Hints and Tips

To Remove unpleasant smells from an old chest of drawers, use baking soda, cat litter, or charcoal chips to remove the odor.

To Polish Brass:

Make a paste of equal parts of salt, vinegar and flour. Rub on brass with a soft cloth then rinse completely. Shine with a clean, dry, soft cloth.

To Clean Porous Pottery and Ironstone:

Use wig bleach obtained from a beauty salon and a clean dry cloth.

Removing water spots from furniture:

Those nasty rings on your coffee table are what happens when moisture penetrates the wax on a wooden surface and breaks its bond with the wood. But not to worry, there are a number of ways to remove the unsightly stains.

We suggest:
1. Apply a small amount of non-gel toothpaste to a damp, clean, lint-free cloth.
2. Rub toothpaste over the water spot.
3. Remove film, with clean, damp cloth.
4. Dry with a clean, dry cloth.
5. Polish.

Another solution involves baking soda and toothpaste. This solution should only be used on wood with a good finish. A quick fix for dark wood plagued by water stains is to apply brown shoe polish to cover the stain.

For antiques, we suggest a gentle buffing with a very fine steel wool and a soft wax polish. Follow with another buffing using kitchen paper.

Whatever you try, the trick seems to be gentle and prolonged rubbing. It can take quite a while to remove the stain without harming the wood.

Have a tip that you would like to share? e-mail erica@triadantiques.com