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Recipe 49 of 100 · The Country Cleans Mix Book

How to Get a Mystery Stain Out of a Light Colored Couch

Peroxide Paste

Brown or yellow spot on a cream, beige, white or light gray couch and no idea what it was? Check for a W or WS tag. Stir 1 tablespoon 3% hydrogen peroxide with 1 teaspoon clear dish soap, add 3 tablespoons baking soda to a thick paste, and patch test first. Dab it on, wait 15 minutes, work it gently with a toothbrush, then blot it out with a damp white cloth and fan dry. Never on dark fabric, wool or silk.

Mystery Stain Lifter for Light Couches recipe card: 3 tbsp baking soda, 1 tbsp 3% hydrogen peroxide, 1 tsp clear dish soap
What it fixesThe unidentified brown or yellow spot on a cream, beige, white, or light gray couch when you have no idea what caused it.

You need

Mix it

  1. Check the tag first. W or WS only, this mixture is water based.
  2. In the bowl, stir together the tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide and the teaspoon of dish soap.
  3. Add the baking soda and stir into a thick paste, closer to toothpaste than pancake batter. It has to sit on top of the fabric. A runny mix soaks straight through into the cushion foam and you will never dry it out.
  4. Mix this fresh every time and use it within the hour. It loses its punch fast and it is never stored in a sealed bottle.

Use it

  1. Patch test on a hidden section. Apply, wait thirty minutes, blot, and check for lightening. On anything darker than light gray, skip this recipe entirely, and skip it on wool or silk at any color.
  2. Dab the paste onto the stain with the toothbrush. Do not scrub yet.
  3. Let it sit fifteen minutes. On a stubborn old stain, thirty.
  4. Work it gently with the toothbrush in small circles.
  5. Blot up the paste with a damp white cloth, rinsing and re-wetting the cloth several times.
  6. Mist with plain cool water and blot dry hard with a towel. Fan dry.
Dale's noteThis works on mystery stains because peroxide is an oxidizer, meaning it breaks the color-carrying part of a molecule apart no matter what the molecule was. That covers coffee, juice, sweat, pet accidents, and food in one shot.
Don'tDo not use this on dark, navy, black or richly colored upholstery, and never on wool, silk or any natural protein fiber even if it is white. Peroxide lightens dye permanently and it dissolves protein fiber into a thin weak patch that tears the next time somebody sits down. Never mix it with chlorine bleach or any bleach containing cleaner either, since that combination reacts hard with no cleaning benefit at all.
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