Whatever the layout of your home, the living room is usually its heart – the room where you relax after work, snuggle up with good friends and a great movie, or greet new guests. Situated at the center of this heart is the couch. Comfortable, welcoming, and warm, a quality couch should last for many years, providing the whole family with a hub, and a piece of furniture to be proud of. However, it only takes a small accident to spoil the good looks of your couch – a spill, a tear, or a stain can become an eyesore in a very short time.
If you have toddlers, you’ll know how quickly an unattended item can get scribbled on – your favorite book, the wall or the sofa can all succumb to the seemingly impossible to remove ink stains. But all is not lost, and although ink may appear to be set fast, there are a couple of life hacks that will get pen out of a couch.
How to get pen marks out of your couch
The simplest and most effective method can be used with both nib pen ink or ink from a ballpoint pen.
You’ll need:
- Clean, lint-free cloths
- Warm water
- Rubbing alcohol or a dry cleaning solvent
- Glycerin soap
- Dishwashing liquid detergent
- Ammonia – for an extra boost if necessary
- Lightly dampen a cloth with rubbing alcohol and blot the stain. Make sure you don’t rub as this can drive the stain further into the fibers
- Add more alcohol as necessary
- In a bowl of warm water, combine equal amounts of dishwashing detergent and glycerin soap, mixing them thoroughly
- Use a cloth soaked in this liquid to blot the stain until it’s faded completely
- If there is still a mark left, add three to five drops of ammonia to the solution and keep dabbing
- Once the ink has been removed completely, use warm water to lift any remaining detergent out of the fabric, blotting with a clean damp cloth
- Leave to air dry
Of course, it would be unfair to only blame the toddler – big kids are perfectly capable of getting ink all over a couch too, but with this method, the ink will just lift straight out.
This video has some other great hacks for cleaning ink off a couch:
