How I Cleaned my IKEA Morabo Upholstered Sofa Couch Cushion to Make It Like New
I was very excited to buy the Ikea Morabo Couch. It’s been everything I’ve wanted, but the price was a tad bit too high. I was looking at $1300+ tax making it near $1500 with delivery cost. I love it, but at that price point, I could’ve bought the Crate and Barrel’s Petrie Sofa for a bit more. This is a story of how I bought a dirty used Morabo Couch and made it like new and you can do this too for your spills and stains on your beautiful upholstered sofa.
My Search for a used IKEA Morabo Sofa
So the search began. Craigslist, Offerup, Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Groups, even Nextoor. IKEA Morabo is so common, but the ones available on the used market were mostly in grey. Some people bought it in leather too.
Then there it was! The perfect set.
I inquired about it immediately asking if it’s stained or damaged.
I had to pick it up now. So I rented a Home Depot truck
I gave her an ETA, she confirmed.
Then I arrived to the seller’s house.
She took about 10 mins to come out and shows me the dusty sofa sitting in the garage.
Immediately notice how dirty it is. Covered in dog hair and stains.
I was tired. Felt defeated. I rented a Home Depot truck and drove 30 mins for this.
One stain is one thing, but this sofa had stains on all 3 cushions! How do you even do that?
The seller tells me to take my time, but says she needs to go back to a meeting.
Clocks ticking, I’m definitely not going to make Home Depot’s 75 min cut off now.
Aww heck, $500 for an used Ikea Morabo. There are zippers on these things so I’m sure I can just throw it in the washer. Even if I can’t, I can use for a while and sell it, I can probably sell it for $300+. Fine, I’ll take it. Loaded it up and dropped it off at my place.
I hate how people post photos of what they’re selling WHEN they bought it. Aren’t you supposed to post a photo of the current condition? More I thought about it, I keep debating that I should’ve just taken the hit and walked from the deal.
Oh, also I didn’t make Home Depot’s cut off time so I was charged double the rental fee, still not bad.
How I cleaned my Morabo Upholstered Sofa
So the research begins. If you’re here, you probably know the cushion cover LOOKS like it comes off, but it doesn’t. There’s a bunch of pieces that is “upholstered into the cushion.” You can technically remove all of those and stitch them back up, but I wasn’t going to do that.
Having someone professionally clean it, I’m looking at $200+.
Renting a fabric cleaner, I’m looking at $35+
Buying a fabric cleaner, I’m looking at $100-150.
I decided to buy a fabric cleaner from Amazon for $150
How well did the Portable Upholstery Cleaner work on the Morabo Sofa?
The cleaning process was very easy. I’d say 10-20 mins a cushion. I basically sprayed the water/solution onto the entire cushion then started to use the water vacuum.
You repeat this a few times until the water you suck up is clear. My sofa cushions were really dirty so I had to run through it 2-3 times.
I was very skeptical that and expected the stains to be visible in some way, but the results were phenominal!
So, for anyone that has stains on their upholstery, give these two a try
- Bissell Little Green ProHeat Machine – Petsmart and Big Lots rents these out for $35/day
- Bissell Professional Spot and Stain – The Machine comes with a small bottle but it’s not enough if you want to do one whole cushion which you should.
You should want to clean the whole cushion because you’ll have a partially clean cushion otherwise which might be add focus to the dirtier part.
