How to Decorate With Acrylic Furniture

What Is Acrylic

• Acrylic is a clear heavy-duty plastic first developed in the 1930s and made commercially available to furniture designers. It has an appearance similar to glass, but it is more durable, making it an ideal alternative to wood. Its transparent nature lends an ethereal feel to any space. Acrylic furnishings, associated with the Hollywood Regency design style or the 1970s disco era, are still relevant and widely available.

Famous Acrylic Designers

• Philip Starck is a modern furniture and light designer who has updated the classic French oval-back accent chair by casting aside the wood frame and fabric seat and replacing it with an acrylic mold of the same chair. The chair has an almost invisible look, earning it the name the "Louis Ghost Chair." The chair draws on classic traditional lines but offers a contemporary look. Other designers, such as Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, have created replicas of 17th-century antiques in acrylic. His line of acrylic furniture includes tables and chairs, some with ornate lines, and others with simple, straight lines.

Decorating With Acrylic

• Visually lighten a room with heavy wood furnishings and oversized upholstered chairs by replacing one or two heavier pieces with acrylic pieces. Replace an accent side table with a smaller acrylic table, or remove a dark wood accent chair and bring in an acrylic version. Acrylic's invisible quality allows you to see rugs underneath furniture or the walls; it tricks your eye into thinking nothing is there, which helps to create a sense of calm and open up the room. When choosing the acrylic pieces, look for lines and styles that appeal and will work in your space. If you have a contemporary design aesthetic, look for simple angular lines rather than decorative ornate curves. A traditional aesthetic calls for acrylic replicas of antique pieces, like the Ghost Chair.

Care and Cleaning

• Acrylic, while it looks stunning in a space, attracts fingerprints like ants to a picnic. It takes patience and dedication to keep it clean and free of smudges. Depending on the traffic in your home, your acrylic may require daily cleansings. Use a soft cloth with warm water or a non-toxic glass cleaner; afterwards, wipe it down with a microfiber cloth. Vintage pieces tend to have scratches and a duller sheen that require a bit more care; use a cleaner specially formulated for plastics to restore the luster and diminish scratches.