Tips For Looking After Outdoor Furniture
Being exposed to the elements outdoor and patio furniture can take a bit of a beating during the summer months. In order to ensure the outdoor furniture gives many years of trouble free use it is important to look after it and maintain it. Maintaining patio furniture is an ongoing process and to help it look its best there are tasks that need to be done after the summer months before the furniture is stored for the winter, after the winter months and just before the furniture is used for the summer, and ongoing maintenance during the summer months whilst the furniture is in use.
i) Getting the furniture ready after the summer months ready for winter storage
At the end of the summer, just before it is stored over the winter months it is important to thoroughly check the furniture over. Remove each and every screw, nut and bolt and spray with oil before putting it back. The whole process should be performed one item at a time. Whilst this may seem like an arduous task treating each and every screw, nut and bolt will ensure that they will not rust whilst in storage and ensure they are all tight.
If the furniture is metal, look to see if the paint has been chipped of during use over the summer. If there are any bare spots touch them up with paint to prevent any rust setting in. If necessary paint the entire item of furniture with a suitable metal paint. Once dry, pour some oil (engine oil is fine) over the furniture and rub it in with a rag before covering the item of furniture with a piece of canvass or something to stop the furniture getting dirty whilst in storage.
If the furniture is wooden, check each slat and panel and ensure they are solid. If there are any rotten or damaged panels then replace them before storing the furniture. It is much easier to repair the furniture now than waiting for the summer to arrive. Once all panels are solid and secure then treat each panel with an insecticide. This will prevent any boring insects, such as wood worm and the like, from devouring and damaging your furniture over the winter months. The furniture should then be covered in a material, such as canvass, to protect it from any rodents that may decide to gnaw at the furniture whilst it is in storage.
Ideally, the furniture should be stored in a garage or some other shelter, regardless of whether it is wooden or metal. However if this is not possible then it should be stored out of the way where it will remain safe. Between the house and the fence or between the house and the garage are suitable places if there is no chance to put the furniture inside.
ii) After the winter months and getting the furniture ready for those summer cookouts
Before the furniture is used it needs checking over once more. Whilst it is unlikely the nuts, bolts or screws would have come loose whilst the furniture was being stored these should still be checked over and tightened if necessary. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
If the furniture is wooden check the slats once more. How have they faired over the winter? Have any of the slats or panels been damaged by frost, insects or the damp? Do any of the panels or slats need replacing? If any problems are identified then put them right. Have an overall look at the item of furniture. Does it need staining or painting? Are you happy to use the furniture the way it is throughout the summer? If you are not happy with any aspect then now is the time to change it.
If the furniture is metal then give it a good wash with hot and soapy water to get rid of the oil coating you gave it before storing it last winter. Check the furniture and see if any rust spots have appeared over the winter months, hopefully the oil should have prevented this but there could be some small rust spots. If any rust is found remove it with a wire brush and then paint/touch up the area to prevent any further rust attacks and to make the furniture look nice.
iii) Ongoing maintenance throughout the summer months
When the furniture is being used during the summer it still needs to be looked after and simply leaving the furniture exposed to the elements is likely to reduce its life. If possible cover the furniture at night, whilst it is hot during the days the evenings are often much cooler and the furniture may get damp. If the weather takes a turn for the worse and it rains try and get the furniture under cover to reduce its exposure to water.
Maintaining outdoor furniture can be time consuming, however it is well worth putting in the extra effort to ensure the outdoor furniture not only lasts for many summers but is always in top condition. Sitting out on the patio on a warm summer’s evening is one of life’s pleasures which can be enhanced by sitting on nice furniture, and it is these thoughts that should help to provide the motivation required to maintain your outside furniture.
Furniture Online-Tips and Tricks for Purchasing Furniture Online
Article by eWay Furniture
There are many important aspects to consider when preparing to buy furniture online. This guide will attempt to answer some of the questions you may have concerning furniture, especially purchasing online. Once upon a time, no one would consider purchasing furniture on the internet. However, times and furniture have changed. In this day and age, the internet is a part of everyday life. Whether you’re an internet newbie or a seasoned veteran, you simply can’t ignore the vast selections and rock bottom prices available at your fingertips. Whether it’s noon or midnight, you can purchase furniture from down the street or in Asia. All of this selection and endless possibilities lead us to need some help in preparing and educating ourselves about our online purchasing.
First and foremost, you must know the company that you wish to do business with intimately. Some furniture dealers are simply brokers who act as a middleman between you and the furniture manufacturer. While this is certainly a way to save money, you cannot forget about customer service and company reliability. Firstly, I recommend that you investigate that company where they do business, online. A simple google search of the company name paired with “review” will often bring up a wealth of information both positive and negative. Next, I recommend that you feel out their website. This is similar to getting a feel for a physical store. You likely wouldn’t do business with a dark and dirty back room filled with shady characters, and the internet is no different. A professional website is filled with information and product. The links should be working and navigation of the website should be intuitive and make common sense. A website with very little information and dead links is no better than the previously mentioned shady back room. It’s not a place for respectable internet business. Alternatively, you may consider companies that are doing business with a “middleman” such as ebay and amazon. These “middlemen” are very concerned with the private consumer and vet their prospective business partners. Not to mention, their ratings system is a great way to get to know the company from which you are considering purchasing furniture.
Once you have done your homework and properly investigated the reliability, customer service, and website of your prospective furniture dealer you are now ready to think about what type of furniture that you want. Furniture styles range from contemporary to antique. Do you like clean lines and shiny finishes, or more of a distressed antique look? The options are endless and you must consider what you have in your home now. A glass and metal dining table, for instance, may not be appropriate in a wood and leather filled room. You would more likely want to consider a dining set made of wood to live in harmony with your existing natural elements. The opposite is also true. A room full of man-made materials such as metals and plastics is not conducive to a wood dining table. Much of this is common sense, but we simply need to slow down and consider what we already own in coordination with the new products that are available. Another consideration is how will this furniture be used. Will children be using and abusing your furniture? If this is true, you need to think about the durability and stain resistance of your prospective purchase. Furniture with fancy scrolls and small breakable pieces may not be the best possible purchase for someone with children frequently in the room.
So you’ve found an online furniture dealer that you like. You’ve also thought about what would look good surrounded by your existing furniture and home decor. It’s now time to consider the construction and materials available to you. I want to talk about wood furniture as it’s often the most complicated and the most misunderstood. The first “dirty” word I want to teach you is veneer. Veneers have gotten a bad reputation very simply due to a lack of knowledge of furniture construction and some mass furniture marketers attempts at cutting costs. The first thing to know is that not all veneers are created equally. A veneer is a thin slice of “something” over something else. Some veneers are much like paper. If you happen to get a droplet of water on them they are destroyed. Other veneers are made of real hardwood such as oak or walnut. These veneers are sliced more thickly and bonded to another material so as to actually add longevity to your furniture piece as compared to solid wood. The fanciest most expensive furniture on the market today is made using real wood veneers. This is because of several problems with solid wood due to technological advances and nature. Solid wood is vulnerable to humidity. It lives and breathes, expanding and contracting within your particular environment. In the old days, this wasn’t a problem. Furniture in Kentucky was made using trees from Kentucky. Never leaving its natural environment, this wood was adjusted and therefore not as vulnerable to splitting, warping and cracking due to humidity and temperature changes. Technology has made it possible to build the furniture in one part of the world and transport it to another. This leaves us with wood that is sometimes not adjusted to its final destination. Veneers allow us to make furniture that can travel anywhere and stand up to the test of time. Veneers also give us the ability to create table tops with fabulous “starburst” patterns or other similar decoration that isn’t possible using solid planks of wood. It’s also important to point out that many pieces of furniture that use veneers also have solid components. A veneer table top, for instance, likely has a solid wood base. A desk with a veneer top often has solid wood pieces framing the contruction. That way whatever you are likely to hit in normal use is solid wood. Again, this is how the best furniture is built. You must be certain to look at these things before you make your online furniture purchase. I promised you more dirty words and I won’t let you down. Next, I want to teach you about MDF. Remember that I told you that a veneer is a slice of something over something else. Well, MDF is often that something else. MDF is quite possibly the most widely wrongfully disrespected word in furniture. MDF is a board made up of many scraps of wood bonded together. The problem is that many associate this with particle board. MDF and particle board could hardly be more different. MDF is compacted into a dense piece without much distinction between the individual components from which it’s made. Particle board is how it sounds, obvious particles of wood that are easily broken apart from one another. Furniture you find at discount mass consumer stores is sometimes made from particle board. Some of the best furniture in the world is often made from a real wood veneer bonded to MDF. Impervious to splitting, warping or cracking, this furniture will last many years. All of this is not to say that solid wood doesn’t have it’s place. As I’ve stated, table bases are often solid, as is the framing and general construction of many veneered pieces. Often, mission style furniture is made with a technique known as quarter-sawing. In layman terms this is cutting a plank of wood into pieces and bonding it in such a way that the grains stay tight, so there’s no splitting and it’s very solid and long lasting. You will often read this as “100% solid oak, quarter-sawn”. This is a popular, quality method of furniture production. Also, solid wood is very important in drawer construction. Quality furniture will never be made without solid wood drawers. This is definitely a question to ask your prospective furniture dealer when purchasing anything with drawers. Quality drawers are always dovetailed. Dovetailing is a method of drawer construction that joins the front and back pieces of the drawer with some method of interlocking. This is opposed to cheaper methods which glue and staple your drawers together. This is one of those hidden pieces of construction that determines whether your piece is for today or truly heirloom quality.
Of course one can’t think about buying furniture online without considering your different shipping options. Every dealer is different. They use different carriers, deliverers and methods of shipping. First, curb-side shipping is quite possibly the cheapest way possible of getting furniture to your door. In this method, your furniture dealer will arrange for your furniture to acccompany many other items on a semi-truck with drops and stops all over the country. When they arrive at your location the freight carrier will put your furniture on your driveway or curb and it’s your responsibility from that point. It is very important to inspect all boxes immediately. Any damage to a box must, at a minimum, be noted on the paperwork the driver will have you sign. The best option is to open the boxes and inspect all pieces for any damage, again noting anything that you find on the driver’s paperwork. This can be the difference between you footing the bill for a repair or replacement shipping or the freight company handling this cost. So check your delivery carefully, regardles of any complaints or impatience that you may encounter with your freight carrier. The next method of delivery might cost more money, but will save you a lot of time and hassle. This is called white-glove delivery. Your online furniture dealer will often arrange for your shipment to join a truckload, as in the previous example, but when it gets to your area it will be unloaded at a local delivery company. This delivery company will insepct the freight and bring it all of the way into your house, unboxed and setup. This doesn’t mean that it’s not important to still inspect your furniture. You never know if your local delivery company may have unknowingly damaged something on the way to your home. Again, if there is any problems with your furniture, your inspection at the time of delivery may be the difference between you paying for a new piece or them. So I suggest that you inspect all items carefully. Finally, many online furniture dealers will allow you to handle your own shipping details. You can simply buy the furniture, and arrange your own transportation. This could involve any combination of white-glove and curb-side that you desire, or even location permitting you could pick up your own furniture. The most important things are to ask about these details, prior to purchase, and inspect your furniture upon arrival. This way there will be no nasty surprises along the way.
I hope that you have learned some things that will help you feel more comfortable with an online furniture purchase. Remember to investigate your potential new furniture dealer. Know what styles would fit in your home. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about construction. Finally, look into the best method for your furniture transportation and inspect your pieces upon arrival. If you follow these simple steps, you will have new furniture that will brighten your home and add that special touch to your life.
Ron Barth, President of Resource Furniture (www.resourcefurniture.com/space-savers), demonstrates and explains their amazing line of Italian-designed space-savers.