A room full of beautiful wood furniture brings warmth and elegance to any room, however, it’s inevitable that stains and mishaps will cause damage to your furniture. Maybe you wish to restore wood or wicker furniture to it’s former glory.

Below are tips on cleaning and caring for your wood furniture to keep it looking beautiful for a long time.

Removing water stains on wood furniture – There are two way to remove a water stain from wood furniture. 1) lay a blotter cloth over the spot and run a warm iron over it until the stain is gone. 2) rub lemon oil into the spot, let set overnight, wipe the excess oil off.

Removing alcohol stains on wood furniture – any substance containing alcohol (drinks, medicines, cosmetics) can eat through wood finish quickly. When a spill occurs, grab a cloth and moisten it with lemon oil. Rub the spot with the cloth (if the spot is dry, remove with the same method as you wood a burn on wood).

Hide scratches on dark cherry or mahogany wood furniture – rub spot with a cotton swab dipped in iodine.

Hide scratches on unshellacked maple or light cherry wood furniture – rub spot with a cotton swab dipped in iodine diluted 50% with denatured alcohol.

Darken a scratch on wood furniture – scoop out the meat of a walnut and rub it gently on the scratch. Make sure you rub it directly on top of the scratch.

Remove scratches from oiled finishes on wood furniture – take fine steel wool and dip it into light mineral oil or boiled linseed oil. Rub in the direction of the grain. Let oil soak into wood, then wipe scratch area dry with a clean cloth.

Remove burns on wood furniture – obtain finely powdered pumice stone (check woodworking suppliers) and mix with linseed oil. Take a soft cloth and rub the burn, in the direction of the grain, with the paste. Keep repeating until burn spot disappears. This works best on light burns.

Remove glass rings from wood furniture – rub the rings with a mixture made of mayonnaise and white toothpaste. Wipe dry, then polish entire tabletop.

Remove spilled milk stains on wood furniture – dip a damp cloth in ammonia or silver polish and rub stain area. Wipe dry with clean cloth.

Cleaning leather furniture – wash furniture with a solution of 1/4 cup vinegar and a half cup of water. Next, wash furniture with saddle soap (available at shoe and hardware stores). Lastly, rub furniture briskly with a soft cloth.

Caring for wicker furniture – wicker tends to be dry and can get brittle or split. Place brittle wicker furniture inside a bathtub and drench with water to restore moisture. Keep wicker away from heated areas such as stove, radiator, and fireplace.

Furniture polish tips – 1) polish furniture often with a lint-free cloth moistened lightly with furniture polish. 2) use furniture polish sparingly. It’s the rubbing motion (or elbow grease) that is the real secret to maintaining a great shine. 3) stick with either an oil or wax based furniture polish. Using both on the same piece can cause smudges and blotches. 4) remove wax build up by moistening a soft cloth with synthetic turpentine, mineral spirits or liquid polish, and cleaning entire surface.

Garden furniture Outdoor patio Furniture Choices

Patio furniture has come a long way from the green plastic resin chairs of old.

There is a world of choice in the market and many fine pieces of furniture.

We can separate the categories into five main types.

1) We have traditional wood furniture.

2) We have metal patio furniture.

3) Rattan or wicker furniture.

4) Plastic resin furniture.

5) Ceramic or concrete furniture.

I will be publishing articles on all the above in turn, first up wooden Garden Furniture.

1) Wooden Garden Patio Furniture

Wooden outdoor furniture has been widely used for years, either for dining sets or generally for garden furniture such as benches, hammocks and planters.

The wood used has primarily been hardwood although tanalised Pine is popular in the Swiss designs.

The best and of course most expensive is Teak which mainly comes from Indonesia.

Teak is graded, grade A is the highest quality.

Most people agree that Teak can be left untreated and will mellow to lovely silver grey over the years.

Most other grades of Teak will be supplied pre oiled, the furniture will last just as long if you treat regularly. The reason for the lower grade is that the wood will have defects in and grain anomalies, apart from that the lower grade Teak can sometimes not be kiln dried.

Other woods are used for garden furniture include Keruing, Acacia, Rose wood and Juniper.

Keruing is a good solid hardwood that will last up to 25 years. Great for outdoor dining furniture and bistros, a trend at the moment is to have a Keruing frame on a chair with textilene back and bottom for comfort.

You can also find steamers, loungers, picnic tables and benches in Keruing all in all it is a very hard wearing heavy set wood ideal for outdoor furniture.

Acacia is becoming popular as it is better value for money.

A MIR has developed a major range in Acacia. The only thing to watch for is that it is plantation Acacia, as there has been a problem with lower quality wood that has not been properly dried.

That aside you can buy an Acacia dining set, 4 chairs and a table for under £100, which is a bargain.

Rosewood is fantastic but only if you have deep pockets as dining sets can set you back £2/3000 a time.

Juniper is mostly used for the pole of wooden parasols but still is a good solid wood and will last years outside with proper maintenance. In the next article I will look at metal garden furniture and how it has developed into a vast array of styles.

Author: Julian Wood www.peakgardencentres.co.uk