The first thing that everyone will notice when they pay their first visit to your home, is your living space and your furniture. Your furniture shows its own story about you, loud and clear, saying “This is me!” to everybody who enters your home.
So, How to Make Your Furniture Last Longer? Well, While we all lead different lifestyles and like different décor styles, every home should have one thing in common: nicely and carefully maintained furniture. With accurate care and regular maintenance, your furniture will last much longer and stay in excellent condition, for sure.
That’s why it is very important to carefully choose your furniture and have it be of the best quality if you want it to last long with appropriate care.
Table of Contents
How to Make Your Furniture Last Longer
Clean Your Furniture Regularly With Proper Products
There is no excuse for not cleaning your furniture regularly. The more often you clean it, the easier it’s done.
Do not wait for dust to accumulate on your furniture, as it will be harder to clean it. There is a great variety of cleaning products and tools, so do not wait, use them often and properly.
Their ingredients and purpose are clearly stated on the instruction labels, so even if you don’t know exactly how to clean a fabric couch, just read the label on the product that’s intended for cleaning upholstery, and maybe also check out a direction or two.
Just like upholstery, every other kind of surface has the product that is intended for it, so just read the labels, put on cleaning gloves, take a piece of soft cloth and you are good to go.
Carefully Move Your Furniture
After you buy a piece of furniture, consider how it will be delivered to your house. It’s best to leave the transportation to the store because they are equipped with all the tools needed for secure delivery. Moreover, their workers are properly trained, so that nothing gets scratched, damaged, or broken.
Alternatively, you can also hire professional movers, and let them take care of the transport for you. Both of these two options will probably cost extra, but it is much better to pay for this service than to be sorry in case something goes wrong.
Once the piece of furniture is in your home, you are the one who’s solely responsible for it. So, if you decide to change things up or reposition your furniture, you will have to move it on your own. Make ensure to be soft with your floors, and do not just push the furniture from one place to another. Instead, use blankets or some other pieces of cloth to smoothly slide the pieces from one place to another.
If you decide to move a piece of furniture to another room, which can damage not only your walls and floors but also the furniture piece, make sure you use some more blankets or cardboard to protect the piece you are about to move.
Avoid Exposure To Direct Sunlight
Everything that is exposed to direct sunlight will change in a short period of time. Some wooden surfaces will become darker, some will fade, and if the part is exposed to too much direct sunlight, the paint and wood can crack reason of the heat. The upholstery may also fade significantly, and end up looking old and worn out even after only one sunny season.
So, make sure you use window blinds or drapes between the hours when there is plenty of sunlight entering your home.
Teach Your Pets Good Manners
Easier said than done! If you are your pet’s favorite human, they will always want to be near you. So, in order to protect your upholstery, adorn your sofas and armchairs with slipcovers. Moreover, choose materials that are easy to maintain and upkeep.
Not only will this enable you to cover your furniture from unwanted scratches, hair, and drool, but it will also allow you to completely change the style and vibe of your interior design by simply choosing new covers whenever you feel like it.
Use Polish on Wooden Furniture
After cleaning wooden surfaces, it is best to polish them. Wood polish consists of wax, a little solvent to soften it, and sometimes a bit of color tint. The polish will save wooden surfaces from scratches and avoid moisture, and it will be of great help the next time you decide to clean.
The polish does usually wear off easily, so you can use it frequently. However, keep in mind that you should always avoid using furniture polish on your floors, as this will make them super slippery, which can cause serious – yet easily preventable – accidents.
The wax polish with no color tint can also be used in the kitchen. It does a great job at protecting your countertops and cabinet doors while making them nice and shiny, and much easier to clean.
Responsible Behavior
After all, as we’ve mentioned previously, you should also try and enforce some basic house rules and responsible behavior that every member of your home should attach to.
For starters, there should be completely no eating allowed near sofas, armchairs, or carpets, and this rule should be followed by everyone.
Furthermore, make sure there’s no jumping on the furniture, to avoid having it broken or damaged.
And lastly, if you have small kids, make sure they keep their art on the paper and not your walls.
