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Wooden furniture is something that is loved by all, the vintage look and feels a piece of wooden furniture gives is unparalleled, it not only adds to the look of the room but often ends up being the center of attraction for the room. However with constant use even the polish on it starts to fade and it takes away the look and feels of the furniture, it is often a tedious task for people to bring it back to its original state, however, you won’t have to fear that since today with the help of industry experts at JD Institue we have formulated some points on this which will not only help to return the look and feel of your old wooden furniture but make it look like a brand new one.so let’s quickly delve into it.

Things you’ll need

1. Microfiber Cloths

2. Cotton Cloths

3. Bucket

4. Vaccum Cleaner

5. Sponge

6. Rubber Gloves

7. Mineral Spirits

8. Tea Bags

9. Dishwashing Liquid

10.Cotton Balls and Cotton Swabs

That will be it for the list of equipment/ materials required, first bring and keep all these things together so that the whole process goes smoothly. Now, these are the following steps one has to follow to clean their furniture –

Step 1

Ascertain the type of wooden surface you have – Knowing your wood is a very important factor in cleaning it, there are polished wooden surfaces, painted ones, and oiled ones as well. Firstly you need to be aware of which surface you’re going to clean as the process is a bit different for all.

Knowing your woods

A.   Oiled Surface 

To know whether your wooden furniture is oil-coated or not, take a cotton swab and add 4-5 drops of linseed oil. Rub it over a small patch and see if it absorbs. Oiled wooden furniture absorbs linseed.

B.   Polished Surface

To understand whether your furniture is polished or not, take 3-4 drops of wood spirit, which is easily available in the market, on wire wool and rub it on a small inconspicuous patch for 2 minutes. Leave it for 5 minutes, then touch to see if the patch has become sticky and foggy. If yes, your wood has a polished finish.

C.   Painted Surface

Identifying whether your wooden furniture is painted or not is easy, it can be identified by its color alone. Painted wooden furniture appears to be semi-matte. However, look closely, if you find dark brown or a brick red color of the wood grain, it is not painted but a thick lacquer.

Now, that you have ascertained which surface you have let’s move further to cleaning them, however, if you’re still not sure about your furniture type consult a carpenter rather than guessing.

Step 2

This step is common for all kinds of surfaces. Firstly clean away spills if any – using the microfiber fiber cloth clean away the spills, if any watermarks or tea coffee marks then wet the cloth a bit and rub against the surface it’ll remove those stains. Now, that you have cleaned them, dust them around all the corners and everywhere with the microfiber cloth, were using a microfiber cloth not a regular cotton one as it will prevent any marks from coming on the surface due to the cloth.

Step 3

This step is common for painted and oiled wooden surfaces, it is done mostly for wooden furniture that has been in storage or has not been in use for some time. Mix a solution of 1tbsp of dishwashing liquid with 100ml water this way the solution is not saturated as well and also has a bit of acid to it through which the stains can be removed, be sure to not exert too much on a single place, spread the mixture all over evenly and give it a rub with the microfiber cloth.

Step 4

This step is for all surfaces with have fabric on them, as the fabric stains are hard to remove on chairs one should use a vacuum cleaner instead of spilling the dirt micro particles all over a vacuum will contain them and remove them neatly which will help in making the fabric cleaner as well as a bit softer.

Steps for Oiled surfaces

As we have already removed the dirt on the easily visible top, now it’s time to move ahead. A common mistake most people make is applying wax to the surface which is a big no for oiled surface, since we have already removed the stains with the mixture of dishwashing liquid and water, next we can rinse it with a damp cloth and after that do pat it dry with a soft dry cloth so that no moisture is left on the surface. That’s it for Oiled surface

Steps for Painted Surfaces

For the painted surface we have already used a vacuum and removed the stains with a mixture next what we need to do is, take 2 drops of dishwashing liquid but this time we mix it with cotton balls as cotton balls provide a base for the washing liquid to settle and rubbing this mixture across the surface in a circular motion will remove all the remaining dirt stains, dry it out quickly and leave no place untouched otherwise it will look like a patch in the surface.

Steps for Polished Surfaces

After we have wiped the surface clean with water and cloth we now need to immerse 4-5 tea bags in a cup of hot water. Wait for 10 minutes. Now, soak a cleaning cloth in this solution and wring the cloth to remove excess moisture. Wipe the polished wooden furniture with this cloth to restore its shine. Please note, that you should use black tea as it contains tannins which help your polished wooden furniture retain its dark finishing. After completing this we can apply polish and wait for an hour or two to dry it out.

So, folks that’s how you clean your wooden surfaces like a pro and retain their shine, as some bonus points which the kind people at JD Institute gave I’ll share the precautions with you which will increase the life of your wooden furniture

Precautions

1. Prolonged exposure to high heat can damage the wood.

2. Protect your painted and polished wooden furniture from future spills using wax.

3. However do not use wax on the oiled surface as the wax will block the pores on the wood causing your furniture to looking lifeless.

4. Do not use any ammonia-based cleaning agent on your wooden furniture. It leaves behind residue which builds up over time.

Through this article one can now easily gain back the feel of their wooden furniture, it involves some simple steps like identifying the type of wood one has to correctly clean it, for the three different types of wooden surfaces removing the stains remains common however what differentiates the oiled and painted woods is the usage of tea bags for ones and usage of dishwasher soap for ones. One also needs to preserve their wooden furniture with the help of the steps given above they will increase the longevity of the furniture and also help maintain the furniture’s shine for a longer duration.