Glass furniture is a part of modern furniture, though its origin can be traced back to as early as 1350 A.D. You must be surprised to know that people long as far as medieval, in kings and queens time period especially in European countries of Italy, England and France have used glass made furnitures in different ways to give them a separate identity from the rest. People with refined tastes, have always used designed work of glass to appear different from the ranksGlass furniture has seen many types of materials defining its make since the time it arrived. From silica, a type of sand used to make glass sheets which were then blended with wooden furniture to give a modern contemporary look to nowadays fully assembled, precision engineered glass components supported by classic metallic touch, glass furniture have seen it all.Whatever the transition, over the years, glass furniture has been able to keep all of its charm and extraordinarily diverse qualities intact.
Glass furnitures: its unique features
Glass is fragile yet resistant, solid yet light, beautiful and at the same time, functional. They are perfect for dark walled less spaced interiors or those rooms without many windows, because glass absorbs less light than wood, metal, or stone. It gives a virtual addition of space by reflecting light in your home. Secondly, the best gift of glass furniture for any home owners who are choosy about designing their homes or offices is that it does not need to be coordinated to match woodwork or surrounding colors. It is one of the classic intrinsic qualities of glass is that it will blend perfectly with any interior design theme and/or color scheme.
A touch of style and sophistication is instantly added when decorating with glass furniture. Glass works wonders when you have to beautify a space instantly. Glass lends a touch of beauty and elegance to any area. Glass side or center tables like coffee tables are easy for decorating purposes, but they are also highly functional. Glass-topped tables are less susceptible to spills and staining with clean wipe using your regular glass cleaner will get back your beautiful furniture.Glass furniture also has a symbol of transparency. This gives a neat look and therefore enables the flow of positive vibes. Glass cuts through the boredom in office environment too. The days of the heavy solid wood furnitures ruling the roost, is on decline. Also these days, transparency is the in-thing in offices in UK as well as around the world and as a result glass furnitures are increasingly making way in the professional corporate world
Glass furnitures: what to look before buying
One of the greatest fear for you as a buyer of glass furnitures is whether it is safe and long lasting. The good news, relax!, technology has taken care of it. Almost all glass furnitures are made from tempered glasses or toughened glasses nowadays and if the one you are buying are not, keep your self away from it. The reason for this is other types of glass when breaks gives out sharp broken pieces and there are many cases of people getting severely injured with this pieces whereas when tempered glass breaks, it breaks into small pieces that aren't likely to cause serious injury. Glass that has been tempered can stand up to oven-like temperatures and a lot of abuse. Its much spoken durability will not leave you with furniture full of scratches and bruises. It is a very strong material that can withstand a lot of scratches from rough tableware or crushing due to something heavy being dropped. This manufacturing quality of tempered glass makes it a beautiful piece of work that is intended to be used time and again for many years to come. However there are many glass furnitures shops who advise their glass furnitures to be tempered which is proved wrong when the accident happens.
In UK, the BS institution hence has provided standards applicable to glass furnitures. These standards make sure that the glass used in the furnitures is of standard thickness of glass that should be used along with the polishing of exposed edges and the long lasting stability of the glass.
If an item of furniture contains safety glass it may have the following markings to prove they are genuinely safe;
* The British Standard number 'BS 6206' carved into the glass or as a sticker on the glass. This may also be followed by the letter, A, B, or C and the word 'Toughened' e.g. BS6206/A Toughened
* A British Standards Kitemark followed by 'BS 6206' etched into the glass or as a sticker on the glass.
* Some items may also be marked 'TEMPERED GLASS' this means the glass has been toughened.
Next thing to look at glass furnitures is how they are joined with the other part of the furniture like a metal or wood. Nowadays U/V bonding based adhesives are much safe and have significant benefits over traditional construction methods. An adhesive distributes loads and stresses over the total joint area to give a more even distribution of static and dynamic loads, instead of concentrating these at high stress points. The adhesive bonded joint is therefore more resistant to flex and vibration than, for example, a bolted joint. Moreover UV (Ultra Violet) curing adhesives are invisible, clean to use and can be used on the UV passing glass to form a permanent and strong bond. This nature of UV bonding gives glass furnitures a minimal form with easy to assemble pack.
Now comes the real part of knowing which type of glass furniture is right for you? Due to the versatility in home decorating designs these days, glass furniture could potentially be a superb addition to your home or office. The major question to consider when determining if it is right for you, though, is functionality with peace of mind. With advancement in manufacturing technology and ever increasing competition, glass furnitures are available in varied types and forms. Tables with glass tops are quickly becoming the favorite choice of many home owners when furnishing homes.
While going for a glass top table, make sure that the glass is safely perched over the base with adequate protection and all glass edges polished radius for extra safety. If you have small living room, then you can go for a compact platform dining table which will not only add a statement to your home but will virtually increase the living room area. You can also look at attractive glass chairs to further add to the style of glass dinner table. If you have long craved for furniture complimenting your sofa set then there are wide ranges of stylish glass coffee table like zig-zag coffee table, double z oval coffee table and many funkier furnitures available in the market. Here too if you are concern with space, there are many space saving designer glass side tables with fantastic metallic stands to opt for. If you are still in thought about buying these glass furnitures, there are various other glass accessories like glass house signage or glass media storages or may be trendy glass audio video support to not miss the glass furniture bandwagon.
Lastly while looking around for glass furnitures, see that you are provided with various ranges in terms of colours, flexible custom sizes at your request like modular or stack options for glass center tables, and some may even provide glass frosting for uniqueness. Also look for flat packed sets which can be easily assembled. This saves you lots of trouble and fear of breaking them while moving houses or to pack it if there lots of guest especially children are coming to your home for a party.
Care and maintenance
It is important, though, to be realistic about the glass furnitures you are going to buy and its future maintenance. The reason for this being that if there is constantly clutter for instance, underneath, on top of or even, around the table, it will be apparent to everyone. One might say it is the beauty and the curse of glass: you can see right through it. Furthermore, if your house tends to collect dust quite easily, you should remove it on a fairly regular basis. But to cheer you up, technology has made glass furniture just a snap to clean. Simply use regular glass cleaner on the counter top. You can also use a solution of lemon juice and warm water will make them shine and sparkle and then use newspaper to wipe them. No need to worry about spills seeping into the furniture, like might occur with wood. Simply wipe away any dirt or spills and get back your beautiful glass furniture. In addition, glass is less likely to get scratched and nicked and will maintain it's polished, sleek look for years to come.
Article Source:EzineArticles.com
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