Cleaning upholstery is a complicated task, it’s not easy for the novice and many people will prefer to leave it to the professionals rather than attempt it at all for the fear of possibly damaging the upholstery.Hiring professionals, the pros and cons! The easiest option is too hire professionals especially if you are cleaning a large sofa. Professional cleaners are usually the most effective when it comes to cleaning upholstery because they have the right tools for the job a long with the know-how and knowledge on how to do it best.The disadvantage is the amount of money it will cost to hire this service, most professional cleaners who specialise in upholstery don’t come cheap, you will get a great service, but you will have to pay for that service and you’re looking at spending around £80 plus for most upholstery cleaners. The good thing is, when considering that cost to the cost of a replacement sofa, you then realise that this is the affordable option for getting a fresh, clean and newer looking sofa again.DIY upholstery cleaning, the pros and cons!You can clean upholstery without professional help and many people will do this successfully however it’s always best to do your homework before going in for the kill. You need to find out about safe products to use on which particular fabrics because the last thing you want to happen is to make the sofa look poorer, of even worse totally damage it. This would be a very costly mistake!Be prepared that this is going to take some time, if you want to do an effective job you must put in a little time and effort, so this is no quick fix!The best way to get the cushion covers clean on a sofa is to remove them completely and to put them into a washing machine to wash, this will offer good results however when it comes to putting the covers back onto the cushions this is where to situation gets tricky, getting freshly washed covers back onto cushions may require two peoples efforts with lots of tugging, squishing and plenty of outbreaks of sweat but it is doable. Just do not break the ZIP at the end of all that effort!The best thing about being able to remove cushion covers is that you only have to manually clean the rest of the sofa (the shell/Frame) and this may not be as dirty as what the cushion covers where because usually this area is protected. Depending on the condition it may only require small areas of need, although bear in mind that sometimes once an area is cleaned it can have the tendency to show up the untreated areas making them appear dirty.Take time to clean sofas which are in poorer condition, apply the cleaning solution and be patient, allow it to soak through for quite some time before you begin scrubbing and once the scrubbing begins and you find that the sofa is still considerably dirty, apply more product and wait again.Use a soft bristle brush to clean stubborn areas of dirt, try working in circular motions and work the product into the stain. Be careful not to use anything that is too abrasive which could possibly damaging the surface of the fabric or even fade the colour.  Always allow a freshly cleaned sofa to dry out before you use it again as damp sofas are vulnerable to stains and marks, after rinsing a sofa, blot away excess moisture and leave windows and doors open to aid drying time.