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
Thank you for the great detailed steps and photos. I have my grandparents’ Duncan Phyfe bedroom set (all matchy-matchy) from the 1940s. I have it in storage. We are building a new home and I just wasn’t sure how the dark mahogany was going to blend into our craftsman house. My grandparents both smoked. You have inspired me. I am going to give it all a really good cleaning and treatment. If I think it’s too dark, well, I might put it by a window to get a little lighter.
Mayo works great on rougher furniture, but is not – repeat not – a good thing to use on an exterior door that faces the sun. Trust me on this.
Oh no! Are you speaking from experience?? I could imagine that would be pretty awful.
Lauren I have a trick to get rid of that old musty smell that some really old or mistreated pieces have acquired.
My granddaughter’s mother asked me if there was anything that could be done for an old “dry sink” that had been in her family for several generations. It had been painted and someone had stripped off the yucky green paint and then gave up and stored it in a damp storage facility for several years. Oh my gosh did it ever stink!
I tried Murphy’s Oil Soap, dishes of baking soda, sunshine and several other things to no avail. It still stunk to high heaven and had black dirt and mold looking blotches deep inside on the rough interior. Finally out of desperation I called my cousin, a furniture maker and former antique restorer to see if he thought oxygen bleach might help. He gently reminded me that old, solid wood furniture is sometimes dipped in vats of stripper that is significantly stronger than oxygen bleach and it still survives. Just quickly do your thing so as to protect the joints etc. and then wipe off and dry the furniture as quickly and thoroughly as possible.
The sink was solid and charming in its own way and I was determined to succeed for my granddaughter. So I waited for a hot sunny day here in Texas and got to it. I made a strong solution of oxygen bleach, applied it with a sopping wet rag and was shocked to see the ugly black splotches almost jump off the wood. I scrubbed the entire thing, inside and out with a stiff bristle scrub brush, rinsed it thoroughly with fresh water from the garden hose, wiped off all the water that I could and left it open to the sun to dry. It actually smelled like new wood when it dried.
I stained the dry sink to get an even color on it and then applied a poly coat on every surface I could reach so that it would be protected from any humidity and hopefully seal in any smell that might return. To my relief and surprise, it never stunk again and now a few years later you can faintly smell new wood if you stick your nose inside and breathe deeply.
Family heirloom rescued and Grandma’s reputation as a magic fixer still intact.
Oh Dianna, thank you for sharing. I hope someone find this so helpful.
Hi Lauren,
I always enjoy your emails and have used your ideas and recommendations in the past, but I just want to say how much I appreciate this guide. I have a large MCM sideboard that belonged to my parents; it’s too large to fit in our house so I plan to sell it but so far I have been putting off stripping and refinishing it.
Finally, it can come out of storage and be restored to it’s former glory before going on for someone else to enjoy it.
Many thanks indeed,
Sherin
Sherin, I am truly honored to be of help in your choice to renew the piece. I know these items are often hard to touch with such sentiment behind them.