Use and Care Manual

Soap solution is made with 1 part soap flakes
to 40 parts hot water. Cool before use.
Soft soap should not be used unless this is
explicitly recommended in the manufacturer’s
instructions.
Solution with washing-up liquid: Follow the
manufacturer’s instructions. Use no more than
1 tsp. washing-up liquid per litre water. When
using concentrated liquids, a few drops per litre
water will suffice.
3© Dansk Møbelkontrol 2002
TAKE GOOD CARE OF GOOD FURNITURE
All good things that are made to last need
care. Even a piece of furniture that is produced
to satisfy customers’ expectations for a long
time needs looking after.
This leaflet offers advice on correct furniture
care so as to extend its life. Modern furniture
production includes so many different materials
that it is not possible to deal with all of them in
a leaflet of limited size. This leaflet includes the
most commonly used materials and surfaces.
The leaflet contains advice on the mainte-
nance of furniture made of wood and other ma-
terials, furniture textiles and furniture leather.
It also contains illustrations of the distinctive
marks found on genuine leather.
CHOICE OF FURNITURE
When choosing furniture it is important to keep
in mind the wear and tear it will be subject to.
For example, furniture for a family with children
and a dog must be stronger, more hard-wear-
ing, and have a more resistant surface than
furniture for a person who lives alone.
Surface treatment, textiles and leather are
features that immediately characterize a piece
of furniture, and it is therefore extremely impor-
tant that they are chosen on the basis of the
correct requirements. The strength and dura-
bility of the furniture must naturally also be cho-
sen on the basis of the correct requirements.
One thing that often causes problems is the
change in colour that takes place during the
lifetime of a piece of furniture. All materials
change colour to a lesser or greater degree
when they are subjected to light – and to sun-
light in particular. Especially wood, coloured lac-
quers (paints), stains, textiles and leather
change colour. For all these materials it is a
well known and perfectly natural property that
they will alter colour when exposed to light.
It is therefore important to protect furniture
from sunlight, but it is also recommended that
new furniture is not left partly covered by table-
cloths or doilies because this can lead to differ-
ences in colour between the covered and the
uncovered areas.
The furniture retailer will be able to advise
the customer on the basis of information that is
provided with the individual types of furniture
and the types of furniture textiles and leather.
In the case of mattresses, they should always
be placed on a surface that provides sufficient
ventilation, e.g. on slats, springs, or a board
with a sufficient number of ventilation holes.
WOODEN FURNITURE
Due to its many properties wood has always
been the preferred material in the production
of furniture all over the world. Each individual
tree is a piece of nature that, even after felling
and cutting, retains its own character in its
strength, structure and sensitivity – particularly
its sensitivity to light. There will therefore al-
ways be natural differences in the appearance
of wood. Knots are a characteristic of wood.
They are not faults, but the natural conse-
quence of branches growing out from the tree
trunk.
Through time, all wooden furniture will, as a
consequence of the effect of light and use,
change colour.
Moisture in the air, the relative humidity,
varies with the seasons – indoors as well as
outdoors. Wood is sensitive to these changes
in relative humidity and expands and shrinks.
This causes solid tabletops to become slightly
uneven which is perfectly natural.
Moisture is the worst enemy of all wooden
furniture. All spilt liquids should be wiped up im-
mediately. Water should be used only sparingly
– preferably in the form of a damp cloth – and
be wiped off with a dry cloth straight away. This
also applies when cleaning/treating with soap
solution and solution with washing-up liquid.
CLEANING SOLUTIONS