Greetings to all, 
Now that the cold weather is truly here and folks are turning their heat up, we wanted to offer a few suggestions on furniture care in this season:
Hardwood furniture expands and contracts as the humidity in the air changes. It contracts in a dry environment and expands in a moist environment, sometimes leading to gaps between table leaves, seasonal cracks in the grain, splits between wood panels, minor warping, or inconsistencies in the alignment of doors and drawers. These changes are natural and have nothing to do with defects in the product or workmanship.
Since cold temperatures outside and the heaters we use inside conspire to make the winter months very dry, the best thing you can do to care for your furniture in these months is to put humidity back into the air with a humidifier. Indoor humidity levels in the range of 35-45% will minimize the changes described above, and will also relieve personal care issues such as dry skin, scratchy throat, and nosebleeds.
Other furniture care tips for your consideration:
- Avoid placing hardwood furniture directly in front of radiators, heat runs or fireplaces.
- Don't expose hardwood furniture to continuous direct sunlight--draw the curtains occasionally.
- Store table leaves as close as possible to the table. Keep them in an upstairs closet rather than in a damp basement, so that the table leaves are adjusting to the same relative humidity.
- For cleaning, the simpler the better. Often just a moist cloth followed by a dry towel will do. As for products…we recommend Murphy’s Oil soap.