So this happened! I furnished my beach house with 10 of these fabulous teal velvet dining chairs. I know, at first glance one would think them a rather foolish choice for a high-end rental property … but I’m telling you, I did my homework. To test the promise of this particular performance fabric from a stylish Italian provider, I came up with my own test. My heart was stolen when I found the perfect chair, and I wasn’t going to give up easily! I took the fabric home overnight and purposely smeared three narrow spatula fulls of:

• peanut butter
• softened butter
• melted chocolate

I let it dry overnight and the next morning, I spot cleaned it with a mild solution of dish soap and tepid water. Voila! It looked good as new.

And so, I proceeded with confidence to order the chairs, dreaming of the beautiful color they would add to the dining room.

And would you know, at our first relaxing visit to the beach house, an entire bowl of pasta (complete with red sauce and melted Parmesan) slipped off a tray and landed in the seat of one of my brand new chairs … which hadn’t even seen a single family dinner yet.

*GASP*

I quickly scooped up the pasta, which now had fully melted into the seams of the chair. It was a real mess … my husband was wide-eyed with the “I knew these weren’t the best idea” look. I quickly went to work with my cleaning solution of liquid dish soap and tepid water.

The next morning, to my happiness and joy, THIS! Perfectly, positively, beautifully clean, without a single sign of the disaster of the night before!

I’m sold on this particular performance fabric and had to share my success! Performance fabrics abound in our design world. There is such an abundance of choices: solids, prints, wovens, velvets, too many to make an easy choice!  Use them for living with children, pets, grandchildren, grandpa and wild teens!

What rooms in your home could benefit from this kind of performance? We’re here to direct you to #purestyle and livable beauty.

It’s true.