How to Clean Your Home's Wood Furniture

I was given much of my furniture from friends of my family when I first moved out on my own. Later, my husband and I chose to augment our furniture from antique stores. We both preferred the look of real wood over any other finish. When dealing with used furniture a number of issues come into play. Is the wood finished in a way that doesn't suit your tastes? Is the wood damaged in any way? Is the wood finished in a way that allows you to dust easily? Choosing the proper wood cleaning product to solve bad finishes, damage, and to perform weekly dusting, will help you reach a point where you can maintain your wood furniture in a, green, eco-friendly manner.

Clean Badly Finished Wood Furniture [See Photograph 1]

I'm guilty of this sin. Oops. My first house had dark wood panels so I wanted my wood furniture to match. So I sanded off the old finish and applied lots of gloppy, dark stain to beautiful wood. In the process I hid the grain. My husband and I have purchased other wood products that had paint on them.

The nicest thing to do to wood is to not to sand off finish. Use a product like ZipStrip to remove old and ugly finish without damaging the underlying wood. ZipStrip and similar products are not eco-friendly. Reusing old furniture is very eco-friendly. Not only do you save another tree, you reuse wood that can from an old regal, tree that might currently be endangered or extinct. See my attached link about endangered species.