Decorating your first apartment is the reason behind reading our article. Well, congrats you finally have the apartment you were looking for. Now is the time to start your decoration process. This can be stressful and overwhelming. For this reason, we have decided to write this article and guide you along the way.

While there are a number of styles, you have to try out the urban style. Below you will find some ideas that will help you greatly.

1- Keep it Soft & Warm When Decorating Your First Apartment

It is true that urban interior design is industrial at its core, but it does not mean that it has to be entirely industrial. To get an outstanding urban style, you have to add a softer as well as a warmer touch to help you relax. Remember to make your place comfortable, inviting, and welcoming.

2- Choose the Right Color Palette

Your color palette is vitally essential as it changes the entire look of your space. You may feel confused because of the various colors that you have to choose from. To help you out, we advise you to get that black-on-white touch that makes your house look chick and urban. You are free to choose whether to have a black floor and white walls or vice versa. Additionally, you can use this combination with your furniture and décor. Moreover, beige, orange, and brown can perfectly fit in this design.

3- Contrasting Your Materials

While it is a good idea to choose soft furniture, making every single thing soft may not give you the urban look you are looking for. Here comes the role of contrasting materials. The latter, if added as needed, will bring the urban décor and a nice touch to your place. For instance, you can add some mirrors and some photos painted with gold and bronze frames.

4- Do Not Forget the Statement Pieces

The urban interior design style is all about statement pieces that take your home to the next level. Choose your statement piece and makes it the focal point of your room. This can be a bold piece of art, a rug, or furniture. Afterward, you can design around the statement piece you chose. This will make your place look unique and outstanding.

5- Keep the Accessories to the Minimum

The urban style is, of course, different from the minimalist design. However, you have to keep your accessories to a minimum in order not to make your room highly crowded. The main urban accessory that you need to own is a plant. You have to add plants to your house as they complete the urban style.

6- Select Suitable Furniture to Decorate Your First Apartment

When decorating your new apartment in an urban style, you have to choose furniture that is comfortable, functional, and simple. All the pieces that you include in your place should have a given purpose otherwise you will create more clutter in your house.

For your urban style living room or bedroom, it is advisable to go for furniture that is made of natural materials such as leather and their tones should be calm. Moving further, if you have a small living room, try to follow an L-structure, add a table, and some comfortable chairs, armchairs, and ottomans, and do not forget to incorporate a given rug.

Try to add glass and aluminum as much as possible. For instance, you may want to include a glass tabletop and other aluminum accessories.

7- Lighting Is Essential While Decorating Your First Apartment

In the process of decorating your first apartment, you need to remember that natural lighting is extremely important in urban style. Therefore, having some large windows is a privilege.  Do not forget to decorate your windows with some curtains to add an impression of cleanliness. Additionally, you can imitate industrial light by utilizing some hidden lighting. Lamps imitating city lights are also appropriate.

8- Create a Flow between Your Rooms When Decorating Your First Apartment

The secret behind having an ultimate urban apartment is to create a sense of connection and cohesion among all of your rooms. While decorating your new apartment, you will, of course, not want your rooms to look the same. However, consistency is highly crucial to bring your rooms together.

There are a number of ways that you can follow to create this connection. Some of these are applying the same flooring to the whole house, keeping a common wall color, and using similar metals from various rooms.

9- Add Your Personal Touch

Decorating your new apartment can never be completed if you do not add your personal touch. Urban interior design is about creativity. So, be creative and express yourself. You may want to add a Moroccan rug you fell in love with or that Turkish ottoman you saw the last time you visited Turkey. Whatever item you badly want to add to your own space, do it. You just need to ensure that they complete the urban style you are looking for.

10- Mix the New with the Traditional

Urban interior design is about blending the new and the traditional, the vintage and the modern elements. When decorating your new apartment, make sure to bridge the two together to create a fantastic urban style.

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Last Words

Decorating your new apartment may not be easy for you, but if you learn how to do so, you can get the look you want. Urban style has gained much popularity thanks to its beauty and functionality. If you choose this style for your place, you have to learn everything about urban style to make the process easy to tackle.

A clean fabric sofa is what all people want. In fact, Everyone likes a clean living room, complete with sparkling floors, neat, spotless furniture, and an elegant ceiling. Well, human wishes are endless. After all, what makes us human should be neatness beyond question.

Each time someone walks into a living room, the eyes momentarily fall on your furniture and how well they are cared for. Your clean fabric sofa depicts the kind of person you truly are.

Their sparkle without a doubt defines you. No wonder people go to great lengths to ensure their seats are spotless.

1- Common Fabric Sofa Stains  

The fabric sofa is prone to a variety of stains. Since they are used by both kids and adults at all times of day and night, they occasionally must get dirty. The most common stains are;

Food Stains

Food items should be confined to the kitchen and dining area. But this is hardly the case. Many people prefer to have meals while comfortably seated on their favorite sofa, sometimes while watching TV. Eventually, food spills on the fabric, giving it an unsightly look. Thus, it is hard to get a clean fabric sofa.

Drinks Stains May Hamper You to Get a Clean Fabric Sofa

Another culprit for the staining of your fabric sofa is wine. Adults generally enjoy sipping drinks while comfortably sitting in their preferred spot. This is usually automatic, or should we say by default? When tipsy, a few spillages of drink on the settee cannot be avoided.

Watermarks

During regular cleaning around the house, water droplets cannot be prevented from spilling onto your sofa. In their wake, they leave ugly marks that ruin the beauty of your seat.

All these stains should eventually be cleared from your settee to leave it looking elegant as it should be. Stains, and dirt, are unavoidable.

Even seats that are rarely used must accumulate dirt over time. When your sofa no longer exhibits its earlier beauty, it is time to initiate a thorough cleaning.

2- Cleaning Fabric Sofa Stains

There is no defined rule for cleaning your fabric sofa. After all, every homeowner has their preferred method of doing things. All the same, there are general tips to help bring the previous sparkle to your couches. 

As a rule, the quicker you clear a stain from your seat, the better. Easier said than done! There are moments when your coffee has just spilled on the chair but you are too sleepy to even care. You, therefore, leave the job for another day.

Most sofa fabrics suffer from this malady. The good news is, even after a stain has stayed on for a week, month or year when you decide to clean using recommended methods, the results will always be satisfactory.

3- Rules That Are Worth Following

Clear stains as soon as possible. Under certain circumstances, this may not be practical. But it will save you lots of time, energy, and expenses. Most stains, more so the non-stubborn ones, are eliminated when they are not yet properly settled.

Follow the manufacturer’s Recommendation. There is the owner’s manual. Few people take these documents seriously. The manual is complete with all cleaning tips and more. Be aware of the detergents and solutions to use while cleaning. 

Do not forget to follow instructions too. After mastering the how-to, you will no longer need to read the instructions. Before then, however, it pays to follow every recommendation step by step. It looks like a waste of time, but it pays dearly.

– Be conversant with the Cleaning Codes of the Sofa to Have a Clean Fabric Sofa.

After purchasing the sofa, check the instructions carefully. There are random letters on the tags. Treat them with the importance they deserve.

Code W means water-based cleaner. You will need to exclusively use water as the main component. 

Code S/W means- solvent and water-based cleaner. You can definitely use a solvent as well as water to clean. 

Code S means – solvent only. Solvents are solutions with a chemical as a major component. 

– How to Clean Your Fabric Sofa?

Use a stiff dry brush to clean off loose dust particles- The fabric sofa accumulates dust and dirt. Over time, these get absorbed deep into the fabric. To bring them out onto the surface, use a stiff brush. The brush is also a means of loosening the dirt. While at it, take care not to spoil the fabric.

Use Baking Soda– Baking soda is not only used for baking. It has more uses than many of us are aware of. When sprinkled on the sofa, it has the characteristic of removing unsavory odors while loosening stains further. For it to work effectively, you will need to do the following;

1. Mix equal parts of water and baking powder in a bowl.
2. Leave it to sit for between 15 and 20 minutes on the stain.
3. It will fully absorb the stain. As soon as this is done, wipe out the mixture with a soft brush.
4. Dry the affected part with a dryer. 
5. To work smarter, remember to test a small part of your settee to analyze the results before applying the same to the whole sofa.

Treating Dark Spots with Agents (Solutions). As with the baking powder, you have to first test a small portion with the agent before applying it to the whole couch. You have the choice between a solvent or a water-based solution. Whichever appeals to you, always follow the instructions as written on the package.

Drying Fabric with Soft Towel – After subjecting your sofa to detergents or solutions, your next agenda will be to dry it. Pat the wet areas with a towel to give them chance to dry while maintaining their softness. If any solutions remain, carefully brush them off.

4- Disinfecting Sofa

Our homes are prone to bacteria and a variety of other germs that cannot be seen by the naked eye. As a precaution, you need to regularly disinfect your fabric sofa to keep it hygienically clean.

In homes with young children, they are likely to eat food they picked from the sofa, yet these are places that are used by insiders and outsiders alike. Disinfecting is therefore necessary. How do you do it?

Mix diluted oil with a disinfectant in a spray bottle. Add a bit of alcohol to the mixture and shake once more. Lightly spray this on the sofa, taking care of the deep edges that often skip attention.

If you have a dryer, pass it lightly over the couch after the disinfectant has rested on the couch for 20 minutes. You will enjoy the benefits of a clean fabric couch.

5- Cleaning Grease Stains

The sofa is one of the most exposed pieces of furniture in a home. They are therefore prone to several stains. If grease happens to be the culprit, there is no need to curse under your breath. Simply do the following;

1. Sprinkle baking soda on the couch. This will be your friend with countless stains. 
2. Since baking soda is absorbent, grease will be lifted to the surface. Give it a maximum of 20 minutes to fully work. 
3. Brush it off with a stiff brush.
4. Wipe up any residues with the soft towel before passing the dryer over them.

6- Quickest Way to Handle Water Stains

Water is a colorless liquid, yet when it spills on your couch it leaves patches that can be misconstrued to be that of coffee, or juice. What happens is this; when the sofa has accumulated some dirt, water that spills onto it only unsettles the dust. To deal with the stain;

1. Dilute vinegar and sprinkle it over the stain. Depending on the amount of water spilled, ensure the vinegar penetrates deeply into the fibers.
2. Give it at least 10 minutes to settle.
3. Blot the spill using an extremely absorbent towel. Ensure all the affected parts are catered for. Remember, if any part is left to dry on its own, the results will not be as expected.

7- Cleaning Polyester Couch to Get Clean Fabric Sofa

Polyester is classified under fabric sofas. It is a synthetic fabric. To clean, you do not need many ingredients otherwise the fabric gets worn out quickly. Polyester couches can be cleaned this way;

1. Soak a sponge in a cleaning solution (specified). 
2. Rub it gently over the stain, giving it time to soak and act. 
3. Continue with the movements until the stain is subdued. 
4. Dry with a soft towel, gently rubbing it over the affected area.
5. Polyester dries fast and does not need a dryer.

As opposed to leather couches that are easy to clean, why do people go for fabric couches?

8- Reasons for Fabric Couch Preference

– Comfort

Fabric Sofas tend to offer comfort to feel. Although they come in numerous varieties of fabrics, their warmth is beyond compare. They do not get sticky under extreme heat as a result of sweating. At the same time, during cold weather, they don’t feel cold.

– Color patterns and prints

Since they are made from a variety of fabrics, you can choose prints or patterns that most appeal to you. Most homeowners prefer to match the wall colors with that of couches. 

– Cost

Fabric couches are priced according to quality and durability. Most of them are friendly to many pockets.

– Cleaning

Although they need to be cleaned especially unlike leather seats, varieties of methods exist to do this. They vary from regular to more intense.

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Last Word

Whatever your choice of cleaning your fabric sofa, always follow instructions. The longevity of your prized furniture depends entirely on how you treat your seats. You do not only need to vacuum, there are numerous methods of keeping them clean, and comfortable. 

You may want to get an urban living room, but you have to seriously consider making your sofas clean.