror story. You’re relaxing on the couch with a glass of red wine and you accidentally spill it on your brand new white carpet or beige couch. What do you do? Don’t panic! Spilling wine doesn’t automatically mean a death sentence for your carpet or upholstered furniture anymore. Just act quickly, follow a few simple steps, and the stain will be gone in no time.
Spot cleaning every week or so is always a good idea as it keeps the carpet looking new. In fact, carpet manufacturers recommend spot cleaning stained carpets as often as necessary and having them professionally cleaned once a year to keep them looking fresh. If you professionally or steam clean your carpet too often it can wear down the fibers and shorten the life span of the carpet. Also, certain name brand spot cleaning products clean the stain temporarily but leave a residue behind and a few days later, a faint stain may reappear. It’s best to try some home remedies before going the chemical or professional route. Keep in mind that the same rules that apply to cleaning your carpet also apply to cleaning your upholstered furniture.
When dealing with any stain, the key is to act immediately. The longer you take to react, the more time the stain has to set into the carpet. Take a damp paper towel or cloth and gently blot the stain. Don’t rub, rubbing the stain will either help it to spread or grind it deeper into your carpet. Blot the stain until no more wine comes off onto the towel.
One of the best ways to deal with red wine spillage is with a white wine chaser. That’s right. If you spilled your red wine, pour a glass of white over the stain. The white wine actually neutralizes the red wine and the stain disappears magically before your eyes.
If you don’t have any white wine on hand, there are other ways to get rid of the stain. Try mixing water and some dishwashing liquid in a spray bottle and lightly spraying the stain. Don’t saturate or get the stain too wet, just cover the stain with the dishwashing solution. After the stain is covered, gently blot until the stain is removed.
Here’s another homemade solution. Try mixing dishwashing liquid and hydrogen peroxide and spraying that on the stain. Straight hydrogen peroxide also works well in removing stains; however, over time it looses its stain-fighting powers. For best results, use a fresh bottle of peroxide. Keep in mind, though, that the peroxide might bleach the carpet so this solution should be used only for white carpet. If using the solution on a colored carpet, you may want to test the peroxide on a hidden piece of carpet first. Carbonated soda water also helps to lift wine stains out of the carpet. The bubbles react with the wine and stains vanish.
There have been other miscellaneous red wine stain fighting tips, but these are to be used at one’s own discretion, as there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of written proof about their stain fighting abilities. Simple table salt is said to counteract red wine stains if rubbed into the carpet immediately. Baby wipes are also said to be helpful in the removal of wine stains, but remember, blot, don’t rub.
If you’ll be vacuuming your carpet after stain removal, it’s a good idea to wait until the stained area has dried. This way, if the stain is still present, you won’t be spreading it or setting it deeper into the carpet.
Of course there are plenty of products one can purchase specifically for the purpose of removing wine stains from the carpet or furniture, but they’re usually unnecessary as the home remedies work just as well, if not better. Before running out to the supermarket for heavy-duty stain removers that may or may not work, why don’t you try one of these tips? It may lengthen the life span of your carpet and upholstery.
