Why I Love My Washable Sofa Slipcover

I was feeling rather lazy today.  Instead of sitting at the dining table like I usually do at lunchtime, I thought I’d sit on the sofa and watch some TV, for a change.  I got myself a nice big bowl of tomato soup and some crusty bread, then sat back to enjoy a relaxing lunch break.  But then disaster struck.  I’d just taken a mouthful of soup, only to discover it was a tad on the hot side.  Not wanting to burn my mouth I lent forward to grab my glass of water from the coffee table.  And in doing so managed to knock my spoon out of the bowl.  Of course, it landed on the couch right next to me, leaving an oily, tomatoey stain on the lemon yellow fabric.

Doh!  I was really annoyed with myself - what was meant to be a lazy lunch break was turning out to be anything but.  It was my own silly fault really, but what was most annoying was that I’d only just put a clean slipcover on the sofa this morning, as I was expecting friends later.  I stood up to sort out the mess, and clumsily dropped my bread onto the sofa.  Of course it landed buttered side down, which resulted in a greasy, crumby stain to go with the tomatoey one!

Anyway, I put the remains of my food safely on the dining table before removing the dirty sofa cover.  Fortunately it’s made from a good blend of cotton and polyester, which means it’s machine washable.  Just as well, with the mess I’d made!  I loaded it into the washing machine and put it on straight away, while I got back to my soup.  Although I usually like to hang my furniture slipcovers outside to dry, as I didn’t have much time I put this one in the tumble drier (I checked the label first just in case I inadvertently shrank it!).  I’d put matching chair covers on my armchairs, which were clean on today, otherwise I would have switched the whole lot with another set of slipcovers.

By 5 o’clock the sofa slipcover was completely clean and dry, smelling fresh and showing no sign of my lunch!  I quickly fitted it back on the sofa and was finally able to sit back and relax.  Before I nodded off for a quick powernap, I reflected on how simple it had been really to clean my slipcover.  At least I hadn’t had to spend my afternoon trying to remove the stains from the upholstery.  When my friends get here they’ll be none the wiser.  But they’d better be careful with that red wine all the same!