How to Protect Upholstery and Home Fabrics from Fading

Protect upholstery from fading

No matter how tastefully you decorate your home, faded upholstery can really make a room look old before its time. If you take steps from the beginning, you can avoid having to re-upholster for years.

  1. Choose your fabrics carefully. Dark colors fade more rapidly than lighter ones. Work with a professional to counsel you regarding which types of fabrics are more prone to fading, or use the internet do research. If your budget allows, choose a better quality fabric. If you have time to make your decision, bring a piece of fabric home and watch if it fades. Reupholstering is costly, and you may be doing it sooner than you thought if you make the wrong fabric choices.
  2. Arrange your furniture so that you use light color pieces in the areas that get more sun. Even better, design your room in a way that you can move your furniture easily from time to time, so that time in the sun is evenly distributed among the pieces.
  3. Use window treatments such as drapes, blinds, or shades. Again, do your research and choose products that block UV rays.
  4. Choose Low E glass for your windows. New glass technology goes a long way to block out the harmful UV rays that causing fading.
  5. If you love your outdoor view, consider installing a retractable awning, which will block harmful UV rays – but not your view of the outdoors. Retractable fabric awnings give you sun when you want it, and shade when you need it. Blocking the sun from the outside of your home also helps you save on cooling costs.
  6. A relatively new product – exterior solar shades – block the heat of the sun as well as the inside the home with a remote control unit. New technology enables you to operate shades on several windows with just one control. Specialty fabrics designed for outdoor use come in a range of weaves, filtering the sunlight while allowing you to see outside. Exterior solar shades keep your window glass from heating up, so they are a great idea for large picture and palladium windows.

And here is a warning from eHow.com: Be realistic about your expectations of any warranty on a piece of furniture. Fading probably is not covered.