Getting saddened by the elderly look your furniture has started giving recently and don’t know what to do? Well, you could take the simple (and expensive) way out by walking into the nearest furniture store and getting the latest stuff. Or you could save that hard earned money for a holiday by following these simple tips.

Regular maintenance is the best possible way of keeping you furniture in good shape. Daily dusting and cleaning is an absolute must. If you are the working types and cannot afford a daily cleaning, make sure you spend some part of your weekend cleaning up your place. When going for a long holiday, do not forget to cover all your major furniture items with sheets to keep out the dust. Remember it is easier to remove dust that has just settled, as compared to long settled one, which would invariably seep deep into the pores of your sofa cloth. While you may satisfy yourself by using a good quality vacuum, the fact of the matter remains that the dust mites that have gone deep into the furnishings are never removed other than by a full scale washing or dry cleaning operation. It is best, however, not to let that stage come, by following regular maintenance procedures that take just a few minutes a day. Think what that corrosive coffee stain would do to your dining room furniture in a few days time, if not immediately wiped off.

Follow a yearly schedule of something more than plain dusting. A dab of polish or paint, depending on the nature of furniture you are using, would do it a world of good. All it needs is a bit of spirit polish and some varnish along with a rag to rub it on your dining room chairs and make them look as good as new. Varnish is useful if you are using wooden furniture, and some acrylic paint will make your metal furniture gleam. Though you can easily do it at home, getting it painted by a professional will give it a better finish. Most wrought iron furniture is painted with a special kind of powdered coating that may not be possible to replicate at home. On the plus side, this coating makes the paint last longer than other methods of finish, and you may be able to follow a maintenance routine that is biennial or even triennial in nature.

Use your ingenuity to re-convert some of your old furniture into something entirely different. Rather than throwing away the cabinet you no longer feel the need for, remove the doors and convert it into a smart looking dining room hutch. Use some of the vast varieties of sun mica available in the market to cover the original finish and give it an entirely new look. Add a cushion to the back of your dining room chairs to change it’s shape entirely. Dining tables can be modified by removing the wooden top and replacing it with a smart new glass one to give it a classy and modern look. Just look around and see for yourself, and many more ideas are bound to strike you as well.

A table pad is a good idea to protect your table from the vagaries of daily usage. If you find it too expensive, use a table cloth to keep your table covered and protect it from much of the abuse it has to undergo on a daily basis. Though not as smart and effective as the former, it is amazing how much this little piece of cloth can do to keep it safe from spills and hot boils.

Here’s to a new looking furniture at your home and a fantastic holiday from the money you saved!