Domestic Crisis: I just spilled a glass of water on an antique velvet chair. How to I prevent water damage?

Suck out as much water as you can with a wet/dry vac. If you don't have one, get some toweling and place it over the spill and sit on it using your full weight to suck all of the liquid to the surface. You want to get as much of it out as you can because it will work from the underneath and then you will have mold form. Now get a lint brush and start working the nap up while hitting it with a blow dryer alternating from cold to hot and keep working the nap until it is fully dry.

Old Wood Market is an antique shop i own and operate with a staff. Occasionally, we reupholster pieces with damage that's usually caused by time. The good news is even many stains can come out without reupholstering.

The crisis may not be severe unless its gatorade, lemonade or rural hard water. You're in luck if it's bottled water. Water itself if purified has no residue so it wont stain. the shiny outline will seem that way until it dries. Most beverages are not distilled water, so treat it one of two different ways. If the beverage is water without any flavoring, a wet/dry hand held vacuum could clean the piece and not harm the color but only use a cleaner that's safe to the fabric.

For a lemonade or flavored beverage, just make sure to clean the entire piece so there won't be a spot ring. Once it dries in a day or two, the whole piece will look identical to how it did before. Try a wet/dry vac over the whole piece then put a fan on it: no ring, and it'll dry fast. The cushioning wont damage unless its' exposed to much more dampness than in your situation.

Be cautious, but it's not a big deal unless fruit punch or cranberry juice, etc.

Antique Velvet Chair

eskie gave a pretty good answer. I would add that you brush the nap side to side. It probably won't tolerate brushing directly "against" the nap... Be satisfied with "pretty good". Ive seen many "rescue efforts go bad, trying to make things "perfect" again. Knowing when to stop is important, too. ALSO the cotton beneath the cover is not "pure white" it's cream color AND often, old upholstery cotton is sprayed with the least over spray of kerosene when it is made (to prevent lint in the air). If that comes through, you'll want to know what it is... one consolation. most antique chairs I've revocered, had a similar mark somewhere! : )

I deny outright that I did it to myself..then try to figure out if I did it or not. Before too long I flake it from mind numbing confusion...that generally helps.

Oh no... To bad!!! thax for the 2 pts.!