Wood furniture care and maintenance usually include dusting, cleaning, polishing, or waxing to allow your furniture to last long and look its best. A good piece of wooden furniture adds beauty and elevates the visual quality of your home or office. Good news is that natural wood doesn’t need much maintenance. However, the better you treat your wood furniture, resin wood, and live edge tables, the longer they will last.
The most important furniture care protection tip is that you should dust and shine your wood furniture regularly. However, if you wonder how should you exactly do it, what are the best methods of furniture care, and how can you keep different types of wood look their best for years to come, read our expert tips.
Bear in mind that wood care and maintenance will most often depend on the finish of the piece. To avoid damaging the finish and stop a dark film on your precious pieces from building up, simply follow our furniture care and maintenance steps. Here are the daily and periodical, deep cleaning wood furniture care and maintenance tips you’ve been looking for.
Natural Wood Furniture Care and Maintenance Guidelines
Dusting, cleaning, applying paste wax, and occasional deep cleaning are all the necessary steps in wood furniture care protection you need to be aware of. If you’ve just purchased a new piece of furniture, it’s best to ask for specific care and cleaning guidelines.How to Dust Furniture Properly
Dusting your wood furniture is the first step in furniture care that you shouldn’t skip. Airborne deposits build up in a filmy layer on your wood pieces and can scratch their surface. Frequent dusting will remove these airborne deposits and stop filmy layers of dust to build up. When dusting, you can use various tools. Treated cloths, classic feather dusters, soft, lint-free cloths, terry towels, and lamb’s wool dusters are all great for dusting wooden furniture. The most important is they are clean and soft. They will easily and effectively remove dust. However, dust may scatter into the air and dry cloth can cause dust to make microscopic scratches on the wood. This is why you will want to dampen your cleaning cloth slightly and prevent this.- Ostrich-feather dusters easily glide over any, including delicate and fragile, surfaces, and get to hard-to-reach areas. Their small fibers whisk up and retain dust particles, leaving clean, dust and feather-free wood surfaces behind.
- Lint-free cloths will not give up any fluff when used for dusting. To trap dust, dampen them minimally.
- Specially treated, soft and non-scratching cloths easily attract and trap dust and dirt. Feel free to use them instead of silicon sprays to clean your wooden furniture.
- Use terry towels to dry and remove any moisture left after dusting using a damp cloth. Terry cloth surface is made of many woven loops that can retain a lot of liquid.
- Lambswool dusters contain lanolin that creates natural magnetic static. This feature makes lambswool dusters easily attract and retain dust. Use these dusters for dusting any wooden surfaces and areas that are hard to reach.
How to Clean Fine Wood Furniture
For optimal furniture care, always use a soft cloth for cleaning. If you do not clean your furniture properly, dust can scratch the surface of the wood. It is best to never clean your furniture with a dry cloth, as this can cause dust to make microscopic scratches on the wood. Only use furniture cleaning products.- First spray it on the surface of your furniture evenly. Avoid using more spray than needed.
- Then wipe the surface in circular motions using a clean microfiber cloth.
- Lastly, wipe down the surface again with a dry cloth for a nice polish.
Yearly Natural Wood Furniture Care and Maintenance
You will need to polish your table once a year to ensure that it shines like the first time it entered your home. Avoid silicone based polish products like Pledge because it can be absorbed by the natural wood over time and ruin your rustic table. Instead, find and use a hard carnauba wax. Polishing the table requires a little effort. Luckily, you only have to do it once per year. Wood furniture care and maintenance are actually pretty simple and straightforward. Start with dusting your furniture regularly with a piece of soft cloth in order to maintain its appearance and elegance. When cleaning your table, use soft cloth dipped in mild soap solution without perfumes or alcohol to wipe clean the surface. Due to the nature of the wood, your table will see little cracks over time. To retain its longevity, maintain relative humidity between 40% and 45%. When moving your table, please avoid dragging it. Instead, lift the table up and put it down slowly. Use the adjustment cap at the bottom of the legs to level the table. Our wood tables are heavy, so if you need help, find it when moving them.Enemies of Your Natural Wood Furniture
- Direct Sunlight! This is the enemy number one of Naturalist wood furniture! The UV content of the sunlight damages the varnish of wood furniture. Keeping your furniture away from direct sunlight will prolong the life of your furniture.
- Liquid Spills! If any kind of liquid spills on your furniture, immediately wipe it with a dry cloth. Wood should never get wet! Using coasters for your drinks will help prevent water rings.
- Heat! Placing hot item on a wooden surface will damage the finish of wood and leave permanent white marks and/or spots on the exposed area. Always use coasters and thick mats to avoid direct contact of hot items with wood.
- Humidity! Wood is very sensitive to humidity. As weather changes, the humidity level in your home also changes. This variation in humidity changes the moisture content of wood furniture. As a result of the variation in humidity, wood furniture can contract and expand. High moisture content causes the wood to swell and excessive dryness causes wood to split and crack. Therefore it is very important to maintain a normal humidity level in your home or office.
Resin Wood Furniture Care and Maintenance
When it comes to caring and maintaining your resin wood tables and other furniture, feel free to apply all the above-listed steps. The most important thing in resin wood furniture care and maintenance is to keep their surface clean, especially in high traffic areas. Simply wiping down the table top in between busy periods on a daily basis will be crucial. Never use abrasive cleaning tools to clean your resin wood furniture. Resin is scratch resistant but it’s not scratch proof and, at the same time, wood is neither. Take preventative steps to protect your resin wood tables and other furniture pieces:- Your table has a water-proof resin table top but still be careful with water and other liquids. Excessive use of water will not help it look great. Be extremely careful with wood — it should never get wet. Wipe up any spills immediately.
- Make sure to regularly check the bolts and nuts that connect the top of your table to its base and ensure they are properly tightened and rust-free. A loose table may lead to a damage to the table or even an accident.
- Never place hot mugs, pots, pans, and other hot objects directly on to your resin wood table or other furniture. Use mats, trivets, and coasters to avoid marking the surface.
- Naturalist resin wood tables, credenzas, and other furniture have great UV stability. However, a prolonged exposure to direct sunlight and UV light can cause some changes to appear, just like with any other materials. This is why we don’t recommend our wood and resin furniture for outdoor use. Keep them away from direct sunlight if possible.
- Naturalist resin wood furniture is very durable and leaving marks on it is almost impossible with usual use. However, sharp objects can cause damage if not used properly or dropped onto the surface. Avoid placing and using abrasive or sharp objects on resin wood surfaces.
- Never use harsh cleaners for cleaning your resin wood table. Harsh chemicals can damage both resin and wood.
- To clean your resin wood table and other furniture, use a clean, soft cloth slightly dampened and then dry it using a dry cloth.