Roadside "Gem"

My husband and I were running some errands when we found this gem ready for pickup.

Oh yeah, for trash pickup! Ahh!

We went home to switch cars and get our "SUV"

Something we are also currently working on restoring!

That's another story for another day.

Anyway, this lovely sofa fit right in.

When we got it home, I vacuumed it out and wondered, 

"how am I going to make this beautiful again?"

What it really needs is to be re-upholstered.

But for now I'm doing my best to just clean it.

Lots of cleaning.

You can't tell from a distance, but it has little stains all over it.

I brightened the photos so you could see how icky the stains are.

I spent 2 days working on it.

Spraying. Vacuuming. Scrubbing.

I know that it's clean now.

After lots of Lysol furniture spray, steaming and scrubbing with upholstery cleaner,

I took a soft dish washing brush and a bucket of water with laundry detergent 

and a splash of simple green home cleaner and scrubbed the mess [literally] out of it.

Let it bake in the sun.

Took the cushion cover and soaked and washed it in hot HOT water

and finished it all off with more Lysol and vacuuming.

Ahh! A nice little sofa.

Now we just need a throw and some pillows and it will look new lovely.

I did all this while my husband was working on a paper and he didn't even notice that I changed

the entire living room and sun room around to make it fit.

He finished his paper and said: "Did the movers come? How did you do this by yourself?"

I get it from my mom and her mom. We like to move furniture when we want it moved 

and rarely ask for help.

I'll post a picture when it's completely up to par... like I said, it needs some accessories.