How to Clean Vinyl Chairs, or The Story of My New Chair

I’m going to make a short story long….lol.  Bikeman has been having back problems for a while and he thinks part of the problem is our couch. It has lots of soft, fluffy pillows all over it. And, he love mid-century modern furniture. So we’ve been on the lookout for chairs and a new sofa. Meanwhile, while we were doing our back-to-school shopping last week L and I got distracted by a sign that said “HUGE Garage Sale”. You know how that goes! When we pulled up this yellow chair stood out to me. But the closer I got to it, the dirtier it looked. The price tag said, “1961 Leather Chair $15”. But we bought the 2 chairs behind it in the photo and something to ship down to Aunt Sue and David, too, and they gave us a deal — all for $20! For that price I’d take a chance that it wouldn’t clean.  I’d never really thought about how to clean vinyl chairs… but we figured it out.

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How to Clean Vinyl Chairs

I had a new box of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.  The box said it could be used on leather shoes so I though I’d try it on the dirty vinyl chair. 

I brought out a bowl of water, dipped the Magic Eraser in it, and started scrubbing.  Every now and then I’d rinse out the sponge.

It worked!  We kept saying over and over, “I can’t believe this…” or “Look at that….” It was pretty amazing!

Here’s what it looked like after we cleaned the back section:

Cleaning that part of the chair made the rest look even dirtier!   

If you know anything about this chair please let me know. I’d like to know if it was really made in 1961. There are two tags on the bottom. One says “Property of Wells Fargo” and the other says “Knoll.” I couldn’t find anything exactly like it online, but did find similar chairs made by Knoll and designed by Saarinen. They all had metal legs, though. I like the wood much better.

Disgusting, huh?

Once it was clean Bikeman has been sitting in it every night! 

We are really happy with how this cleaning project went.  So next time you see a dirty chair at a garage sale, go ahead and give it a try.

Want to know more about buying, cleaning, and refurbishing used furniture?  Check out these articles:

• 9 Tips for Buying Second Hand Furniture
• How to Clean Used Furniture
• Where to Find Used Furniture to Flip
• Why Shop at Thrift Stores
• 10 Top Thrift Store Tips
• How to Remove Musty Smells from Furniture
• The Ultimate Guide to Jewelry Box Makeovers

Thanks for reading about how to clean vinyl chairs.  Let me know if you try our method or have your own.

‘Til the next project,

 Ann @ Duct Tape and Denim

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