apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Just remember that sunlight will destroy your furnishings.

Use UV protected window film. There are some that are adhesive free and renter friendly.

http://www.decorativefilm.com has decorative, adhesive free films, and also some clear films that block UV without obscuring the view if you're lucky enough to have a view. If I remember right though the clear films use adhesive.

Home Depot also has (adhesive based) UV blocking film but you'll need help installing it - the stuff is worse than Saran Wrap to work with. I trashed 2 rolls...

Also never let direct sun, UV protected or not, land on leather furniture.

Does anyone know what effect direct sunlight has on wood? I have a nice, 100 year old oak (I think) table. It's in the direct sun now, and I'm wondering if I should get into the habit of lowering the blinds to protect it. Or is it very hardy in bright light?

"Just say no" to direct sun when it comes to anything you care about.

The only thing I don't worry about is letting my dogs lie in the sun by my patio doors since they have enough sense to move when they're too warm. What's funny is my Bichon mix with his sparse hair and super fair skin will avoid sunshine after only a very few minutes and insist on being in the shade. Dogs really are smarter than some people. LOL ;->


But on topic, sunlight is a heat source.

So it will dry out the wood, making it age faster than it would otherwise. The extreme changes in temperature (from radiation heating vs ambient temperature) can make it swell/shrink/crack.

And of course the UV rays will destroy (bleach out) your finish.

If the table deceives bottled sunlight of partial sunlight then the finish will be damaged unevenly making restoration that much harder.

But don't take my word for it, do a google search on this phrase :

"effect of sunlight on wood furniture"

They all pretty much say the same thing...

That'll teach me to spell check first. Change "deceives bottled" to "receives mottled". Can you tell I type with two fingers? Sheesh

Thanks, boomer.
I was hoping that extra oiling of the wood would provide enough protection. But it doesn't seem so. So down the shades go, angled just enough to prevent the direct sunlight from blazing down!

Sea,
My home has chestnut wood moldings and doors circa 1930 -- the wood that has been continually exposed to sunlight is so much lighter, dried out and out of square than wood that as not. To look at my closet doors, you would think that the insides are painted or stained 10 shades darker than the fronts, but they haven't been touched -- just that the fronts have had sunlight beating on them for 75 years. Be vigilant about protecting your table from the sun if you really love it.

By the way - I've already ruined part of my table by cleaning it with Mrs. Meyer's wood furniture cream cleaner. I stopped as soon as I saw what was happening.

I always see people raving about the Caldrea/Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products on this site - but I won't trust them anymore!

Sea - Murphy's Oil Soap is really good ("test it on a hidden part" is always a good caveat though).

I use it for cleaning my wood surfaces. Never use furniture polish, wax, etc.

There's some debate about whether or not it's reccommended for wood floors and I have no experience with that.

But for cleaning furniture it's awesome. Once I used it on an antique table I found on craigslist and was surprised that it wasn't black, as I'd thought, but a nice mahogony. ;->

Sea, also - here in the Portland area there's a guy doing business as :


American Craftsmen & Refinishers
1720 SE Haig St
Portland, OR 97202-2852
(503) 236-5196

He's very, very, good and only does antiques. He's pretty backlogged but well worth the wait. He's done amazing work on my craigslist finds that I've brought him.

No doubt driving to Portland from LA for a table is a bit much, but maybe he can tell you the name of someone of his caliber in your area. It'd be worth a shot.

boomer,
Thank you! (p.s. But I snuck onto this site from New York.) I'll just use my Murphy's oil soap - which does work well on my wood floors, at least....

And how come everyone knows not to use furniture polish on furniture except me? Actually, I DID know not to use the regular commercial brands, and nothing with silicone, etc. ...But I thought it was okay to trust the "all natural" Mrs. Meyer's. Ha.

I would highly recommend a product called The Natchez Solution-- http://www.natchezsolution.com/ --for putting on your furniture. All natural and your furniture looks wonderful...it revived a side table of mine.