How to Preserve Your Furniture

Furniture preservation isn’t just something you do for your great-grandmother’s bedroom furniture or your antique poster bed. By properly taking care of furniture you buy today, you can enjoy it for years to come.

One of the best tips for protecting furniture is to make sure you start the act of preservation as soon as you can. Whether your furniture is brand new or years old, it’s never too early or too late to start maintaining it correctly.

In today’s ‘throw-away’ society, many people fail to take the time to care about furniture preservation. But for people who have furniture they’d like to hand down to their children, help is available. There are tips to preserve furniture not just for tomorrow, but also for decades to come.

The two greatest threats to furniture are people and the environment. The good news is you can have control over both of these factors.

Furniture Preservation 101

The first threat you can control when safeguarding furniture is the human element. For example, take extra care whenever you’re around your living room furniture you’d like to preserve. For example, keep the vacuum away from fragile living room sofa legs and avoid placing drinking glasses directly on table surfaces. In other words, treat the furniture with respect.

The second threat is the environment. Temperature, humidity, and light all play a role in the aging process of wood and upholstery, the two main components of furniture. The first step in preserving furniture is to make sure that your heirlooms are out of harm’s way as much as possible.

Steps to Furniture Preservation

It’s also important to know what types of materials are in the furniture items you plan to preserve. But even if you are unsure, there are a number of rules for maintenance that can be followed across the board, regardless of the building material:

  1. Dust wood finishes with a magnetic cloth.
  2. Avoid harsh commercial/retail oils, sprays or cleaners on wood and fabrics.
  3. Apply only a light coating of paste wax once a year to preserve woodwork.
  4. If liquids come into contact with the furniture, wipe them up immediately.
  5. For added protection to coffee tables or dining room tables, use a tablecloth to repel water, food and other destructive substances that might spill.
  6. If heavy objects are placed on top of furniture, put padding underneath them to protect exposed surfaces.

Moving Preserved Furniture

The day might come when you need to move furniture you’re trying to protect. Items such as living room furniture or bedroom furniture are usually heavy in nature, so it’s important to remember two key rules for moving furniture.

  1. Never pick up your furniture from the arms or top. Instead, support the furniture below its center of gravity.
  2. Never drag your furniture across the floor. Doing so may loosen and separate the joined wood.

Getting the Most Out of Furniture Preservation

If you diligently follow these rules for furniture preservation, you can protect precious heirlooms for your own great-grandchildren to use and enjoy in the future. Just a little forethought and discipline can preserve your furniture for many generations to come.

About DirectBuy:

DirectBuy carries a large assortment of living room furniture and bedroom furniture at wholesale prices direct from the manufacturer and their authorized suppliers. A one-stop shop for your entire home remodeling needs, DirectBuy has virtually everything – including the kitchen sink – to make your home remodeling project as easy as possible.

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Guide to Detecting Good Quality When You Buy Furniture

Finding timeless furniture pieces can sometimes be a difficult task. I am not just talking about the design but also the quality of furniture. Of course, you need to put a lot of consideration into the type and style of furniture you decide to buy.

When buying bedroom furniture, for instance, you do not want to end up inadvertently mixing and matching different styles of furniture. Combining modern pieces with vintage style pieces or even Victorian style pieces will not necessarily lead to great aesthetic results. It is best to decide on one theme and stick to it.

If you are one of those people who changes his or her mind often when it comes to design themes, it is best to buy furniture that you can easily work with. It should be flexible and versatile so you can change the look of your room without changing your expensive furniture.

Oak furniture, as well as authentic and one hundred percent solid wood furniture are timeless and match any design theme. Solid wood and oak furniture is also ideal for contemporary design. Because oak furniture pieces are hardwood, they last for a very long time.

To determine the quality of the furniture you are buying, search for a reliable manufacturer first. There are manufacturers that specialise in crafting bedroom furniture, living room furniture, kitchen furniture and hallway furniture made from hardwood. Because this is their specialty, they know exactly how to look for the best materials and how to assemble them into functional furniture.

Check the materials of the furniture you are buying. For instance, if you are buying wood furniture, you would do well to rely on oak furniture instead of MDF. Although oak is a tad more expensive, it is much higher quality and will last longer. This is one of the most durable hardwood materials available. Oak pieces are also timeless and work with any design theme. You can mix and match different types of solid wood with your oak furniture as well.

Another indication of the quality of the pieces when you buy your preferred furniture is whether the manufacturer is offering some sort of guarantee. If they are confident that their pieces are really of top-notch quality they will provide at least a thirty day guarantee. In that time, you can test and thoroughly check the materials of the furniture. If you are not satisfied with the crafting, you can return it before the thirty day period lapses.

The construction is also a key element in determining quality of furniture. It is a lot like buying an expensive handbag. If the stitches are way off and you can see how ugly the seams are, it is probably not authentic. In the same way, the construction of bedroom furniture, living room furniture, dining room furniture and hallway furniture is a dead giveaway of its quality.

No part of the exterior should be chipped. If it is dented, you should consider a different piece. When you buy furniture, especially solid wood pieces, make sure that the surface is scratch resistant. They should also be easy to maintain. Painted solid wood furniture should also be painted well and evenly.

Make sure you check the drawers especially when buying dressers and chests. The drawers should roll out perfectly. Also understand the drawer mechanism to make sure that it can be easily replaced when it finally gives out. Certain types of drawer tracks tend to be prone to damage and they might cause the drawer to get stuck.

Most high quality furniture pieces are also treated with substances that make them less prone to the accumulation of dust. You might want to find out if the furniture you are buying has this feature. It lessens your cleaning and maintenance work.

The very last task is to determine the price. If the price is lower than usual, it might incorporate plywood or be combined with other cheaper woods. When you buy furniture, especially hardwood pieces like oak furniture, it should be within a particular price range. Shop around and find the best deals, but if a price seems too good to be true then it probably is. With these tips in mind, you can easily find high quality bedroom furniture, living room furniture and kitchen furniture that will complete the look of your room.

Iain Jenkins writes articles for Your Furniture Online, an internet based retailer of oak furniture. With a wide range of bedroom furniture in stock, you can buy furniture quickly and easily over the internet.

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