Two chairs: one in original state, one cleaned. Gross yet amazing right?

A few weeks ago during Thanksgiving vacation, we found these two amazing vintage Thonet armchairs for our store, covered in more than a little grit and grime. What we thought would be a quick clean up turned into several days of elbow grease, a plethora of cleaners and more than a little patience. These chairs that were once brown are now a glowing creamy white and in better condition than we could have ever hoped for. We speculate they sat dormant in a garage for many many years. Though we have cleaned furniture with vinyl upholstery before, none have been this difficult to manage. This is due in part to the original color and texture of these chairs. So, in accomplishing this daunting task and trying many different products and techniques, we learned a few new tricks that we’d like to share for those that may run into the same situation.

Best Product Combo for Cleaning Vintage Vinyl Upholstery

• Shaklee Scour Off
• Shaklee Basic H2
• Scotch Brite Sponges
• Electric Toothbrush (we use an old Oral B)
• Tender Loving Care

So here is the dealio. We started out cleaning the first chair with a warm water and soap combo, then a light bleach combo, then a Goop combo and so on. We quickly learned that our efforts were futile. We happened to be at David’s parents house and they pulled out this little caddy of eco-friendly cleaning products and told us to try them. They told us to first use the Scour Off scrub, said it works wonders. And it did. Then they handed us a bottle of what they called Shaklee Basic H2 and said in combination with the scrub it should take the grime right off. And it did. We found that the more warm water we used with the products, the more efficiently they worked. After about an hour, we still wanted to speed up the process so we went searching for tools. We found an old Oral B electric toothbrush under the sink, the kind with the rotating circular head and went to town. (don’t worry, we sanitized it before using) Holy crap! Our cleaning time was cut in half. And the best part was that the toothbrush was able to get into all the little nooks and crannies of the chair upholstery. To touch up and give a basic scrub on the chair, we used your standard Scotch Brite sponge. What would have been nearly 8 hours of cleaning per chair was turned into about 3. Truly amazing.

We also wanted to touch on another item we did while cleaning up the chairs. One of the chairs happened to have an indentation in the vinyl from the foot of the other chair, when they were stacked on top of each other in that garage. This solid 1 inch indentation wasn’t relieving itself, so we figured out a simple way to fix it. Grab a blow dryer, turn it on low and hold it about 6-10 inches away from the indentation. Being careful to not get too close and melt the vinyl, we were able to relieve the indentation in a matter of moments. A small bit of coaxing with your hand also helps. One important thing to take note of is that when you do this, make sure your chair is clean. You don’t want to risk setting the stain of the chair into the actual vinyl and making it permanent. Yikes!

So there you have it. The winning vintage vinyl upholstery cleaning combo. If you happen to come across any fab products or techniques, make sure and send them our way. We always love to hear others experiences and discoveries.

In regards to the chairs, we will be listing them in our store very soon. Make sure and check back!