According to psychologists, your home environment can impact your personal well-being. Even small changes in aesthetics can change your mood, motivation, and stress levels. Your environment can also impact your relationships.
Combine this with survey results that suggest the kitchen is the most important room in your home, and you have the recipe for remodeling motivation.
Maybe your planned remodel is extensive. You need to redo everything—from the counters and cabinets to the floors and furniture. Or maybe, by budget, circumstances, or choice, your plans are more limited.
In either case, clear acrylic furniture should be the centerpiece of your redesigned space. Read on to learn more about the advantages of clear acrylic furniture.
What Is Acrylic?
Also known as plexiglass or lucite, acrylic is a transparent thermoplastic.
Thermoplastics are polymers that become moldable when heated and harden upon cooling. This property makes acrylic an ideal material for various uses. These include screens and lenses, medical devices, artificial nails, security barriers, and furniture.
The increasing popularity of clear acrylic furniture highlights its many advantages.
The Advantages of Clear Acrylic Furniture
Clear acrylic furniture is aesthetically appealing and economical. It is also durable and easy to clean. These are just a few advantages of choosing clear acrylic for your kitchen and dining furniture.
Aesthetics
Whether you’re remodeling your kitchen or cooking in it, freshness is an important goal. Certain kitchen furniture ideas, like clear acrylic pieces, contribute to a fresh and airy look.
Acrylic is clear, like glass. Also like glass, acrylic allows light to pass through its surface. In fact, acrylic has one of the highest light transmission rates possible: 92%.
When light can pass through a surface, so does your line of vision. This means that a room with acrylic furniture feels and looks larger.
Versatility
As you plan your kitchen remodel, you may already have a certain decor style in mind. If your remodeling project is more limited, your new design choices will also need to fit within the existing aesthetic.
Can clear aesthetic furniture accommodate your needs?
Yes! Clear acrylic kitchen furniture is especially popular in homes with a modern or coastal aesthetic. However, the sleek look truly works with any home decor style—no color matching required.
In any home, moreover, acrylic furniture expands your design options. With acrylic furniture, you can let your creativity run wild to create delightful surprises.
Astonish guests with a clear acrylic bookcase that makes your cookbooks and your favorite food-themed tomes, like Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, float in midair.
Take a new approach to storage by using a clear acrylic trunk to showcase treasured heirlooms from grandma’s kitchen.
Create a conversation piece by topping a clear acrylic accent table with a statue of a polar bear, whale, or dolphin.
Or make your kids’ morning out of this world by refreshing your kitchen island furniture. With these acrylic bar stools, they can pretend to eat their cereal atop a hovering spaceship or flying saucer.
Whatever your vision, clear acrylic furniture can take it to the next level.
Cost
Another advantage of acrylic is that it can take your design to the next level without taking your budget there.
Acrylic furniture comes in a range of price points. More expensive pieces tend to be thicker and more durable. They also tend to be seamless and better mimic the appearance of crystal or glass. Lower-budget options can look more like plastic. They may also crack and scratch more easily.
For the interior designer on a budget, though, it’s possible to be smart and selective about your acrylic choices. For focal points and pieces that could endure significant wear and tear, opt for a higher-end acrylic. Then save money by choosing less expensive acrylic for accent pieces that won’t see as much use.
Cleanliness
Acrylic is a clear, hard plastic. This gives it an advantage over other furniture materials, like wood and cloth. While cloth can stain, wood grains can trap dirt and even bacteria. Acrylic, in contrast, doesn’t stain or collect debris. When food or drink spills on acrylic furniture, simply wipe up the mess with soap, water, and a soft cloth.
In fact, soap, water, and soft cloths are all you’ll ever need to clean your clear acrylic furniture. They’re also all you should use on it. This is because harsh chemicals and abrasive fabrics can cause the acrylic to fog. If this happens, your clear aesthetic vision can become cloudy, and you’ll need to replace the damaged piece.
When it comes to cleanliness, another advantage of acrylic is its lightweight nature.
The Hygiene Council found that, in the average home, the kitchen floor is dirtier than the trash can. This makes engaging in those deep, top-to-bottom cleaning days a must for a healthy home. Unfortunately, heavy furniture can make cleaning day even more of a chore. Acrylic furniture, in contrast, is lightweight and easy to move.
Finally, if you share your home with pets, you know that animals add another component to the cleanliness challenge. Here again, acrylic shines. The sleek, hard texture of acrylic furniture makes it unappealing to pets. With acrylic furniture, therefore, it’s easier to keep your pets off your kitchen table and chairs.
Clear acrylic furniture legs also tend to be less appealing than wood for cats or dogs that enjoy scratching and chewing.
Comfort
So if your pets won’t enjoy sitting on acrylic furniture, will you? Actually, choosing acrylic furniture does not require compromising your or your guests’ comfort, especially in the kitchen.
Kitchen chairs tend to be more structured than the furniture in other areas of your home. So if you replace your wooden kitchen chairs with acrylic, you won’t notice any difference in comfort.
Maybe, though, you’ve grown accustomed to a padded seat or you’re seeking a cozier feel. Is acrylic furniture still an option?
Again, the answer is yes. Furniture that combines acrylic and other materials not only enhances style but also comfort.
Choose chairs with an acrylic base and upholstered seats for a softer look and feel. Or opt for an acrylic table with wicker chairs to bring the comfort of a seaside breakfast to your home.
Again, versatility reigns when you incorporate acrylic furniture into your interior design.
Safety
In recent years, consumers have paid significantly more attention to the ways that products impact their health and safety. And rightfully so! Bringing the wrong kinds of products into your home can put you and your family at risk for cancer, hormonal disorders, and other serious conditions. They can also harm the environment.
Plastics have figured prominently in many discussions of consumer and environmental safety, and acrylic is a plastic. So is it safe and sustainable?
Yes, acrylic is safe for you, your family, and the environment. The primary danger from plastics derives from the toxic compound BPA, or bisphenol-A. BPA has been linked to a host of health and environmental problems. Importantly, acrylic is entirely free from BPA and other toxic compounds. This means that is entirely safe for use anywhere in your home.
Durability
The aesthetic appeal of acrylic furniture derives from its ability to mimic crystal or glass. In terms of durability and safety, however, acrylic itself provides the example to follow.
Acrylic can crack under significant pressure. Unlike glass, though, acrylic is nearly impossible to shatter. In fact, acrylic is 6 to 17 times more impact-resistant than a comparable sheet of glass.
Acrylic can also scratch, and generally, these scratches cannot be removed. This can be a deterrent for some homeowners. However, it’s important to keep in mind that most furniture can scratch, and compared to wood and laminate, high-quality acrylic is one of the more scratch-resistant options on the market.
Acrylic is also UV-resistant. This means that it won’t fade or discolor when exposed to the sun.
Finally, a material’s heat-resistance is important when choosing kitchen and dining furniture. The melting point of acrylic—320 degrees Fahrenheit—makes it ideal for use in even the most active kitchen. Below this point, acrylic can soften, but it will not suffer lasting damage from heat.
This means that you shouldn’t put a cookie tray onto your acrylic table directly from the oven. You can, though, enjoy a piping hot family dinner around your cool acrylic table.
Caring for Your Acrylic Furniture
In the end, the durability of any furniture depends on you and your family. When it’s well-cared for, acrylic can last many years.
Keep these tips in mind when caring for your clear acrylic kitchen furniture:
- Use only mild soap and warm water to clean acrylic surfaces
- Use a soft cloth or sponge for cleaning, opting for disposable microfiber rags when possible to avoid transferring abrasive debris
- Avoid ammonia and other harsh chemicals
- Avoid placing hot dishes directly from the stove or oven onto acrylic surfaces
With Clear Acrylic Furniture, Your Vision Is Clear
Clear acrylic furniture enhances any home’s aesthetic. It is also economical, durable, safe, and easy to clean.
In each of these ways, acrylic furniture proves the psychologists right—interior design really does contribute to your overall well-being.
As you work to enhance your well being at home, at work, and at play, count on our blog for the best advice.
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