Tips on Caring for Your Rustic Home Furnishings

Many of us would agree that wood furnishings in the house, especially those that are made of hardwood or cedar, are very low maintenance furniture. Rustic home furnishings never really need any specific care except for the usual dusting and wiping. Well, this would work, if you want your furniture to last a few years, but if you're in the mood for passing those rustic home furnishings to your grandchildren, then continue on and read.

When wiping wood

It is best to use a non-abrasive and lint free cloth when cleaning hardwood furniture. Never use a cloth dampened with water as this will damage the wax finish on the wood. Just as well, avoid wiping your furniture with dry cloth; nobody wants hairline scratches on the finish right? So what should you do? Put a bit of wood polish or linseed oil in the cloth you are using. Remember to follow the grain as you wipe.

What to do with those scratches

If your rustic furniture has a light finish, try to fill the scratches with tan or natural shoe polish. If shoe polish doesn’t work, use a mix of one (1) part darkened iodine and one (1) part denatured alcohol and wipe over the scratch with a cotton swab.

If the finish is reddish or dark, you can rub walnut or Brazil nut meat over the wood in the same direction as the scratch.

For stubborn stains

Usually stains on the wood are from those of the wax, not on the wood itself. As they say, the best cure is prevention. Make sure that you take care of you furniture by using coasters and place mats so that it won’t come into contact with wet or hot surfaces. Water and heat ruins the wax and the finish.

But if you're unable, to say, avoid water marks on your rustic table, or any type of wood for that matter, put a blotter over the table and pass a warm iron over it until the water mark is removed. If this doesn’t wok, try using salad oil to wipe over the mark until it goes away.

For milk or alcohol marks, a simple rub of liquid wax or polish over the area should do the trick.

But if you're stuck with those stubborn stains, you can make a paste of linseed oil and rottenstone, or pumice for light finishes. Apply the paste over the affected area by rubbing it with your finger or a piece of cloth. Remember to follow the grain of the wood as you do so

If all else fail and I'm serious about this, don’t do the following unless you've tried everything else. Rub the area with a bit of ammonia on a cloth. Ammonia reacts with wax, so try to use it sparingly, and avoid damaging unstained areas. Wax and polish the area immediately afterwards.

For other frills and spills that you might encounter

If paper sticks to wood, it does that a lot, dampen the paper with salad oil, leave it on for a few minutes then rub with a soft cloth or very fine steel wool, until all traces of paper are gone.

Nail polish can be a pain if you leave it on your wood too long, so when you spill or drop a bit on your furniture, blot it immediately and then rub it away with a fine steel wool (0000).

You don't generally have to do the above everyday, most scratches and stains only happen as accidents. In general you can keep you rustic furniture intact and looking new for generations to come with simple daily, waterless wipes and annual polishing.