Most Durable Fabrics for a Family Room

Your family loves the family room and maybe the furniture shows some threadbare signs of all that happy togetherness. When purchasing new throw pillows, upholstered furniture or a new cover for that old chair, there's more to consider than color and style. Consider the cost of maintaining the fabric, and if you need to spent a lot of extra money having it cleaned. Also consider the strength of the fiber, how prone it is to wrinkles and if it can handle exposure to various elements including water or sun.

Most Washable Fabrics for a Family Room

When you have young kids or maybe some messy family members, you want to be able to easily clean your fabrics without needing to raid your vacation fun. For pillows, throws, curtains and removable slipcovers consider
* Cotton - This is a natural fabric that is easy to clean, machine washable and one oft the least expensive fabrics to maintain.
* Polyester - For a synthetic that can be machine washed, consider polyester. It can go in the dryer, too.
* Olefin - While this synthetic can be machine washed it should only be dried on low heat.

Dry Clean or Bust

There are some fabrics that can only be dry cleaned. Don't play with fire, or in this case water, when you see a "Dry Clean Only" label on your couch slipcover. It's not a conspiracy, a test or challenge. A good fabric and a good day can be ruined by not following the dry clean only rule.
* Acetate - Some acetate can be hand washed, unless the label indicates dry cleaning.
* Wool - If you have a wool afghan as a throw on your couch, it needs to be dry cleaned.
* Rayon - This versatile fabric can go either way, follow the label.

To Iron or Not to Iron?

Some fabrics need to be ironed or they will make your room look unkempt.

* Acetate - Is an inexpensive fabric that will not wrinkle on you.
* Cotton needs to be ironed after washing, as does any hand-washed rayon. Some rayon requires dry cleaning, so read the label first.
* Linen will wrinkle easily, so save it for curtains. It needs to be ironed after each washing.