Material
Footstool
A small upholstered box that can be lifted and turned, which makes even treatment and checking underneath genuinely easy.
- SurfacePorous
- WashingSpot only
- Colour run riskMedium
- Reviewed7 September 2026
What footstool can and cannot take
- Heat Use with care
- Water and soaking Use with care
- Acids, including vinegar Use with care
- Strong alkalis Use with care
- Solvents Use with care
- Chlorine bleach Avoid
- Abrasives Use with care
Always test on a hidden area first and let it dry before you treat the visible mark.
General rules for footstool
Take it somewhere you can work on it and turn it as you like. Working on the top of a footstool in place is unnecessarily hard.
Find the cleaning code, which is usually on a tag underneath. Then treat it like any upholstery: solids off, blot hard, and a damp cloth across the whole panel rather than the spot.
Check inside if it is a storage ottoman. Sick that went past a lid seam is now on whatever is stored in there.
Check the label
A footstool is a small upholstered box, and the thing that makes it different from a sofa is that it can be picked up and turned over. That single fact makes it far easier to treat properly, and it lets you check whether anything reached the frame or the floor.
Stains on footstool
- Baby sick Pick the footstool up and take it somewhere you can turn it and see it properly, which is the whole advantage...
- Blood Blot first, then use cold water and a tiny amount of compatible detergent. Work from the edge, rinse or blot...
- Body oil Blot surface oil from footstool without rubbing. Use a barely damp mild wipe only if the maker permits water-...
- Breast milk Blot milk before it reaches padding. Use damp first aid only when the actual fibre, cleaning code and maker p...
- Bronzer Lift loose bronzer from footstool before it is rubbed in. Blot cream bronzer, follow the material or care lab...
- Coffee Blot footstool first. Check the care label or upholstery code first. Water cleaning requires an explicit W or...
- Concealer Lift thick concealer from Footstool, blot without rubbing, then use a very small amount of diluted washing-up...
- Cooking grease Lift and blot cooking grease from Footstool, then use a small amount of diluted washing-up liquid only if the...
- Deodorant Lift loose deodorant from footstool with a dry white cloth, then wipe the remaining film with cool water and...
- Hair dye Blot Footstool immediately, check the care code, and use a tiny cool detergent solution only where water clea...
- Lipstick Lift lipstick from Footstool with a blunt edge, blot without rubbing, then use a very small amount of diluted...
- Motor oil Blot motor oil from Footstool, absorb as much as possible, then use a small amount of diluted washing-up liqu...
- Nail polish Touch off accessible free polish at the surface without rubbing. Do not use clothing remover or pour nail rem...
- Period blood Lift any tissue with a spoon edge, then blot. Use cold water and a tiny amount of compatible detergent for th...
- Pet urine Blot until nearly dry, then use only the cool-water quantity footstool can tolerate. Use a labelled pet urine...
- Tomato sauce Lift tomato sauce from Footstool, blot from the edge with a tested cool detergent solution, remove residue wi...
A footstool is upholstery on a small scale, and the scale is the advantage.
It can be moved
You can turn it over, work on it in good light and let it dry with air on all sides. None of that is possible with a sofa, and it removes most of the practical difficulty.
The top is a single panel
Which means working seam to seam is a small job rather than a large one, and there is no risk of a treated cushion looking different from the one next to it.
The filling is usually foam
So the usual rule applies: whatever gets past the cover ends up somewhere that cannot be dried out. Blot before you damp.
Storage versions have an inside
And a lid seam that liquid runs into. Worth opening before you start rather than discovering later.
Sources
What we checked and when. Where a manufacturer instruction disagrees with anything here, follow the manufacturer.
-
Sofa upholstery cleaning codes explained, UltraRevive
specialist
Upholstery cleaning specialist explaining the four cleaning codes: W means water based solutions are safe, S means dry cleaning solvents only and water leaves watermarks and tide lines that often cannot be removed, WS means either, and X means vacuum and light brushing only with no liquid cleaners of any kind. Also notes that moisture on an S coded fabric can cause colour bleeding, shrinkage and mould in the cushion core.
Checked 7 September 2026
-
Textiles care and maintenance, Herman Miller
manufacturer
Furniture manufacturer's textile care document: soak a stain up immediately with a soft absorbent cloth, do not over apply water or any liquid because excessive wetting can permanently damage the material, avoid rotary brush attachments and vigorous rubbing that break fibres, do not use hot water because it sets stains, and steam cleaning is not used on these textiles.
Checked 7 September 2026
-
Sick happens: how to get vomit out of carpet, National Carpet Cleaners Association
trade body
UK carpet cleaning trade body method for vomit: scrape solids with a blunt spatula or spoon, apply equal parts white vinegar and water, blot gently working towards the middle of the mark rather than outwards, never scrub because that drives the vomit deeper and damages the carpet, use only a small amount of warm water on a dried mark, and expect rehydrating it to release the smell again so ventilate.
Checked 7 September 2026