Whilst we always provide our customers with advice on how they should care for their new hand painted furniture, we thought it would be useful to let future customers (and anyone else who's interested) know what they need to do once they own one of these splendid pieces - it really is very simple!

All of our furniture is made to be treasured for many years to come and over time it will naturally take on its own unique patina due to age, wear, cleaning and exposure to the elements. All of this adds to the character and charm of the piece, which is what we love about this style of furniture.

To keep your furniture looking beautiful and to ensure durability you do need to look after it as you would with any piece of furniture. All our pieces are painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® and then treated to either a couple of protective coats of Annie Sloan's Soft Wax, or a specialist clear matte varnish, which means that they will stand up very well to everyday wear and tear.

Both the wax and the varnish offer some water resistance, but the furniture will not be waterproof! With this in mind, we recommend that you use coasters under water glasses and placemats on dining tables and you clean any spills as soon as you possibly can. Waxes dissolve in alcohol, so in particular avoid any alcohol spills and avoid using cleaning products that contain alcohol. We also advise that you keep your piece of furniture away from extreme temperatures or humidity (so don't stand your piece in front of or very close to a hot radiator for example).

To clean your piece of furniture use a slightly damp soft cloth with a little mild soap. Do not use any liquid furniture polishes as they may contain dimethicone (a silicone which can cause cracks to appear in the paint).

To keep your furniture looking at its best we recommend applying a coat of soft, clear wax every 12 months or so. Whilst there are a number of different waxes available on the market, we recommend using Annie Sloan's Soft Wax simply because it was specifically designed to work with her paints and because we've tried and tested it (and we love it too!).

Apply a thin layer of wax with a dry, soft cloth; leave it to absorb for several hours (or even overnight if you can wait that long!) and then polish/buff with a separate clean cloth.

Should you have any queries about your new piece of furniture do not hesitate to contact Clementene via her contact page on her website: www.clementenecoates.co.uk

Clementene's constantly painting new pieces, so make sure you visit her shop so you don't miss out!

We buy all of our Annie Sloan products, including her Soft Wax, from the lovely people at Dovetails Vintage. You can purchase your Soft Wax from their online shop.

We hope you love your furniture as much as we loved painting it!

For more on Clementene's blog's just visit: www.clementenecoates.co.uk/blog