Dining Chair Fabrics for Family Homes: What Cleans Up Best

A dining chair in a family home has a hard life. Yoghurt, gravy, felt tips, school bags, wet dogs, the lot. The shape and the colour are what catch your eye, but the upholstery is what decides whether the chair still looks right in two years.

We sell 15 dining chair ranges, and between them they cover most of the materials you will come across when shopping: faux leather, cane and rattan with faux leather seats, boucle, chenille, plain woven fabrics, wool-linen, corduroy and velvet. Below we have grouped them by what they are covered in, with the care instructions we give for each one. If you are still deciding on size, start with our guide to dining chair seat height and come back here for the fabric.

Two ways of cleaning, and why it matters

Nearly every chair falls into one of two camps.

Wipe-clean surfaces. Faux leather and the seats with a smooth finish. Spills sit on top, and you deal with them using a damp cloth. This suits homes with small children, or anywhere the chairs double as a homework station.

Vacuum-and-blot fabrics. Boucle, chenille, woven fabric, corduroy and velvet. These feel warmer and softer, and they hide small scuffs well, but a spill needs blotting with a clean, dry cloth before it soaks in, and the pile or weave needs regular vacuuming with a soft brush attachment to stay fresh.

Neither camp is better. It comes down to who sits at your table and how much you enjoy a quick wipe versus a weekly vacuum.

Faux leather: the wipe-down option

Four of our ranges are fully upholstered in faux leather.

• Dusks, in brown or black, has a check-pattern quilt and is listed as water-repellent and easy to clean. Care is a wipe with a damp cloth, avoiding harsh chemical cleaners, solvents and anything abrasive.
• Marlow comes in grey, dark brown and brown leather-look faux leather with diamond quilting. Wipe with a soft, damp cloth, and do not saturate the faux leather. Quilting has seams, so run the cloth along them rather than across to lift crumbs out.
• Camden, in grey or cream, is a vintage-effect faux leather with vertical channel stitching. Wipe with a soft, damp cloth and blot spills straight away. Keep it away from direct heat, and keep the cream out of strong sunlight to avoid fading.
• Daniel in brown or grey is water-repellent faux leather. A damp cloth for cleaning, and no abrasive cleaners.

If your table sees a lot of messy meals, this group is the lowest effort. The dark brown Marlow and the black Dusks are the most forgiving shades.

Faux leather seats with cane or rattan backs

These chairs pair a wipe-clean seat with a woven back. The seat is easy; the back needs a little more thought, because cane and rattan are cared for differently.

• Vienna has a rattan-style cane back and a faux leather seat in tan or green. Wipe the seat with a damp cloth. Dust the cane with a soft brush and keep it dry, and avoid long spells in direct sunlight or damp.
• Roscoe pairs brown PU faux leather with synthetic PP+PE rattan. Both are listed as water-resistant, so the whole chair wipes clean with a damp cloth. Clean spills immediately to stop staining.
• Nora has a rattan cane back and a cream PU seat. Wipe with a soft, damp cloth and dust the cane regularly with a soft brush.
• Elara has a rattan panel in the back and a white PU leather seat. Wipe with a soft, damp cloth and keep it away from direct heat.

For a busy kitchen table, the Roscoe is the one to look at in this group, since both its seat and its back are listed as water-resistant. The Nora and Elara have light seats, which are easy to wipe but will show a mark until you do.

Boucle: soft texture, handle spills quickly

Boucle is the looped, nubbly fabric that has turned up on dining chairs everywhere. It hides fine crumbs in its texture, but it can snag, so it is worth thinking about pets with claws.

• Mila is white boucle. Vacuum with a soft brush attachment and blot spills immediately with a clean, dry cloth.
• Daniel in white boucle has a water-repellent fabric finish. Wipe it with a soft, damp cloth and avoid harsh chemicals.
• Oslo in beige is a boucle-effect fabric. Wipe clean with a soft, damp cloth.

White boucle and young children can live together, but it rewards the habit of blotting straight away.

Chenille: soft and hard-wearing

Sienna comes in orange or beige chenille. Vacuum it regularly, deal with spills immediately, and for deeper cleaning use an upholstery cleaner that suits chenille. The beige should be kept out of direct sunlight to stop it fading. The orange is the more practical of the two for family meals, simply because it shows less.

Woven and textured fabrics

• Dany is upholstered fabric in cream, black or blue. Vacuum with a soft brush, blot spills straight away, and wipe the walnut-finish legs with a slightly damp cloth, drying them promptly.
• Cheer uses a polyester-blend fabric in charcoal, olive or blue. Vacuum regularly, blot spills with a clean cloth, and keep it out of strong sunlight.
• Henley is a woven fabric in camel or beige. Blot spills with a clean, dry cloth, vacuum with a soft brush, and keep it away from heat and sunlight.
• Oslo in moss or camel is a textured fabric. Vacuum the moss regularly and keep it out of direct sunlight. On the camel, avoid harsh chemicals and protect the wooden legs from excess moisture.

The charcoal Cheer and black Dany are among the darkest fabric options we sell, and among the easiest to keep looking tidy.

Wool-linen, corduroy and velvet

Our Bergen range covers three different upholsteries on the same curved-back chair.

• Wool-linen blend in beige or black. Spot clean the beige with a damp cloth and mild detergent. For the black, blot spills gently rather than rubbing, and vacuum with a soft brush.
• Corduroy in beige or grey. Vacuum with a soft brush, working along the ribs, and blot or spot clean spills promptly.
• Velvet in beige. Vacuum with a soft brush and spot clean spills with a damp cloth.

Corduroy and velvet both have a pile, so a spill pressed in with a rubbing cloth spreads further. Blot, lift, repeat.

Care habits that apply to every chair

A few instructions come up again and again across the range:

• Avoid harsh chemicals and abrasive cleaners, on the upholstery and the frame.
• Keep chairs out of long spells of direct sunlight, which fades fabric.
• Check and tighten fixings from time to time, especially on chairs that get dragged in and out daily.

A rug under the table catches crumbs before they reach the seats. If you are laying one, our guide to dining table size for your room covers the clearances you need.

Our quick picks for family homes

• Toddlers and messy meals: Dusks, Marlow or Roscoe.
• Soft fabric, but practical: the orange Sienna or the charcoal Cheer.
• Texture with a bit of care: Mila, Oslo or the Bergen corduroy.

You can also mix them. Wipe-clean chairs for the children's side of the table and fabric at the ends works well, and our guide to mixing dining chairs shows how to keep the seat heights level when you do.

Browse every range on our dining chairs page. Delivery is free to mainland UK, most orders arrive in 3 to 5 working days, and you have 30 days to return anything that is not right.