6 Tips on How to Care for Wooden Furniture

As sturdy as it may be, wood is also delicate and needs special care in order to last for a long time.

Wooden furniture has always been one of the most common home decoration choices. It gives a sense of warmth and personality to your home. But if you want to hold onto wooden furniture for a long time, you have to know how to care for it.

Wood isn’t the toughest or the longest-lasting material out there. This means you have to care for your wooden furniture just about every day of the week to make sure it doesn’t deteriorate. Keep reading to see our list of 6 ideas to help you care for your wooden furniture and keep it looking brand new.

6 tips on how to care for your wooden furniture

1. Clean it every day

Even if it doesn’t seem like it, your furniture builds up dust every single day. So, if you really want to care for your wooden furniture as well as possible, you need to clean it every day. 

You can use a dry rag and just run it over the surface to get rid of the dust. You can also get some wipes specially made for wood that most grocery stores sell.

Cleaning your wooden furniture every day won’t take much of your time, and in return, you’re helping to keep it from getting dirty. If you let the dirt build up, the wood can end up staining or losing its color. 

2. Wax it once a week

Another key part of caring for your wooden furniture is to wax it. You don’t need to do this every day, but once a week would be very good for it. 

We also recommend you only apply the wax once you’ve cleaned the furniture with a rag. That way it’s completely clear and spotless when you use the wax. You could either use a rag or a soft bristle brush to apply the wax.

The basic idea is to apply just one layer of wax and then wait for it to dry. You can apply a second and third layer if you want to, but you should still wait for the first (and second) to dry before you do that.

3. Don’t use ammonia

Most of the wood cleaning products you’ll find out there have ammonia, but you should avoid using it. It’s an abrasive chemical, which means that your furniture will lose its color and shine the more you use it. 

Our suggestion is to use products that are non-abrasive and as natural as possible. Doing that will help you keep the wood from wearing away, and you won’t be keeping ammonia (a dangerous chemical) in your home.

4. Don’t put hot things on your wooden furniture

We also recommend that you avoid ever putting anything hot on top of wooden furniture in your home. Heat can cause irreversible damage to wood. 

That heat damage can range from things like discoloration, softening, stains, and there’s even a chance that the wax will wear away or the wood may swell. The only thing you can do (without guarantees) if this happens, is to sand the wood.

5. Protect it from weather, water, and air conditioning

Caring for wooden furniture isn’t easy. You also have to protect it from everything from the sun to water, to your air conditioning. This means you constantly have to be careful with your furniture. Here are your three main enemies:

• Sun: sunlight will start to eat away the shine and color of the wood bit by bit, and wear it away over time.
• Water: everyone knows how susceptible wood is to water. So, that means you need to avoid putting your furniture in humid areas. The water could cause the wood to soften and crack.
• Air conditioning: continuous sun exposure is bad for wood, but that’s also true with air conditioning. The air flow will make the wood start to lose its color, too.

6. Clean up messes right away