Furniture Care Guide: Keep Your Furniture in Great Condition for Years

One of the best parts about investing in heirloom furniture pieces is that you can expect to have them for a long, long time. To ensure your furniture remains as beautiful and functional as the day you purchased it, it’s important to come up with a furniture care and protection plan. While different materials have different needs, here is some general advice you can keep in mind to increase your furniture’s lifespan.

Wilkes and Nelson Bench

Cleaning

When it comes to your furniture protection plan, regular cleaning with appropriate substances is the easiest way to keep your furniture looking new. Dusting your most frequently used pieces (such as seating, media storage units, and tables) on a weekly basis and your harder to reach areas (such as ceiling fan blades and tops of bookcases) monthly, is a great place to start. Dust is a visual sign of age that builds up over time and can lead to dust mites, so regularly removing it from your furniture keeps it looking beautiful and new. One of the simplest and most effective ways to do this is to use a microfiber cloth to wipe up the dust. Microfiber cloths are great for dusting because they grab dust particles without leaving behind string or lint and don't damage the furniture or leave a residue. They also enable you to remove the dust completely rather than spreading it around.  

In terms of frequency, it’s a good idea to give your furniture a light cleaning every month and a deeper cleaning every six months. When it comes to doing a deeper cleaning of your furniture, it’s important to consider the products you’re using and their ingredients. Consider the material you’re cleaning when you’re deciding how to clean it and avoid cleaners that contain harsh chemicals like bleach or ammonia. For instance, vinegar is often used as a household cleaner, but can damage stone and wood surfaces.

Cylinda Coasters

Protective Accessories

Another common way to keep your furniture looking new is to use protective accessories on and around it. For furniture that has feet (like sofas and lounge chairs), attaching felt pads to the bottoms of those feet keeps them and the floor beneath them from scratching one another. Coasters are always a great idea to prevent beverages from causing water damage to your furniture, and accessories such as table runners and placemats can be attractive ways to protect your dining furniture from food damage and staining. Wear builds up over time, so even small changes add longevity to your furniture.

Curve Coaster

Pets

While there are some materials that are more resistant to pet damage than others, it’s generally a good idea to keep your furry friends off your furniture. Letting your pets on your furniture means, at a minimum, hair or fur that needs to be regularly removed. At worst, it means staining and teeth or claw marks, which can be much more difficult to repair. The easiest way to prevent this is to maintain pet-free zones on or around furniture and provide your pets with appropriate alternatives, such as cat trees and dog beds. If there’s no way around your cat or dog on your sofa or lounge chair, try designating a blanket to signal where your pets can settle down.

Pets
Natural light

Protection from the Elements

Natural light can be one of the loveliest aspects of home design. However, direct sunlight can quickly age or otherwise damage your indoor furniture. For natural wood furniture, too much light can dry out the material and make it coarse to the touch. Similarly, vibrantly colored upholstery can become discolored with too much exposure to direct natural lighting. The most cost-effective way to protect your furniture from direct sunlight is to arrange it so that it’s not in the sunlight’s path throughout the day. Alternatively, you can treat your house’s windows or cover them in window film to protect your furniture from the worst of the sunlight’s harsh rays. Of course, the middle ground between these options is also the most classic: curtains, blinds, or other window coverings enable you to control the amount of light exposure your furniture receives. They can also be a design opportunity, with curtains in any conceivable pattern or vibrant color and modern geometric blinds becoming more accessible every year.  

Live in an especially humid climate? You might consider the steps you’re taking to protect your furniture from moisture. A humidifier can be a good choice because it enables you to control the amount of moisture in the air, preventing it from becoming either too moist (and so causing mold or long-term water damage) or too dry (and causing wood surfaces to crack over time). Additionally, it’s a good idea to look into protective polish or lacquer for your wooden pieces. When applied every few years, these can create a protective layer over the wood and prevent it from swelling with the humidity.

Immediate Fixes

One of the best ways to maintain your furniture’s appearance is to fix any damage, no matter how big or small, immediately after it occurs. You may not be able to completely repair it, but removing stains and addressing scuffs, tears, or scratches soon after they happen can prevent the damage from becoming worse. It also means that damage doesn’t accumulate over time, something that can make a piece of furniture look more worn than it is and forces a larger restoration project.

Pests

Pests

Pests aren’t a problem until they suddenly really are, especially in wooden and upholstered furniture. While the pest may vary according to region, the damage they can do and the speed at which they can do it is universal. Once you have pests in or around your furniture, the best thing you can do is contact pest control and have the issue addressed as soon as possible. However, the best approach to pests and furniture is proactive rather than reactive. Many of the above recommendations, like restricting furniture’s exposure to moisture or coating it with an appropriate protective polish, will also work to prevent infestation. Of course, being careful with crumbs and beverages and keeping the area around your pieces generally tidy is a great, simple way to keep pests from damaging your furniture.

Outdoor Furniture

Outdoor Furniture

Outdoor furniture is typically built to better withstand the elements, utilizing materials such as durable laminate, powder-coated steel, and quick-drying foam. However, there are still steps you can take to increase the longevity of these pieces. If your outdoor furniture came with weather-resistant covers, it’s a good idea to keep these on your furniture when it’s not being used. This helps prevent non-removable cushions from getting moldy and the color of your furniture from fading. During the winter months or more severe weather, the best outdoor furniture care is to have a place inside to store it. While this may seem like a hassle in the moment, it will do wonders for the long-term appearance and condition of your furniture.

Eos Outdoor Furniture Cover Chaise