4 Tips to Caring for Your Chandelier 0

Taking care of a chandelier can be a tricky job, especially if it's an original and not a replica or knock-off. To keep your chandelier (or chandeliers) in beautiful and great condition, here are 4 tips to follow.

1. Weekly dusting

Chandeliers are notorious dust-traps, attracting dust and insects all the time. They can quickly get dull and the light can become dimmer over time as a result.

Don't just wave a duster at it though, as the dust will simply fly into the air and resettle on your chandelier. Use a soft cloth or a static-free duster every week to remove excess dust, and don't be afraid to get on a ladder and get up close and personal.

Whatever you do, just be careful and, if you are using a ladder, make sure it's secure and there's someone nearby to help stabilize you.

2. Monthly inspections

The older a piece is, the more susceptible it is to rust, temperature fluctuations and other potential damage. It's a good idea to inspect the chandelier once a month, or at least once every two months.

Check any glass, crystal or perspex pieces for chips and cracks. Take a look at (but please don't touch!) the wiring to make sure nothing has become frayed or exposed.

Also look at any metal part, including chains, hooks or links, to make sure they aren't bent, broken or rusted.

3. Seasonal deep cleaning

This is something that should be done seasonally, or at a minimum every six months.

The more intricate the chandelier and the more pieces it has, the less often you may want to do it to avoid accidentally breaking parts. 

Italian Mid Century Round Eight Tired Tronchi Chandelier

If your chandelier includes many glass, crystal or perspex parts, you'll want to carefully wash those in warm, soapy water every three to six months.

The timing can also depend on where in the house the chandelier is - for example, those in the kitchen will build up humidity and grease a lot more quickly that those in the bedroom.

Take your time dismantling and washing the pieces, then reassemble it when everything is completely dry. If the ceramic or other hardware parts are fragile, very delicate or have any age damage, you'll want to do this process less often.

4 - Call a professional

While it's admirable to take personal care of your Art Deco or Mid-Century Modern chandelier, there's absolutely no reason not to use a professional for the cleaning.

We're quite confident anyone should be able to manage the dusting, but maintenance and deep cleaning can present challenges for non-experts.

French Art Deco Brass and Nickel Chandelier

Get to know the materials your chandelier is made out of and learn what cleaning products are best suited to their care.

Remember that vintage and antique pieces will be made from different materials, or that the materials will have undergone different processes to modern pieces, and this can affect their cleaning and maintenance needs.

If you have any doubt at all, go ahead and call in a professional. The store where you bought your genuine Art Deco or Mid-Century Modern chandelier should have a list of providers they trust to take care of their pieces, and will happily recommend them to you.

How to Choose the Perfect Buffet 0

Choosing the right buffet for your dining area takes just as much consideration as choosing the right dining table. After all, the two pieces of furniture will inhabit their positions for many years and - if chosen wisely - complement each other, working together as a team to bring you great dining experiences. Here are a few tips to help you pick the perfect buffet.

French Art Deco Five-Door Buffet with Silver Plaques

If you already have a dining table, you will need to take it into consideration when choosing a buffet. The style, wood, size will all make a difference to the buffet you eventually select. 

Feel your space

In any dining room, once the guests are seated, there won't be much moving around. that doesn't mean you don't need space, though, as people hate feeling cramped. When looking for a buffet, measure the available space and make sure there will still be plenty of room for people to get up and serve themselves, and that none of your guests will feel too crowded..

Wood for life

The majority of buffets are made from various woods. Try your best to match the wood to the dining table, or at least find something in as similar a color as possible. If matching the color proves too difficult, try going for something contrasting, or complementary. For example, if your table is light oak, but you can only find a mahogany buffet with light oak insets that fits, that's complementary.

French Art Deco Macassar "Zigzag" Buffet, circa 1920s

Style is everything

If your dining table follows a specific style, try to find a buffet in a similar style. Of course, with Art Deco, you get to have a lot of fun playing around with styles that complement each other! Many Art Deco buffets have interesting features like mirrored panels, geometric inlays and other style features that keep things interesting.

Fit for purpose

A buffet isn't just a beautiful piece of furniture, it's a highly functional one, too. Each buffet will have different functional features and it helps to know what you need it for. For example, some buffets include a dry bar, while others have a marble top on which you can place hot dishes without worry.

French Art Deco Numbered Gaston Poisson Buffet

Work out what functions you need from your buffet and go from there. These functions can include storage, service, dry bar and more.

Placement

Of course, we've been discussing buffets under the assumption they will be in the dining room. This is not always the case. Depending on its purpose - and your available space - you could choose to put one in your living room. This is often the choice when people look for a dry bar, as most of the drinks will be served in the living room before and after dinner.

French Art Deco Rosewood Diamond Marquetry Buffet

If you're choosing a buffet for the living room, you can still use exactly the same considerations to help you choose the right one. Matching it to the style of the room in which it will reside, how much space it will need, what materials it's made of and the colors, etc, will all still be valid.

A buffet can be a fantastic addition to any dining room or living room. Take your time choosing the right one, and you will get years of pleasure from it.

Five Great Reasons to Get a Buffet 0

Buffets are one of those pieces of furniture that is often overlooked while decorating and furnishing the home. To me, that's crazy, because the right buffet in your dining room can make a massive difference to your enjoyment of the space.

Besides the added style element that a well-chosen buffet can add to your overall decor, buffets are genuinely useful pieces of furniture. Here are five really good reasons why you should consider getting one.

French Art Deco Buffet with Portoro Marble Top

Maximize storage space

Many newer homes come with less storage space than one would ideally like. I know in many of the homes I see, most of the kitchen's cupboard space is taken up by food and cooking utensils, leaving very little space for flatware, silverware and glasses. 

A buffet takes care of that storage space hassle in one, neat and attractive package. Even a small buffet usually has more than enough space for all your cutlery, crockery and drinking glasses, plus that delicate bone china tea set Aunt Mabel gave you at your wedding that's been hiding in a box at the top of your closet for years.

Bronze Face French Art Deco Buffet

Less table clutter

Everybody loves a good dinner party - it's full of good food, good wine and good conversation. It's also usually full of clutter. All the food dishes, glasses, bottles of wine, condiments and whatever else has been crammed onto the table takes up a lot of space, and often makes for one big mess.

By shifting all the food serving dishes and utensils, as well as the bottles of drinks, off the table and onto the buffet, you've made the table less cluttered, and you've added a freer, more comfortable atmosphere where people aren't constantly having to avoid stuff.

French Art Deco Exotic Macassar Ebony Buffet With Dry Bar, circa 1940s

Easier serving

Along with the clutter comes serving difficulty. No matter how carefully you place the various food dishes on your dining table, there's going to be a lot of reaching across the table to get at things.

That, again, translates to a big mess, not to mention the jostling, sleeves dangling in soup and tangle of arms all trying to grab a roast potato before they're all gone.

A buffet allows for neat, orderly dishing of food and seating, and also makes it super easy for anyone who wants seconds to get them. You can also keep your drinks bottles and decanters neatly on one end, making it simple to top up glasses when needed.

Space saving

This may seem counter-intuitive; after all, it is a whole other piece of furniture to fit into the dining room. However, a buffet itself doesn't take up a whole lot of room, and it allows you to reconsider various other furniture options.

For example, many people buy a too-big dining table to accommodate all the various food dishes that it needs to accommodate. By using a buffet ever day, you can opt for a family-size table rather than a party-size one.

You also won't need to buy additional free-standing shelves or cupboards to store your flatware, silverware and glasses. Those can all fit in the buffet, no problem.

French Art Deco Palisander Buffet

Character

A dining room can be a difficult room to add character to. It usually includes nothing more than a table and some chairs, and the occasional painting or mirror on the wall. A buffet, however, helps you add character to the room, along with your carefully selected lighting, in two ways:

Firstly, in itself it is a decor item which adds to the room's overall design; secondly, it is a handy surface on which you can place one or two decorative items, including a table lamp, that add those little finishing touches to round out the room.

Buffets are a great addition to any dining room, and next time, we'll take a look at how to choose the perfect buffet for your home and needs.