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BG: I am an inveterate scrounger. If I'm walking in the street and I see something useful, I pick it up, or come back for it with a car. Always have, even back in grade school.
As a result, pretty much all of my furniture is hand-me-downs, whether inherited from grandparents or other relatives, or outright found in the street. Only things I bought new were the beds and my computer stand. What the heck, none of it matches, but it's all functional and I've never really cared what it looks like. One of these inherited pieces was a two-piece couch that had belonged to my sister's grandmother-in-law. It was nice, but an aging cloth-covered couch isn't really the best choice when you have little kids.
So a couple years ago, my next-door neighbors moved out, and left a nice leather couch behind: brought it down to the street, but never loaded it into the truck, just left it there on the sidewalk. I checked it out; it was in decent shape. Leather good except for one small tear that had been mended, springs not sagging, didn't stink of smoke, not full of cock-a-roaches, etc. To buy something like that, new, would cost a thousand dollars easy, and nobody wanted it (I did ask the landlord), so I grabbed it. It was way too heavy for one person to lift, so I tilted it, rolled two skateboards under one end and a dolly under the other, and shoved it up the driveway into the backyard, where I covered it with a tarp and left it. After a few weeks, I paid some movers $50 to shlepp it into my living room and bring the old couch up to the attic. This one the kids can't destroy, and if they do find a way, I'm not out anything except what it cost to move it. The only problem with it is a tendency for the leather to get sticky in humid weather.
So this afternoon, I was laying on the couch playing with my kids, and then they went off and did their own thing and I took a bit of a Shabbos nap. Slept for maybe half an hour, and when I woke up, I found myself literally glued to the damn thing. Couldn't sit up; I had to roll myself off it onto the floor, accompanied by a noise that sounded like ripping masking tape off the roll. I'd gotten stuck to it before, but nothing like this.
Then I took my off my formerly-white shirt, and found it like this:
The picture doesn't do it justice, because the flash washed it out somewhat, but let me tell you, the back of it is mostly black, and some of the neck as well. (I was wearing black trousers, so I couldn't tell you if they got it as well.)
(I'd seen stains like that before on my white or blue shirts, and I had no idea where they came from: was the shirt getting stuck under the agitator of the washing machine? (My mother had similar stains from the transmission leaking in her washer.) Scorched in the dryer? Did I lean on wet paint or a dirty car (several times)? Did one of the kids leave a crayon in their pocket? So now I know where they came from. Nothing I did could get the stains out, either.)
So: Do any of you have suggestions, imprimis, how to get these stains out of the shirts, or even if it's possible at all? and secundus, what to do to the couch so that it won't ruin the rest of my shirts? This was a cheap shirt in any case, but what happens if someone (like my wife, e.g.) sits down on it wearing a nice white dress? Can the leather be treated to remove excess dye, or am I just going to have to cover it with something? "Don't sit on it" isn't really an option here.
Any ideas?
As a result, pretty much all of my furniture is hand-me-downs, whether inherited from grandparents or other relatives, or outright found in the street. Only things I bought new were the beds and my computer stand. What the heck, none of it matches, but it's all functional and I've never really cared what it looks like. One of these inherited pieces was a two-piece couch that had belonged to my sister's grandmother-in-law. It was nice, but an aging cloth-covered couch isn't really the best choice when you have little kids.
So a couple years ago, my next-door neighbors moved out, and left a nice leather couch behind: brought it down to the street, but never loaded it into the truck, just left it there on the sidewalk. I checked it out; it was in decent shape. Leather good except for one small tear that had been mended, springs not sagging, didn't stink of smoke, not full of cock-a-roaches, etc. To buy something like that, new, would cost a thousand dollars easy, and nobody wanted it (I did ask the landlord), so I grabbed it. It was way too heavy for one person to lift, so I tilted it, rolled two skateboards under one end and a dolly under the other, and shoved it up the driveway into the backyard, where I covered it with a tarp and left it. After a few weeks, I paid some movers $50 to shlepp it into my living room and bring the old couch up to the attic. This one the kids can't destroy, and if they do find a way, I'm not out anything except what it cost to move it. The only problem with it is a tendency for the leather to get sticky in humid weather.
So this afternoon, I was laying on the couch playing with my kids, and then they went off and did their own thing and I took a bit of a Shabbos nap. Slept for maybe half an hour, and when I woke up, I found myself literally glued to the damn thing. Couldn't sit up; I had to roll myself off it onto the floor, accompanied by a noise that sounded like ripping masking tape off the roll. I'd gotten stuck to it before, but nothing like this.
Then I took my off my formerly-white shirt, and found it like this:
The picture doesn't do it justice, because the flash washed it out somewhat, but let me tell you, the back of it is mostly black, and some of the neck as well. (I was wearing black trousers, so I couldn't tell you if they got it as well.)
(I'd seen stains like that before on my white or blue shirts, and I had no idea where they came from: was the shirt getting stuck under the agitator of the washing machine? (My mother had similar stains from the transmission leaking in her washer.) Scorched in the dryer? Did I lean on wet paint or a dirty car (several times)? Did one of the kids leave a crayon in their pocket? So now I know where they came from. Nothing I did could get the stains out, either.)
So: Do any of you have suggestions, imprimis, how to get these stains out of the shirts, or even if it's possible at all? and secundus, what to do to the couch so that it won't ruin the rest of my shirts? This was a cheap shirt in any case, but what happens if someone (like my wife, e.g.) sits down on it wearing a nice white dress? Can the leather be treated to remove excess dye, or am I just going to have to cover it with something? "Don't sit on it" isn't really an option here.
Any ideas?
)
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