Let’s be honest; how many of you have spilled something on your dining table or have water marks on your coffee table? Raise your hand!
As we are all design lovers (well, I hope you are) and want to let our wooden furniture pieces last forever, I thought I’d give you few tips to follow:
My first tip is: Simply don’t ever use it. Your furniture will last forever, I promise you! Okay, I’m just kidding. Let’s be real, we all want to use our favourite pieces in our daily lives and we also want them to last for years to come so these are my personal tips to keep them looking amazing.
1. Unfinished Wood
If the wood your furniture is made of is unfinished and has no polish or oil on it, you can simply clean it using a dry microfibre cloth, as any added moisture can potentially warp the wood. To test whether or not the wood is unfinished just add a drop of water to the surface. If the water beads, it has been varnished and if it absorbs in and leaves a mark (which will dry up, don’t worry), it’s an unfinished piece.
2. Finished Wood
We highly recommend wiping regularly (Around once a week—a cleaning party perhaps?) with a soft, dry microfibre cloth to remove excess dust and dirt. Personally, we do not recommend using a wet cloth or to let spills sit on the timber surface for too long as it can damage the wood. This goes for placing ceramics and décor on your table as well—beware of scratches that can occur.
If a spill happens, don’t panic—just wipe with a damp cloth and follow immediately with a dry cloth. If you’ve hosted a rather lively dinner party or even a beauty session with your gang, please be advised that liquids containing alcohol (e.g. nail polish) cannot be removed, sorry! We also recommend that you leave store-bought furniture polish out of your cleaning it and here’s why. While some popular furniture manufacturers’ websites state that furniture polish will help to bring out the shine of your wood and protect it, from my experience this isn’t a complete solution for all types of woods. Not all wood finishes are created equally and because different varieties and varnishes have specific requirements, furniture polish is definitely not an all-in-one solution. We’ll let you in on a little secret as well—it doesn’t do a good job of cleaning so you’re better off using a clean cloth. If in doubt, always take note of your specific manufacturer’s care details.
Last but not least; always try to keep your wood furniture away from fireplaces and heaters which can drain it of moisture.
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Now this one is hard for me to do because I have a major, and I mean major aversion to mayonnaise. You might be wondering what mayonnaise and wood have to do with each other, but If you have heat or water marks on your wood furniture you can restore the wood by applying mayonnaise to the area, leaving it overnight and then buffing it into the table in the morning. I don’t know why this disgusting product works on wood, but it just does!
I hope you are all better than ever (it’s freezing cold here…) and ready to clean your furniture pieces using the few simple tips I have for you. Keep an eye out for the next blog post: “How to clean metal finishes”.
Nelli xxx