Wooden furnishings add a sense of attraction to your home with their vintage charm. Any wooden piece is a center-point deserving of all the attention it attracts. It is for this reason that special care and attention must be paid to its upkeep. However, it’s critical to understand what works and what doesn’t. Your wooden furniture can avoid the need for repairs and look its best for years with regular maintenance and attention.
Follow these helpful cleaning and care methods to protect your prized possessions.
Here you will find some of the daily maintenance you can do and some of the long-term things you can do to maximize the longevity and beauty of your hardwood furniture.
Daily maintenance
We’ll start with the basics. But these basic tips and tricks will play a major role and will help you a lot if you regularly follow and adapt. As surprising as it sounds the less you do to your wood furniture the better it is for the furniture.
Just Dust it
One of the easiest simplest things to do is just dust it every day. You don’t want to let dust build up on your hardwood furniture because it’s mildly abrasive and over some time you’ll find tiny scratches from it. So, what we recommend for varnished wood furniture is something like a microfiber cloth or a cotton cloth, slightly damp, not wet, not covered with products. If your wood furniture is unfinished then just clean it using a dry microfiber cloth. When it comes to products, we recommend almost nothing. A lot of the commercially available silicon-based products like pledge tend to build up over time. So, we’re not a big fan of those. For day-to-day maintenance, just a damp cloth is the best thing.
Clean up spills
Another important thing is to clean up spills immediately. One of the worst things about a hardwood product is to have moisture sitting on the top of it. You got your chilled soft drink or iced coffee it’s going to sit there and condensation will build upon it. After this, you are going to have a little puddle but be cautious and don’t let that happen, clean it up right away. Over some time if that moisture sits there it’s going to get underneath the finish and you’re going to have white ugly spots show up on your table or any other furnishing for that matter.
Long term maintenance
So now let’s talk about long-term maintenance. Some of the things you can do to help extend the life of your wood furniture.
Protect the furniture
We recommend tablecloths, trays, table runners, and other things like that to help you minimize the day-to-day scratches. Occasionally you might even want to use a table pad if you’re having a big event. If you use for example a small tray in your bedroom to keep colognes perfumes, a contact lens solution, we don’t want any of those liquids to be spilled on your dresser.
Impacts of Temperature & Humidity
One of the things that can impact hardwood furniture a lot is temperature and humidity. So, you want to keep your wooden furnishings away from things like an air vent or for example wood stove. Big changes in humidity, big temperature changes tend not to be good for hardwood furniture. The wood expands and contracts and you are much more likely to see little checks if the hardwood furniture is exposed to that over time.
Effects of Sunlight
The other thing we could talk about is that wood changes with exposure to the sun so the furniture will tend to darken over time with increasing sun exposure. So, if you are in a room with a very bright window, a lot of sun on it, it’s good to move the furniture around or at least protect it from direct sunlight. One of the things that you might see is if you have a brand-new nightstand for example and you put a lamp on it throughout a couple of months wood that’s underneath the lamp and not exposed to the sun is going to be a much lighter color than the rest of the piece. So, it’s good to move things around.
Oil and Wax
Oiling and waxing wood furnishings are highly suggested since it provides a lustrous finish. It also imparts a thick shield, a coating, to the surface, providing you with a more vibrant look. It really would be great if you could oil and polish your wooden units every three months.
Age with Grace
Furnishings age over time, and you should allow them to do so gracefully. It, like wine, may develop a new look and feel in its later years. With time, some wooden furnishings will lighten and some will darken. So, the next time you buy any wooden furniture, pay close attention to how it ages.
Can wood be refinished?
Another great thing about solid hardwood furniture is that in a worst-case scenario it can always be refinished. So, you can always take the surface finish off and have that redone.
Why not use furniture polish products?
A popular polish manufacturer brand designs their product to bring out the shine of your wood and to polish and protect your furniture. However, because different types of wood and varnishes have varied requirements, not all wood and wood finishes are made equal. As a result, furniture polish isn’t an all-in-one solution. Rather than cleaning, it dulls the surface of your wood furnishings and builds up with dust and moisture.
All These little tips can go a long way toward extending the life of your wooden furnishings.
Conclusion
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