Cane furniture is a beautifully designed and traditional style for the home, but it does, however, require a little bit of maintenance to keep it in durable condition. When cared for correctly, cane can last a lifetime and if you’re wondering how you can look after yours, here’s some advice.
Heat
It’s best to keep cane furniture away from extreme heat situations and places with low humidity situations. These conditions can often cause the cane to dry out and become brittle, which in turn leads to the wood breaking. If the room with your cane furniture does often get too dry, buying a room humidifier to the winter months can help keep the air moist.
Alternatively using a high oil content furniture polish when you dust a room helps to keep the cane supple. Lemon, orange and mineral oils used sparingly and applied to the top and bottom of the cane a couple of times a year will also help.
Evenly Spread Out Weight
While cane furniture may feel strong a sturdy, using it incorrectly will cause it to break quite easily. So it’s advised that you never kneel, sit unusually our use a chair as a stepping stool to reach something above.
Seat Sagging
The natural elastication of cane doesn’t last forever, so it’s important to tighten your furniture or it will eventually break. If you’ve got ahead of any potential damage, a great way to maintain the seat is to turn it upside down and apply a warm wet cloth to the underside (where the sagging would be) this can essentially reverse the sagging and the wet cloth should be left on it overnight. After this, remove the cloth and don’t sit on it for 48 hours so it can dry correctly.
Cushions are Key
Most cane furniture styles usually come with options for cushions or pads to site on, the reason for this is so they don’t damage as easy and the seat lasts a lot longer (reduces the sagging). You’ll find if you don’t use cushions the wood can get grimy so using wood soap can also help to avoid this if you’re not a fan of the furniture with cushions on them.
