Rustic furniture has become increasingly popular over the last several years, not only for weekend getaways like lodges and cabins, but also for urban living. To get the maximum benefits from your rustic furniture, it's important to understand the details of wood care and finishing. Proper wood care will keep your rustic furniture looking great for years to come. Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Rustic furniture falls into four general categories: indoor and outdoor, finished and unfinished. What wood you choose and how you treat it should be decisions that fall in line with the visual effect you want for your home. Begin by deciding just how authentic a look you want, and that will narrow down your wood care decisions. Rustic furniture is typically made from pine, cedar, and hickory, though pine and cedar are the most popular choices.
- Cedar is the most popular choice for outdoor rustic furniture use. Wood care for unfinished outdoor cedar is mostly common sense. Cedar will preserve best outside of damp or shaded areas. A mix of water, bleach, and household detergent is an efficient wood care treatment for mildew. Over time, unfinished rustic outdoor cedar will become a silver/gray patina in color.
- Unfinished indoor cedar furniture obviously will not weather as rapidly as outdoor. Appropriate wood care for unfinished indoor cedar would include occasional washing with a gentle soap. A good polyurethane should be used if staining your indoor rustic cedar pieces.
- Outdoor rustic pine furniture is much more apt to become damaged by the elements, which is one reason it's a more popular choice as an indoor rustic furniture wood. Outdoor pine would require a great deal of wood care and frequent finishing to protect the wood.
- Indoor rustic pine furniture will need to be washed a little more frequently than cedar, but wood care should still be minimal. If you do finish your pine furniture, consider using a clear finish to highlight the wood's natural warm appearance.
