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Furniture cleaning tips by Laura Green
It doesn’t matter how careful you try to be, furniture just simply does not stay in mint condition for its entire lifespan.
However, when bad things happen to good furniture, knowing how to clean it can be downright overwhelming.
On the one hand, you don’t want to ruin any finish, but on the other hand, the item needs to be cleaned.
Most mishaps that happen to furniture are relatively minor and can be easily resolved, hidden, or erased before the furniture becomes an eyesore.
This article will provide some helpful tips for those everyday mishaps.
If you are dealing with a bottle of red wine on your white leather couch however, those kinds of accidents will require a call to the manufacturer.
Wood surfaces are the toughest conundrum because bottom line you do not want to ruin the finish.
Most can be cleaned with solvents, but you need to be careful which ones you use.
Avoid alcohol solvents as this will quickly dissolve finish.
Mineral spirits are a good choice for wood and are harmless to most finishes.
You can purchase mineral spirits at your local hardware store, or at Home Depot or Lowe’s. Before you attempt to clean the spot however, test the solvent on an inconspicuous spot on the furniture to ensure it does not affect the finish.
The best spot to do this will be somewhere on the bottom of the furniture, so that if in fact the finish is affected, the spot will not be noticeable even if you move the furniture around the room. Once you have a successful test spot, you can clean the item entirely.
If you have a wax buildup such as a candle spill on wood or even carpet or cloth furniture, blow dry the wax for about 3 minutes.
This will loosen up the wax and you can then gently remove the wax with a plastic file or with your fingernail.
Take your time with this one; you don’t want to leave grooves in the wood from the scraping.
If you find that you have dirt in the grooves of your wood, you can clean it by dipping a cotton swab in the solvent you use to clean the wood and gently scraping out the wood with the swab.
Scratches that occur on the finish but are not deep enough into the wood can be taken out with a very fine steel wool and some vegetable oil.
Pour the oil onto the wool pad and clean in the direction of the wood.
Ensure the steel is saturated with oil and rub lightly.
Once you are done with this, you want to wipe the area with a rag and spirits or solvent several times until all of the oil is removed.
Give the surface approximately 24 hours drying time, and then refinish with clear lacquer.
Furniture that is cloth covered will be the easiest to clean as long as you attack the problem immediately.
First you need to blot the stain until there is nothing left to absorb.
If the stain still exists, treat it with some stain remover that you would use for laundry.
Spray ‘N Wash with Oxy Clean is very effective at removing stain from cloth furniture.
Follow the directions on the label.
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