Wooden furniture is often found within many homes and provides organic and natural designs with character and warm. Not only this, but wooden furniture is also durable, often lasting for many decades and even centuries in some cases. Whilst little maintenance is required, wood is still a natural product and so your wooden furniture still needs to be taken care of to ensure it remains in top condition and maintain its quality appearance. So occasionally, a deep clean will be necessary.
How Often Should you Clean Your Wooden Furniture
With wooden furniture like coffee tables and dining tables, you may find that you're more often than not wiping the surfaces down to remove spills. This is important because liquid can stain and darken your furniture if left to sit.
You should also dust your wooden furniture every few days to ensure the surfaces remain dust free. This is important because dusting your furniture will remove any particles that could scratch the surface of the wood.
Then polishing your wooden furniture about once a month is sufficient and will help to remove any current scratches and buff the surface. Not only this but polishing the surface will provide a shine and help to keep the furniture looking in tip top condition!
Regular Cleaning of Wooden Furniture
Cleaning away spills and small dirt
As previously mentioned, it's important to clean any liquid or condensation off the surface which can be done with a soft cloth or kitchen towel and blot away the residue. You might also have grime or sticky residue on the surface of your wooden furniture and so you will want to remove these. However, it's important to not use multi purpose cleaning spray to remove these as it may damage the furniture. Instead, a damp soft cloth with a small amount of dish washing detergent is a good choice to remove these soiled areas.
Regularly Dusting
Whilst the chore of dusting your homes and wooden surfaces may seem dull, its probably one of the best ways to take care of your wood. So we've already mentioned that you should dust every few days but what could you use to do so. So it's really important that you are using soft cloths like microfibres or dusters themselves because you don't want to scratch the wood surface. Also the soft materials will pick up the dust easier to ensure you don't leave any particles behind that could potentially scratch your surface.
Deep Cleaning Wooden Furniture
Now, occasionally, your wooden furniture might need a deep clean due to a build up of wax and grime and so you will need a slightly different method to clean your surfaces successfully. Now our go-to method that we would encourage is to use mineral spirits which is often used for thinning oil paints but is also well known for cleaning stains and grimy surfaces.
Firstly, you'll want to apply a small amount of the mineral spirit to an area of your furniture not visible to check that it will not remove the finish. After ensuring that it is safe to use on your furniture, apply a small amount of mineral spirits onto a dry and clean cloth making sure not to soak the cloth as this will dampen the wood. You'll then want to wipe this cloth on the soiled areas making sure to go with the grain of the wood. Then, after lifting the dirt from the surface of your wooden furniture, you'll need to wipe down the area again with a clean, damp cloth to remove any residue and pull the dirt away. Make sure to wipe away any dampness on the surface because this can damage the wooden furniture and then finish with polishing the surface for further protection.
Relevant Information
Cleaning and Maintaining your Outdoor Wooden Furniture
How to Repair Damaged Solid Wooden Furniture