Eco friendly cane furniture....

These days everybody is conscious about the harmful impacts of artificial things. Everybody is trying to go green and use eco friendly products that are widely available at present. Furniture is no exception. If you really want your home to be eco friendly you can go for wooden furniture, cane furniture etc. Furniture manufacturers can offer you a number of options. Going for eco friendly furniture has got other benefits as well. They are available at a reasonable price. Moreover they can give your home countryside feel. You don’t need to compromise your sense of style and aesthetic beauty. These days it is possible to go trendy with eco friendly furniture.

Cane furniture, also known as rattan or wicker furniture, is known for its strength and durability. Cane as a raw material, is very tough and resistant to damage and it is impossible to work with cane when it is in its raw, unprocessed form. It needs to be treated with heat so that it is soft enough to give the desired shapes.

Wicker style furniture  is commonly used as patio, garden or indoor furniture around the world. Most furniture designed in the wicker style is made of natural wood or fiber pieces that are woven together. A popular type of wicker style furniture is constructed from rattan.

It is also easy to find small and large tables in the wicker furniture line of products, they will often be glass topped. Wicker furniture can often be purchased as an unfinished product or a finished one. You can purchase an unfinished wooden piece and choose to paint or stain it the color you want to have. Traditionally, the finished pieces are found in white, natural look and black, although there have been more garden colors incorporated into the synthetic patio wicker furniture such as green and brown. Wicker is also used as indoor furniture in bedrooms as an accessory chair or in four season rooms as complete sets.

With today’s focus on being environmentally friendly and using renewable resources, we think wicker furniture deserves is place in the sun once again. Wicker has a rich history, and has had a significant influence on modern furniture design.

Rattan, the material used in making wicker furniture, is harvested mainly in Indonesia, and is a fast growing, renewable crop. Although an arduous task to harvest it, Rattan makes a viable alternative for local industry instead of logging tropical woods in their rain forests.

The process of creating wicker furniture is labour intensive and time consuming. The canes must be heated and curved over a bending iron to make them malleable enough to weave. Once the frame has been set, the canes are woven to create a chair – a process that can take up to 14 hours. The time put into creating each chair is often shown in a higher market value.

Regular Cleaning and Maintenance

Regular cleaning of cane furniture is essential for lasting durability. The key idea is to be gentle. You can use a small amount of detergent or oil soap, then dunk a soft-bristled brush into the solution and carefully brush it over the piece. Be careful not to soak the cane. If the surrounding wood gets wet in the process, wipe it dry with a soft cloth. The chair should then be dried off with a soft cotton cloth. If a cane piece is very dirty or dusty, vacuum it first, then clean with a brush. While you are cleaning, check over the piece for any breaks or loose pieces; if they are minor, you can repair them with wood glue. After cleaning, allow cane furniture to dry completely before using.

Cane can withstand moisture to a certain extent, but will become limp, loose and saggy with too much water. The best thing is that cane will resume its size and shape when it dries, but you should not disturb the strands of wicker reed when they are damp. Otherwise they will dry in the new position they’ve been changed to.

Although there is a glut of cheap knock-off wicker furniture on the market – primarily from Poland and Yugoslavia, if you do your research and keep eyes open for quality you can usually find great deals on lushpad for cane, rattan and wicker and also at consignment stores, garage sales and auctions.

So go on, double up on your environmental karma by buying used furniture that is also made from natural, renewable materials.

I hope you liked the post.If you love cane furniture like I do and if you have cane furniture at your home then please click some bright pictures and send it to me at artchitrasutra@gmail.com!

Note: Images that are not watermarked are collected from various sources on web.