How to Remove Red Wine Stains from Fabric, Carpet and Upholstery
That was some party, but now it’s over. Guests have gone on their merry way leaving you with a mountain of cleanup to be done and red wine stains to remove. How will you ever get those red wine stains out of the tablecloth, carpet and couch? Use these tips and make quick work of getting the red out.
Treat Stains Immediately
As soon as red wine is spilled, blot as much of the liquid up as possible with a clean cloth. If white wine is on hand, dab white wine into the red wine stain to neutralize the color, if white wine is not available, dab a little cool water into the red stain.
If wine is spilled onto carpet, cover the stain with a pile of table salt and let stand overnight, the salt will absorb the liquid. To prevent anyone from stepping in the salt, invert a plastic bowl over the salt pile.
Remove Red Wine Stains from Fabric
When red wine is spilled on any washable fabric, like a tablecloth, table runner or clothing, blot as much of the liquid from the fabric as possible. Apply a laundry pre-treatment to the red stain or apply a small amount of liquid laundry detergent directly to wine stain. Launder fabric as usual and add a fabric appropriate bleach (dry or liquid) to the wash water.
Remove Red Wine Stains from Carpet
If salt was applied to the red wine spill the night before, vacuum up the salt. Mix one tablespoon of dishwashing liquid and one tablespoon of white vinegar into two cups of warm water. Dampen a sponge with mixture and blot stain, continue to blot (re-wetting the sponge as needed) until the wine stain disappears. Rinse mixture out of sponge, blot carpet with sponge rinsed in clean water to rinse carpet area well, blot carpet dry with paper towel.
Remove Red Wine Stains from Upholstery
If the upholstery on the couch or chair where the red wine was spilled is water-safe, mix one tablespoon of dishwashing liquid into two cups of cool water. Dampen a sponge with the mixture and blot until stain is removed. Blot with paper towel to dry upholstery. If fabric upholstery is not water safe, use a dry cleaning solution to remove red wine stain.
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