A 5-Month Review of Our Pottery Barn White Couch: The Townsend Reversible Storage Chaise Sectional in Performance Boucle Oatmeal

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Left: Our Pottery Barn White Couch Originally, Right: After Washing

Guys… GUYS! Originally, I didn’t feel like I needed to do an update about the white couch this soon because it felt like I should give it some more time before I came back around and updated you guys on how it’s holding up and how we feel about all of its attributes after living with it for long enough to be able to make those sorts of assessments, but this felt like too important of a white couch update to not share! The reason? I know that when it comes to the hot topic of white couches, that aesthetically we all love so much, the most prevalent and completely valid question is whether a white couch is practical for the average human or family to live with and enjoy on a daily basis due to the obvious drawbacks of its color. And though at the time of sharing our original post one month after we bought our amazing Pottery Barn white couch/sectional we felt like we’d lived with it long enough to detail our insanely in-depth hunt for the perfect durable white couch and just why it was basically the best investment we’d made in a long time, we hadn’t really run into any serious stain issues that would put our love to the test. No wine had been spilled. No mud had been smeared. And no dog pee had been piddled. But then… it happened. Just like we knew it would. Out of the blue one day when I came home from a run, Hamlet got so excited, jumped up on the chaise part of the sectional and peed on it right in front of me. Naturally, I screamed in horror and leapt across the room to scoop him up and ask him what the hell he was thinking (while also petting and kissing him because I’m pretty much the world’s worst dog disciplinarian/trainer). It was our first foray into, “So what do we do know” cleaning territory with this couch, and I was admittedly terrified about what the outcome would be. 

Want to know more about our beloved white Pottery Barn couch? Click on our original post below!

Finding The Perfect Durable White Sectional Couch For Our Living Room: Everything You Need to Know if You Want a White Couch

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Left: Our Pottery Barn White Couch Originally (and the pee perpetrator), Right: After Washing

To provide some context, this sectional is the Pottery Barn Townsend Square Arm Upholstered Sofa with Reversible Storage Chaise Sectional upholstered in their Boucle Oatmeal Performance Fabric. In the care instructions for the fabric it mentions that aside from it being an extra durable performance fabric that wicks away moisture on contact, if it’s a slipcovered sectional or sofa, you can simply wash the slipcovers in the washing machine on cold and lay them out to dry. Their instructions for upholstered cushions like ours are to dab the spill with a clean white cloth and water until the stain goes away. Which sounded like a painstaking process for a stain this big. So originally we were going to play it safe and either call an upholstery cleaning service or unzip the chaise cushion cover and try to have it dry cleaned. Then I realized… what kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t go the distance and figure out whether or not I could simply unzip and remove the chaise cushion cover and wash it on cold in the washing machine, despite this being an upholstered piece? A lame blogger, that’s what kind! Before I went down the expensive and time-consuming road of using an upholstery cleaning service or dry cleaning this thing every time we had a mishap, I needed to know if the easier, cheaper route was viable. Because something like this was bound to happen again, like it or not. So come what may, I needed to know! After talking it over we decided that for the good of white couch hopefuls everywhere, we could live with the worst case scenario, which was that we’d wash it on our own in the washing machine and it would kill this cushion cover dead, leaving us heartbroken and trying to find a way to have that cushion cover replaced somehow. We accepted that possibility, embraced it, and headed out into the great cushion cover cleaning unknown with equal amounts bravery, trepidation and caution. 

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Left: Our Pottery Barn White Couch Originally (and the pee perpetrator), Right: After Washing

First, we set about the task of unzipping and removing the soiled chaise cushion cover, and were surprised to find that it was slightly more difficult than anticipated. Then we reminded ourselves that it is, in fact, a custom, upholstered cushion cover and thus intended to have an extremely tight, perfect fit. After carefully removing the cushion cover, very slowly, being extra careful to not rip any of the seams, we also realized that the cushion inserts aren’t covered in any sort of outer shell holding all of the stuffing components together, so putting the cushion covers back on wouldn’t be that simple either. It basically means that you have to carefully stuff all of that cushiony mess back into the cushion cover and manipulate it all as you do in order for it to sit back into place where it’s intended, giving your cushion that perfect shape it had originally. I think it’s important to warn you guys that this means that if you’re not careful and you try to strong arm either the cushion cover or the insert, you could find yourself in a bad spot, and left with a misshapen cushion that doesn’t look like the pretty, fluffy, perfectly upholstered cushion it once did. You’ve been warned!

After all of that, though, we simply put the cushion cover into the washing machine, used clear, delicate detergent that utilizes minimal, natural ingredients, and washed the cover on delicate with cold water. Once the wash cycle was done, we simply laid it across two chairs outside to dry, making sure to stretch it ever-so-slightly when we did so it wouldn’t dry with any unsightly wrinkles in the fabric. Though I will say it wasn’t very wrinkled at all when it emerged from the washing machine. 

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Left: Our Couch Originally (and the pee perpetrator), Right: After Washing

Then, it was a nail biter of an afternoon while we waited for it to dry to see whether we’d permanently messed this thing up. Would it work? Would the stain remain? Would some other kind of water or soap stain or residue remain? Well, friends, I’m happy to report that after it dried completely, it was wrinkle free and looked absolutely AH-MAZ-ING. No sign of the pee stain and no sign of any other unsightly  water mark or residue! It was as if Peegate 2020 never happened and our chaise cushion cover was new again! 

Now as anticipated, it took a lot of careful maneuvering to get this super tight cushion cover back over the cushions, and we had to wiggle it quite a bit, and slowly, to make sure that it sat as it should and that the cushion was as fluffy and filled the cushion cover as perfectly as it did before, but in the end, with a little bit of patience and teamwork, we triumphed and it seriously looks like nothing ever happened!

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Above: Closeups of the Pottery Barn White Couch After Washing

Bottom line? I didn’t think I could be any more obsessed with our sectional or any happier with the dollars spent on this thing, but gosh darnit after Peegate 2020 I’m even more in love with our sectional than I was! It’s pure heaven, and now that’s not just because it’s the comfiest couch we’ve ever had or because it’s also the most beautiful. It cleans like a dream, too! Bliss. It fills my heart with so much joy when form meets function in such an impressive way, and this sectional is really shining example of that. So if you’re looking for the perfect, durable white couch or have been considering the Pottery Barn Townsend sectional in the Boucle Oatmeal fabric specifically, I just couldn’t recommend this more highly. Cheers all around!

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