How to Clean Wood Furniture to Make It Look New
All of the steps and supplies for the best way to clean wooden furniture and get rid of musty smells in old furniture.
There is nothing better than finding a diamond in the rough vintage piece of furniture that would shine with a small amount of love. Whether you have scored a secondhand coffee table or need help bringing your own solid wood furniture back to life, this tutorial will make your old wood furniture come to life again.
I found a dark walnut wood dresser and nightstand on Facebook Marketplace recently, and I actually did not paint it! Gasp! (Who the heck am I anymore?)
My daughter’s old laminate dresser, while I loved the color, just wasn’t giving me the rich nostalgic warmth I really wanted in her vintage inspired bedroom. So by cleaning the dull wood surface, it’s added so much depth while giving me peace of mind that its safe for our 3 year-old.
Here is the best method to give your wood furniture piece a deep cleaning.
Why Wood Furniture is Making a Trend Comeback
Traditional furniture styles are big time trending on the interior design scene lately, and with the nod to cottagecore style in this bedroom, it felt like the perfect opportunity to get back to the bare wood furniture roots to give that old wood a lustrous shine.
Over the past decade, farmhouse style was all about distressed chalk painted pieces or worn, weathered reclaimed wood.
Every action has an equal but opposite reaction, even in interior design. So of course, as time always tells with the ebb and flow of what’s “in style”, the answer to the farmhouse craze is the rich, lustrous furniture in the traditional aesthetic.
How to Clean Wood Furniture
I love scoring furniture on Facebook Marketplace, but since they usually have decades of surface scratches, cleaning products, furniture wax, and polish buildup creating a sticky residue on them, I used this method to make ours look new again.
Wood Furniture Cleaner Supplies
- Murphy Oil Soap
- 1.5 gallon bucket
- 2 clean rags
- Mineral spirits (if your piece has heavy stains)
- Vaseline (mayonnaise works too)
- Old English Wood Furniture Polish or *Howard Restore-A-Finish (*preferred)
- Bar Keepers Friend
- Old toothbrush
*For best results, the first step before starting is to test an inconspicuous area with each of the above wood cleaner products with a cotton ball to make sure it does not damage your type of wood. Not all furniture pieces are alike.
Steps
- Clean with Oil Soap
In a well-ventilated area, mix 1/2 Cup Murphy’s Oil Soap into a gallon of warm water.
Using a clean soft cloth, wipe down the entire piece of furniture with the soapy mixture while wearing protective gloves. Pay special attention to crevices and small details.
Then, using a dry cloth or paper towel, wipe away any soapy residue of the cleaning solution from the entire surface with clean water. Immediately dry off any excess water.
You can also use dish soap or an all purpose cleaner like Simple Green, but Murphy’s Oil Soap works better at removing musty smells from wooden furniture because it contains citronella oil.
For very stubborn smells, put the furniture in direct sunlight for an hour or so. Avoid direct sunlight for a long time though as it can fade wood finishes.
After cleaning, if you’re still left with some stubborn stains or sticky spots, the best option for an even deeper cleaning is to use a damp microfiber cloth with mineral spirits to lightly rub the area for a few minutes.
Don’t be alarmed if the spot looks dull after apply mineral spirits. Wood oil will help in the next few steps.
- Remove Water Spots
To rehydrate the wood from any water stains or damage such as a water ring, rub a moderate layer of Vaseline or mayonnaise on top with a lint-free cloth.
Let it sit overnight up to 24 hours.
Wipe clean to reveal a more even wood tone on the furniture’s surface. Repeat if necessary. The top of this wooden table had terrible water damage, but Vaseline greatly improved it. - Clean Vaseline residue
Use the Murphy’s Oil Soap again to clean off any Vaseline residue so the polish can penetrate in the next step.
- Polish
Using a soft cotton cloth, wipe down the surface of wood furniture in circular motions with Old English Wood Furniture Polish or Howard Restore-A-Finish. (Howard is preferred, but since my hardware store was out, Old English was a good alternative.)
You can also use linseed oil.
Concentrate on any scratches or dings to ensure they’re covered. The mineral oil will begin to recondition wooden surfaces to give it a nice shine.
After 2-3 minutes, wipe away any excess moisture. - Scrub Hardware
If you have any hardware on your furniture that looks a little grimy, you can scrub it with Barkeepers Friend and an old toothbrush with a little warm water.
Non-gel toothpaste or white vinegar can also work well on hardware.
Rinse and let dry. Then reattach to your wood furniture.
Related: Best Places to Find Furniture Hardware
It’s a good idea to follow these simple steps every couple of years for a regular cleaning to keep your furniture in good condition. Give it a regular dusting as well.
The Finished Wood Furniture
It looks like a brand new dresser, doesn’t it?! And it really wasn’t too strenuous to clean and polish. (I’d say the strenuous part was really Robert and me hauling this hefty chest of drawers up our staircase.)
Doesn’t Regan’s room look so charming with these two pieces? I can’t get over how much better it looks after this cleaning method.
Long live the wood furniture! Maybe I’ll even get up the nerve to strip painted furniture again… though I think I’m still recovering from a few bad incidents with a wooden dining table and chairs all these years later.
Are you all for traditional and wood furniture again? Or still Team Painted Furniture? Neither is wrong really. Do what your soul loves and decorate with what makes you happy. That’s what really matters.
The me 5 years ago would have slapped distressed chalk paint on these two wood furniture beauties in a heartbeat. But that wood grain deserves the spotlight for sure.
Frequently Asked Questions
These charcoal bags work wonders for all kinds of icky furniture smells. Place one in a drawer for a few days and let it do the work for you. You can also try sprinkling baking soda in a drawer along with a few dryer sheets.
Mix 4 parts water with 1 part vinegar and one part olive oil in a spray bottle and spritz all over your wood furniture. Dry with a clean cloth.
More Furniture Makeover Tips
How to Restore Worn Cane Furniture
The Trick to Paint Laminate IKEA Furniture
Best Places to Buy Furniture Hardware
It came out beautiful!!! How old is the young lady who occupies that room? She must love it so much as it has that not a little girl feel but not yet an adult vibe to it.
She’ll be four this year. 🙂 The little scallop detail on the nightstand and rosette detail on the dresser seemed to sweet and perfect for her. Definitely the type of furniture that will grow well with her over time.
WELL done!!!! Beautiful pieces and absolutely awesome you held off painting them. I love painted furniture – but not pieces of such high quality. They look gorgeous and will last a lifetime, if cared for.
Thank you! I was so surprised they turned out looking so pristine. I had high hopes but wow! Proof that good quality wood furniture is worth the work to give it a little TLC.
I bought a mahogany dining room set on Craigslist that unfortunately came from a house of smokers. I cleaned the entire set with a vinegar wash, put it outside in the sun and put coffee grounds inside and closed the doors to get rid of the smoke smell- worked GREAT! When it was time for the photographer to take pictures at the house for my Son’s wedding everyone was raving at the set- I told them about the smoke smells and they couldn’t smell anything! I am SO pleased with the set!
That is amazing! I’d heard vinegar works well but didn’t know about the coffee grounds trick before. Thanks for the tip!
How beautiful! Thanks so much for these directions. I have a little wood coffee table that was my mother’s, and it’s taken a beaten. (I’d like to say from the grandkids, but I splattered nail polish remover on it, so it now has two white spots. Ugh.) I’ll use your directions to see if I can give it some TLC without completely refinishing it. Your girls’ bedroom is gorgeous!
Ooooh yeah! Natural wood pieces are in the timeless category in my book! Most of what I have has been handed down, and I’ve come to understand that most of the pieces are constructed with different oaks unlike the red or white oak now offered. Never heard of Howard’s but Old English has been utilized on almost all pieces. Boiled linseed oil mixed with wood alcohol is another mixture that works well to moisturize wood too. One more lil ditty getting the “old” smell out of doors and drawers is take a 4oz glass spray bottle, approximately 1/4 cup fractionated coconut oil, mix in about 12 drops of lavender essential oil and spray the interior of piece, including the back wall! Baking soda works great on drawers but kinda challenging to work on doors, back and side walls. That’s where the liquid mixture comes in handy.
Your finds for your Regan’s room are absolutely gorgeous! The 2 pieces definitely add a timelessness and soooo compliments everything else in her bedroom!
Thank you so much for all of those great tips! I’ll definitely try out all of these in the future!