Archive for the ‘Furniture Care’ Category

How to care for Outdoor Furniture.

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

The winter malaise has broken in New England the sun is shinning on a beautiful April day. It’s time to break out the hose, rakes and broom and clear off that deck for the coming summer bliss. As you remove the tarp which did it’s best to cover the patio table and chairs, you realize you left the umbrella out all winter and the squirrels have munched through the cushions, What to do now? Large stores such as Target, Walmart and Home Depot have become the sources for outdoor furniture. They often provide many models and material designs to choose from and at a price that often surprises even the most frugal of shoppers. Pick the furniture set that best fits your needs and head home for assembly.

It’s import to understand the way weather affects your patio furniture and important to keep your purchase protected from the elements. Thus when you make your purchase pay attention to furniture sets that might come with covering accessories. Outdoor furniture is made to handle the summer elements but it’s at the end of the season many people forget to protect their investment. Of course if you have a large garage or shed, put the furniture away, out of the winter elements, cover it in tarps, rope it up of the ground and you’ll be all set. But what if you don’t have covered space for your table, chairs and umbrella? It’s important to protect your patio furniture if your going to leave it on the deck year round. What you’ll need is tarps, rope, and weights. Clean off your furniture at the end of the season, if you have seat cushions take them off, umbrella take it down.

A large tarp tied tightly around the furniture with weights around the bottom will ensure that the whipping snow, sleet and rain does not directly contact the wood or metal parts of the furniture. This is an important part of maintaining the color, structure and function of the furniture. If your going to spend money on outdoor furniture then make sure you spend time setting it up, braking it down and covering it against the elements, otherwise its back to Target in 6 months and to the curbs with last years table that did such a fine job!

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Wood Furniture Care

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

Wood can rot, split and crack in excessive sun, and be attractive to bugs. Yet proper maintenance of your wood furniture will ensure that it lasts for a very long time. In some cases, the furniture may be made out of treated wood, in which case the wood has a chemical in it that resists rot and bugs. While treated wood in the past has been a problem because it used to contain arsenic, today’s treated wood furniture is much safer.

If you have older furniture made of treated wood you may want to consider replacing it. If your furniture is not made out of treated wood, you can put it under a roof to keep it dry and out of the sun or you can put some kind of liquid sealant or paint on it. If you put unfinished wood furniture outside but in a protected area, over a few years it will turn gray; some people really like this look. Unfinished furniture left in the weather will also gray but it may also begin to rot, split, and stop being sturdy prematurely.

As far as sealing your furniture, there are a number of products that are clear or lightly stained, meant for sealing decks. These are a good option because they keep the look of the natural wood or they enhance that look with stain. Be sure to read the instructions about how often the wood needs to be sealed—it might be every two or three years. You can also paint your furniture; you can choose your favorite color.

But you can also paint your furniture to look old (and still be protected). The way to do this is to use black paint on your table or chair. After the black paint is dried, you can use white paint, hitting and missing the furniture so that some of the black paint shows through. If you practice a bit with this technique, you can make your furniture look like you have had it in the family for a long time!

Finally, placement is important. Be sure you place your furniture on a surface where water doesn’t pool up. The feet are the most likely to be scuffed up in every day use, so that is where water can soak into the wood if you are not careful about making sure your furniture dries out thoroughly when it is exposed to rain. Shade helps to keep the sun from damaging the wood.

Wood patio furniture can be of a classic design, like the Adirondack chair and related furniture, or it might be modern in some way. Whatever style of wood furniture that appeals to you, if you take good care of it, you will enjoy it for many years.

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