Eiffel chairs offer a sleek look to your dining room or other areas of your house. They are often made with a plastic seat with four legs inspired by the Eiffel tower itself. The four wooden legs will begin close together at the base of the seat, angling outward to offer better support on the floor.
The legs are then decorated with a criss-cross pattern of thin metal spokes, a piece of design that has been taken from the Eiffel tower. Keep a piece of France alive in your house with an Eiffel chair.
With such a lovely piece of furniture in your house, you’re going to want to preserve it for as long as possible. Plus, you’re not going to want it to gather dust to reduce the impressiveness of its look when guests come over. You want them to see it in all its glory!
Today we will be looking at the best ways to clean the Eiffel chair, as well as other things surrounding this sought-after piece of furniture.
Where did the Eiffel chair originate from?
The Eiffel chair gained popularity when designer Charles Eames took inspiration from the Eiffel Tower in France and created their chair. Eames offers a great range of chairs, nowadays mostly made from fiberglass rather than plastic.
These chairs hold amazing value and it seems that anyone that values interior design wants to get their hands on an Eames Eiffel chair.
The Eiffel chair has become so popular that there are now countless replicas on the market, although these might not be as impressive as an Eames original. They will commonly be made of plastic rather than fiberglass, without the classic Eames touches.
However, these replicas are also much less expensive than an Eames Eiffel chair. The Eames alternative will often come with impressively designed legs made up of steel tubing in interesting patterns that look like the architecture of the Eiffel Tower in France.
The replica Eiffel chairs typically won’t have such intricate designs for the legs, and they will be made with wooden legs alongside the metal to keep costs down. This might get in the way of the impressive designs, making them slightly less desirable.
With that being said, plenty of people are so happy with the reduction in price that this feature doesn’t even bother them.
Cleaning your Eiffel chair
Now let’s look into how you would go about cleaning your Eiffel chair. With a normal chair, you might not think twice before taking a duster to the legs to wipe them down. Due to its more complex nature, the Eiffel chair requires a little more care than a normal chair would.
What you’ll need:
- Cleaning wipes
- A mild detergent mixed with warm water
- Soft sponge
- Dry absorbent cloth
- Used dryer sheets
- Cotton wall balls
- Furniture polish
Method:
The Seat
Clean the upper seat with a cleaning wipe suitable for the material. All Eiffel chairs should be able to withstand a multi-purpose cleaning wipe, but it’s best to read the back of the instructions beforehand to make sure.
Use the wipe to lightly scrub away stains, dirt, or dried food splatters. If your chair needs extra cleaning, use warm soapy water and a sponge to give it a thorough cleaning.
Use the clean cloth to rinse the chair with clean water after you’ve done this to avoid soap residue from remaining on the seat.
Metal Legs
Use warm soapy water and a sponge to clean the metal rods, although the sponge should be thoroughly wrung out between dips. Use a limited amount of water to avoid any from pooling in the crevices.
This could lead to rusting of the chair, which would reduce the stylishness of the chair more than any amount of dust would.
Use a clean cloth to wipe the metal legs down once cleaned to remove any excess water. Dryer sheets can be used to buff up the metal and give it a lovely sheen to make it look brand new.
Wooden Legs
Some Eiffel chairs also come with wooden legs, although others do not. If your Eiffel chair does not come with wooden legs, then you can skip this step as your chair should be completely clean!
If your Eiffel chair does come with wooden legs; however, you will have a few more minutes to go before you can enjoy the look of your sparkling chair.
Use the same warm soapy water to wipe down the wooden legs, but again, with as little water as possible. Instead of using a sponge for this, consider using cotton wool balls soaked in the water solution. This will allow you to monitor how much water you’re using more closely.
Take a clean cloth and wipe the soap residue away before buffing the wood up with some furniture polish.
Tips to cleaning your Eiffel chair
Firstly, always work from top to bottom. This will prevent dirt and dust from falling onto the legs that you’ve just cleaned prior to the seat.
First clean the top of the seat, then the bottom, before moving onto the legs. This will also prevent watermarks from being able to remain over the legs as you will clean them as you work downward.
Don’t forget to clean the back of the seat! Just because you might not be able to see it, if the front is dirty then it’s likely that the back needs a clean too. Clean the back of the chair exactly as you would the front for the best results.
Finally, you should be careful of how much water you’re using when cleaning the legs. Metal and water create rust, and water-soaked wood can rot and become less stable over time.
To avoid the cleaning process from damaging your Eiffel chair, use as little water as you can while still allowing the soap to do its job.
You can cut out the water altogether and just dust the chair legs, although this might not be as effective at cleaning as soapy water would be.
