The Care and Feeding of Wicker

This is one of my favorite rooms in my house... We call it the "Tortola Room" after the island in the British Virgin Islands, where we were whisked away to after our wedding. It's actually modeled after the apartment where we stayed during for our week-long honeymoon.

Amazingly, the chair on the left is the first piece of furniture I'd ever gotten... It was a birthday gift from mother when I turned 16, which means that wicker chair is more than 10 years old. 10 year old wicker furniture that looks like new, without having been repainted, retouched, or replaced? It's true!

The care and feeding of wicker is fairly simple.

Usually, regular vacuuming with a brush attachment is all that well-fed wicker furniture needs. If you want, you can use canned air or, my personal favorite, a hair dryer set to cool (which is very important as if you used hot air, you will probably crack the wicker) to dust it between vacuuming.

For stubborn dirt, use a stiff paintbrush that's ever-so-slightly dampened (you should feel it's damp, but it's not dripping) with a mixture of salt, a tiny splash of lemon juice, and warm water to clean the dusty or dirty parts of your wicker pieces. Salt water and lemon is actually something of a preservative, and it prevents your wicker from getting yellowed over time. Water is not wicker's friend, so it's better to go with a brush that's too dry than too wet.

Wicker that's a little dry, and a little without luster? Take that same stiff brush and a little lemon oil (not to be confused with Pledge or the like...), and "paint" it on the spots that need some loving. Again, better to have too little than too much on this technique.

Wicker loves humid, but hates cold. Putting my wicker in the sun room during our hot humid summers makes it super happy... But leaving it out during our cold New England winters (even though it's totally indoors and enclosed) makes it not so happy. That's why I bring mine inside every year.

A little care goes a long way, so if you just stay on top of it, you'll not only have a piece that lasts you years, but saves you the hassle of trying to restore it or replace it.