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Caring for Side Tables
What pieces of furniture in your home would you say experience the most wear and tear? The living room sofa—with its depressions and possibly tears in its cover—probably comes to mind. The kitchen counter, where you chop, grind, pound and mix your food, is also a likely candidate. But what about your side tables?
Side tables are those small, handy tables that you may have placed in various locations in your home. They may be found beside chairs, beds, or outdoors. They are used to put a variety of things that their owners need to keep nearby when settling down on a chair, a sofa or a bed. They may be leaned on. It’s even possible that they get moved around everyday, depending on where they are needed or not needed. The point is, side tables get used and moved around quite a lot. Because they are subjected to a fair amount of wear and tear, they need to be maintained just like the living room sofa and the kitchen counter.
Caring for the Wooden Variety:
Although well-made wooden side table will have protective finishes that will keep moisture and destructive particles from penetrating the material, wood surfaces still need to be cared for to ensure your table’s longevity. The tabletop is the surface that is most vulnerable because it is most frequently exposed to heating, cooling, scratching pressure and impact, so it will require the most attention.
The easiest thing to do is to just wipe the surfaces with a moist cloth to get rid of dust. The cloth should hold just enough water to pick up all the dust from your table without leaving tiny droplets in its wake. Dust and other particles, if left on your table, can be rubbed into the protective layers of the surfaces, weakening them.
Cleaning will help slow the deterioration of the table’s surfaces, but eventually you’ll have to polish and wax to replenish the outer coating.
Caring for Glass Types:
Glass is so appealing because it is smooth, clean and bright. Scratchy glass just doesn’t look right, so regularly wash the surfaces of your glass side table. Glass cleaner also works well. Particles left in the table can eventually damage the surface, which is even worse on glass than it is on wood, so make sure that your glass top is cleaned regularly.
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