A Professional Guide to Bar Stool Maintenance

If your home has a high countertop in the kitchen you want to sit at or maybe a full bar in the den, you likely have a few bar stools around the house. While these seating options are great and will last for quite a while, you’ll need to make sure you take good care of them to keep them in good condition.

Since bar stools are so high off the ground, a broken one could lead to someone having a nasty fall. Even if barstools aren’t damaged, poorly maintained ones won’t look great in the room they occupy. That’s why we’re here to go over our professional guide to bar stool maintenance. Read on to learn how to ensure your bar stools always look their best.

Caring for the Seat

The part of a bar stool that will receive the most wear and tear is the seat. The constant friction from people getting up and sitting down will wear out the seat materials with time, no matter how strong they are. Plus, when spills happen, most of them will land on the seat.

However, your seat maintenance routine will vary, depending on what your seat is made from. Below, we detail how you should clean and maintain each popular seat material type.

Fabric

Even though fabric might seem prone to standard wear and tear, the fabric materials on most bar stools are normally quite resilient. Whether this is from the thickness of the fabric or its weaving, this type of seat material should stay intact for many years.

Where fabric struggles more is with spills and stains. If a drink spills on your fabric seat, you must use a cloth or paper towel to absorb the liquid immediately. The longer you wait, the more likely it is a stain will linger. Some foods can also ruin fabric, especially if the food gets rubbed into the material. So be sure to also clean up food spills as soon as possible.

However, if a stain starts to form, soap and water will usually do the trick for getting it out. You might need a fabric upholstery cleaner for more stubborn stains. But if you want to avoid the stain issue altogether, fabric protection sprays will help keep certain foods and drinks from absorbing in the first place.

Leather

Leather is another popular option for many bar stools. Whether the leather is authentic or a cheaper faux leather, the maintenance process is quite similar. Food and drink spills are much easier to handle with leather materials, as most will wipe right off. In the case of a slight stain, you might need to use a damp rag, but specialized leather cleaners will be the better choice.

Leather is a bit more difficult to maintain, however. Over time, both real and fake leather will begin to deteriorate if you don’t take care of them. Faux leather will do so much faster since the quality doesn’t match that of real leather. Either way, leather protection creams will help prevent cracks from forming in your bar stools’ seats.

Plastic

While not as popular as the previous two options, plastic is another type of seat material you’ll find on many bar stools. The main reason for plastic’s lack of popularity is that it isn’t anywhere near as comfortable as leather or fabric. Fortunately, bar stools typically aren’t designed for long-term seating.

This leads to plastic’s main benefit: it’s very easy to clean. Spills have no way to soak into the material, so you can easily clean your plastic seat material with a dry towel most of the time. Plus, plastic seats don’t need much maintenance outside of the occasional dusting.

Maintaining the Frame

Of course, the seat is only a small portion of the bar stool. The majority of this seating option is made up of the frame, making proper frame care essential in a professional guide to bar stool maintenance. While the frame receives much less wear and tear than the seat, it needs regular maintenance just as much as the seat does. Below are instructions for frame care, varying depending on the frame’s material.

Wood

Most bar stools have a wooden frame. While the type of wood varies, maintenance for each type is relatively the same. Most of the time, your wood frames only need the occasional dusting. However, if there are scuff marks, you might need to apply some polish to them. Food and drink spills will also make their way down the frame at times, but a damp cloth will usually clean those right up.

For long-term maintenance, you might want to polish the frame even if there aren’t any marks on it. This will help the wood keep its sheen throughout the years. For older stools, you might need to consider revarnishing the frame. However, this like won’t be necessary if you keep up with general cleaning and maintenance.

Metal

Metal is another type of material that many bar stools have for their frames. Sometimes, the metal will be a part of a wooden frame, while other times, the frame will be entirely metal. Either way, metal is very easy to clean with an occasional wipe-down with a wet rag.

Just make sure you dry metal frames well to avoid rust. While you can remove light amounts of rust by rubbing aluminum foil or alcohol over the material, you won’t want to risk it. Heavy amounts of rust will be nearly impossible to get rid of. This will result in you needing to either replace the frame or buy a new bar stool altogether.

Plastic

While not very common, some bar stools are made entirely out of plastic. If that’s the case for your stool, the cleaning and maintenance process will be similar to plastic seats. However, you want to watch out for breaks or cracks in the plastic frame. These can quickly lead to a collapsed stool the next time someone sits on it.

What To Do When Your Bar Stools Get Too Old

Unfortunately, no matter how diligent you are when it comes to regular cleaning and maintenance, the day will come when your bar stools will no longer be safe to use. Maybe your bar stools have a couple of broken pieces, or maybe the seats aren’t as comfortable as they used to be. Whatever the reason, your best course of action will be to replace your outdated and worn-out stools.

If this is where you’re at currently, you’re already in the right place. Here at Click N Furnish, we have tons of bar stools for sale online. Take the time to peruse our collection to find a set that’ll be the perfect replacement for the stools you have right now!