Clear Acrylic Barrel Chair

Clear Acrylic Furniture – The Pros and Cons

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Ever thought of introducing some clear acrylic furniture or accent piece into your home?

If so, find out everything you need to know – both good and bad – before you buy that new clear acrylic piece for your home.

fyi…Acrylic comes in clear and colored versions. We will discussing the pros and cons of clear acrylic versus other tinted acrylic furniture. While they may be very similar in terms of advantages and disadvantages, there are some of these which apply mainly to clear acrylic furniture.

Pros of Clear Acrylic Furniture

The benefits or advantages of clear acrylic furniture are numerous. If you are looking for a clean, sleek modern look in your home, you will surely be encouraged to buy when you find out the many pros of these furniture pieces made with clear acrylic.

1. Airy Look and Feel

Just like glass, acrylic is clear. While not quite as clear and translucent as glass, it does provide a similar look and feel in your home decor.

The properties of both glass and acrylic is that they are clear – a piece of furniture that you can see through. When you can see through a piece of furniture, it makes the room feel more airy and larger as your eye does not stop at the piece of furniture – it just keeps going until it sees something solid and opaque.

For small spaces, this can be a big advantage allowing your space to look bigger than it is. In other home decor styles such as modern or coastal, acrylic furniture can also work well to create that airy and open feeling.

Home Office with Clear Acrylic Desk Chair and Bookshelf
This home office decorated with clear acrylic desk, chair and bookcase almost appears to have no furniture in it at all – making it appear much larger than it actually is – a huge advantage of acrylic furniture for those with smaller rooms.

In large rooms, acrylic furniture can also add to that feeling of spaciousness by not appearing to take up much floor space.

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2. Acrylic is Easy to Clean

Again, as with glass, acrylic is very easy to clean – no to mention that it is quite obvious when it is dirty so you know when it needs to be cleaned.

Simply use a soft cloth with some soapy water and you are done.

Willa Arlo Interiors Acrylic Darchelle Bar Counter Stool
Clear acrylic bar stools can be easily cleaned with a damp cloth and mild soap – something very beneficial – and almost necessary – for heavy traffic area furniture such as bar stools at a kitchen counter bar top.

There is a word of caution though with the cleaning of acrylic furniture. Do not use any strong chemicals as they can cause the acrylic to fog – something that you cannot undo.

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3. Provides a Modern Sleek Look to your Decor

If you are looking for a sleek modern home decor style, than a piece or pieces of acrylic furniture should be on your shopping list.

Because acrylic has to be molded into its shape, the furniture pieces tend to be very simplistic in design, which fits well into modern and contemporary styled homes. This is in contrast to highly decorative or ornate pieces of turned wood furniture which work better for traditional or classic homes.

Atka Sled Acrylic Coffee Table
This Atka Sled Clear Acrylic Coffee Table is super sleek which provides a clean, modern look in this living room.

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4. Wide Variety of Acrylic Furniture Pieces Available

With major innovations in furniture design as well as the integration of new and unique materials, acrylic as a base material, has found its way into just about every piece of furniture that you can imagine.

In the marketplace today, you will find the more obvious examples of acrylic furniture all the way to the less expected.

The obvious examples of acrylic furniture are coffee tables, side tables, and even chairs and bar stools.

Some of the lesser known pieces include console tables, book shelves, pedestals, desks, beds and even storage trunks.

Caracole Classic Four Poster Acrylic Upholstered Bed
While not done in full acrylic, the four posters of this Caracole Classic Upholstered Bed are done in clear acrylic – adding to the elegance and femininity of this bed.

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So just when you thought you could not find the exact acrylic piece you were looking for…look again…you will find it.

Gus Modern Acyrlic Accent Tables Timber End Table
This clear Gus Modern Acrylic Accent End Table or pedestal is a perfect conversation piece on its own but with the polar bear statue on top, it is even more worthy of conversation.
Clear Acrylic Leaning Ladder Bookcase
Want to make your books float? Then why not introduce a fully clear Acrylic Leaning Ladder Bookcase into your space. What a fabulous new innovation in the furniture design – an acrylic bookshelf.
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5. Pets Don’t Like Acrylic

Please do not interpret this as I am an animal hater – not at all.

I do have experience though that pets – at least cats anyway – do not like acrylic. That is not to say that you should not buy acrylic furniture.

My point really is specific to my personal situation. In my dining room, I have acrylic dining chairs. My cats refused to jump up on them. Even when we placed them on the chairs, they did not like it.

Clear Acrylic Lorne Dining Chairs
Clear Acrylic Lorne Dining Chairs

I see that as a bonus only for the reason that I don’t particularly like my pets jumping onto my dining table. The fact that they would not jump onto the chairs – which could then easily lead them to the table top – made my life a bit simpler. I just never had to worry about putting a nice piece of salmon on the table, leave for a second, and then find one of my sweethearts dining on it before the humans go to it.

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Cat Sitting on Dining Table
Some pets can make themselves quite comfortable on tables and chairs. I am fine with my furry friends sitting on my chairs – I just prefer that they stay at that level…and leave the food on my table to us humans.

In my experience, my cats would not jump onto the clear chairs and hence, could not make it to the dining table. As they were older, they were unable to jump directly onto the table.

Safavieh Couture Sabina Lucite Dining Chair with Black Upholstered Seat
This acrylic dining chair, however, I do believe will be fair game for your kitty cats. With a solid black upholstered seat, this may just become their favorite place to sleep and hang out.
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6. Artistic Effects of Acrylic Furniture

Perhaps an unintended or intended benefit of acrylic furniture is the artistic effect that it helps to create.

Decorative items placed on a piece of acrylic furniture will appear to be floating in the room. Think of an acrylic bookshelf with various decorative accent pieces placed on it. All of these items will appear that they are floating in space – a unique artistic impression beyond the decorative items themselves.

In this living room, it appears that either the wicker baskets are floating or are hanging on the wall – makes you look twice, right! And that, my friends, is often the purpose and beauty of any piece of art.

Disappearing Clear Acrylic Console Table by Wisteria
With this disappearing Clear Acrylic Console Table by Wisteria, it almost appears as if the decorative accents are floating in the room – something that adds a visual artistic element to the room, aside from the decor accents themselves.

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7. Clear Acrylic Goes With Everything

Clear acrylic furniture is neutral – or is that too obvious 🙂

I would suggest that clear acrylic furniture is even more neutral than white, grey or black.

So, no matter what your decor color choices and finishes in your home right now, you can easily introduce a piece or pieces of acrylic furniture and not have to worry about whether the colors will coordinate or not. Your only concern will be whether the style of the piece works with the rest of your decor.

Clear Acrylic Dining Chair with Wood Table
You can see this Clear Acrylic Dining Chair paired with a mixed media – wood base and granite top – dining table.
Clear Acrylic Square Coffee Table in Coastal Themed Room
While this living room has a very beachy, coastal feel and the acrylic coffee table seems to fit right in. It only adds to the calm, serene feeling which is typical of a coastal lifestyle. It also makes the room feel bigger than it it.
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Cons of Acrylic Furniture

Now that you have read the benefits of acrylic furniture, you may have already decided that an acrylic table, chair, or bookshelf is for you.

If you are still on the fence…or just want to know everything you can about acrylic furniture, then continue to read about the disadvantages of introducing acrylic furniture into your home decor.

1. Will Show Fingerprints

Similar to glass, mirrors and stainless steel, acrylic will show fingerprints – big and small.

Finger Print Smudges on Clear Acrylic Chair
While maybe not perfectly clear in this photo, there are finger Print Smudges on this Clear Acrylic Chair – something pretty much unavoidable no matter who lives in your home. Regular cleaning with a mild soap is the only answer.

So if you are averse to those pesky fingerprints – and you have little ones who aren’t afraid to touch everything – you may not want to introduce an acrylic coffee table or acrylic chair into your living room or dining room, respectively.

Clear Acrylic Barrel Chair
As with any acrylic chair, this clear acrylic barrel chair will show fingerprints just as easily. However, because it is not a kitchen or dining chair, it will not be moved around as much and hence, will not gather nearly the same amount of fingerprints as with a kitchen chair.
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2. Acrylic is Completely Transparent

You may be saying to yourself…yes, the fact that acrylic is transparent is obvious. Why is this a negative quality of acrylic?

The reasoning for mentioning this disadvantage really applies only to certain pieces of acrylic furniture such as a storage unit or trunk of some kind.

An acrylic trunk – or see-thru storage trunk – will not be very good at hiding any of the ‘uglier’ things you want to store away. It will only be good for storing ‘nicer’ looking things in an organized manner.

Rosdorf Park Clear Acrylic Lewter Trunk
This Rosdorf Park Clear Acrylic Lewter Trunk has been thoughtfully transformed into a showcase piece and end table, rather than a purely practical storage unit.

So, if you want a storage bench or trunk to hide your decorating sins, than an acrylic trunk is not for you.

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3. Acrylic Not as Durable as some Other Furniture Materials

Acrylic is hard – there is no doubt about that. And, a piece of acrylic furniture – with proper maintenance and care – will last a long time.

The only point is that if acrylic breaks or cracks, it cannot be repaired easily. This is in direct comparison to a piece of wood furniture which, if cracked or broken, can generally be repaired fairly easily.

This is not to say that acrylic is not hard and durable – it is. The main point about acrylic furniture is that, if damaged, it cannot not be easily fixed. If there is a serious break, it is almost impossible to repair.

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4. Design Limitations

Due to the production of acrylic, it does not have the same availability and variety of designs as, say wood.

Fox Hill Trading Acrylic Pure Decor 3 Piece Nesting Tables
Due to the intensive molding process required to manufacture acrylic furniture, the design varieties are less – doesn’t mean that they aren’t sleek and beautiful, though – as seen in this very practical translucent 3 piece acrylic nesting table set by Fox Hill Trading

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Having said that, it should be noted that with new innovations in manufacture and design, acrylic furniture has come a long way and there are many different varieties of design available – not as many as you will find in wood or other materials but, more than in the recent past.

Rosdorf Park Acrylic Legs Sagamore Upholstered Bench
This Rosdorf Park Acrylic Legs Sagamore Upholstered Bench is one of the newer and more ornate pieces of acrylic furniture that you will find. Most acrylic furniture has less detailing and is much more sleek in design.

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5. Acrylic Scratches – Cannot be Repaired Easily

Acrylic can be easily scratched with normal wear and tear.

This may be a deterrent for you but it should be noted that acrylic can scratch just as wood or laminate furniture can. In fact, it may scratch less easily but it can still be damaged.

The biggest issue is that it cannot be repaired easily like wood can. When a piece of wood furniture is damaged with scratches, it can easily be repaired with readily available wood fillers.

Rosdorf Park Acrylic Legs Sagamore Upholstered Bench
You can see a fairly major scratch on this Clear Acrylic Dining Chair. As of yet, I have not been able to get rid of it. I will keep trying with some new plastic filler products.

According to some research I have done, there are some plastic fillers which can be purchased. I am not sure of their effectiveness as I have never tried them. Some also claim that you can have large scratches buffed out by a professional. Depending on the price and value of your piece, having a professional involved may not be the most financially wise.

If you have any experience with either, please let me know and I will inform my clients.

The reason I mention this is because someone who really likes the look of a sleek and clean acrylic finish – which appears seamless and perfect – may be disappointed with even the smallest of scratches, lessening its look of smooth perfection.

Clear Acrylic Coffee Table by Wisteria
Even though this room seems to have a shabby-chic look with some aged and worn elements, you may be disappointed with a clear Acrylic Square Coffee Table like this is scratches bother you.

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6. Safety Issues

Because the acrylic we are talking about here is clear, this can create a safety issue – for both the young and old. For example, a clear coffee table may not be seen by someone and they may mistakenly run into it. Trust me, it may seem extreme but, it can happen.

Casey Acrylic Tray Top Console Table with Metal Frame Legs
I don’t know about you but, I can barely see the clear acrylic top on this console table. It just might be somewhat of a hazard depending on where it is placed. It may also be a good thing that the bronze copper legs are very easily visible.
Atka Sled Acrylic Coffee Table
Because the sides of this acrylic coffee table are smooth and rounded, it probably won’t hurt someone too badly by hitting the table itself. However, it can still be a safety issue if they don’t see it, walk into it, and possibly fall.

Another issue to consider if you want to incorporate clear acrylic furniture is the nature of the design of the pieces.

For example, bar stools made of acrylic tend to have less ornate and intricate designs. This can include being so sleek that they may not have arms. Not having arms can be less safe for general seating but, especially for small children.

Clear Acrylic Daphne Swivel Bar Stools
These modern chrome and acrylic bar stools may be suitable for a contemporary home. However, they may not be the best choice for a home with small children or anyone with mobility issues. Not only do they not have any arms, they have a swivel seat – another security issue – and they have a smooth and slipper acrylic seat. All of this combines for a less than secure bar stool for young children and older seniors.

Also because acrylic is very smooth and slippery, any chair or bar stool will provide less stable and secure seating – especially if you compare this to a wooden chair or upholstered bar stool.

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Is Clear Acrylic Furniture For You?

Now that you know all there is to know about clear acrylic furniture, are you ready to add some to your home decor?

In general, acrylic furniture is very durable, will last a long time with normal wear and tear, cleans easily, and will fit into almost any decor style. The only real drawbacks are that it does show almost any kind of marking – whether temporary fingerprints or permanent scratches – and it can be somewhat of a safety hazard but mainly in homes with small or young children.

Hint of Acrylic

If you are not fully committed to a furniture piece done completely in clear acrylic, you can opt for a chair or table with a hint of acrylic. In today’s marketplace, you can find many dining chairs, living room chairs, benches, as well as some sofas, which have clear acrylic legs only – the rest of the chair or sofa is done in a more traditional design and materials.

The benefit to this hint of acrylic is that the requirements for regular cleaning and care – of mainly fingerprints – are lessened greatly.

Armen Living Gobi Tufted Dining Chair in Velvet with Acrylic Legs
This upholstered, tufted dining chair by Armen Living has traditional elements mixed with the modernity of clear acrylic legs. For those who are afraid of an all-acrylic dining chair, this may be the perfect middle ground.
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Let’s Go Acrylic Furniture Shopping

If you are ready to add that clear acrylic coffee table, acrylic side table, acrylic dining chairs, acrylic bookcase, acrylic bed or you are ready to really dive in and buy a clear acrylic dining table, you can start shopping shop for that new acrylic furniture piece right now.

Shop Acrylic Furniture here!

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