The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Sofa

published Aug 2, 2017
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(Image credit: Liz Calka)

Whether or not you love your furniture, it pays—quite literally—to keep it looking great. If you have a sofa or chair you love, the benefits of making sure your investment lasts a long time are obvious. But even if you’re not sitting on your forever couch right now, keeping it in great shape will make your piece a more appealing second-hand buy for the lucky shopper who finds your well-maintained sofa on Craigslist for a steal.

Besides keeping stains at bay and giving your sofa a good vacuum every once in a while, you should put this two-part routine on your calendar: The Flip and Fluff.

(Image credit: Ashley Poskin)

Tackle This Today: The Flip & Fluff

Today. Like, right now. It’ll only take 10 minutes, I promise. Walk over to your sofa (if you happen to be reading this on the sofa, you’re already one step ahead!) and get started:

Pull the throw pillows off your sofa (and any cushioned chairs, too—they get the same treatment, but I’ll keep writing “sofa” here to keep it simple). How you fluff and flip from here depends on the design of your sofa—some have cushions that can’t be flipped, or shaped cushions that fit only in one particular place on the sofa. It’s like a fun puzzle you’ll have to solve, but the idea is to flip, turn and rotate each piece into a brand new position. The goal is to reveal fresh fabric and rotate cushions throughout different positions that get different amounts of wear (everyone’s got a favorite spot on the sofa, yeah?). Don’t forget that you can switch cushions on an identical pair of chairs, for instance, if one gets sat in more than the other. Once you’re through, drop the throw pillows back into place, giving each one a quick fluff.

Keep it Going and Reap the Rewards

To really set yourself up for a long, happy life with your sofa, you’ll want to tackle the flip and fluff routine often. So take a second today and add a recurring reminder or calendar appointment labeled “Flip and Fluff” to remind you to get it done.

How often should you flip and rotate your couch cushions? If they get sat on a lot you might want to handle it as frequently as every two weeks. But if you remember to do it monthly, or even quarterly, it’s better than nothing!