You’ve got it: the perfect wooden table for the garden, balcony, or living room. You can sit there for hours with your laptop or linger over dinner with friends and family. A wooden table that is lived on often has the marks to prove it. Crayons, paint splatters, circles… Fortunately, cleaning a wooden table is easy. As long as you do it carefully and don’t use heavy cleaning agents.
CLEANING THE TABLE: WITH LOVE
Your wooden table is made with love and that is why it is also good to clean the table with love. Therefore, only use cleaning products that are suitable for your tabletop. Before using a cleaning product, the first test on an inconspicuous piece of the table whether it has any caustic effect. Finally, your table especially likes to be cleaned with a soft duster. By doing this daily, you already take a lot of dirt with you. Also, treat your oak table regularly with table oil to give the wood back its deep color and to remove dirt more easily. Even scrubbing with wax makes cleaning an oak table easier. Are there still stains on the table? Then take a microfibre cloth and wet it. Squeeze out the excess water so that the cloth is almost dry and use it to clean the table. Living room sets
CLEANING PRODUCTS FROM THE KITCHEN CUPBOARD
You do not clean a wooden table with aggressive cleaning agents, but with agents from the kitchen, cupboard that clean and degrease in a friendly manner. For example, you can use cleaning vinegar, soda, and green soap for your wooden table. Not at the same time of course. In addition, use the soft side of a sponge and make sure you don’t make an abrasive motion over the wood.
Green soap is suitable for various wooden tables but is mainly used for cleaning teak wood. Dissolve a spoonful of green soap in lukewarm water and make a nice soapy solution. Next, dip a sponge into the mixture, squeeze as much water out of the sponge as possible, and use the soft side to clean the table.
Cleaning vinegar is the degreaser in the kitchen cupboard. You can wipe your windows with it, clean the doors and even mop the floor. It is also great for cleaning an oak table. This can be done in two ways: dissolve a dash of cleaning vinegar in lukewarm water, immerse the sponge, then squeeze it well and clean the table. In a second way, you mix a few drops of cleaning vinegar in olive oil. This mixture is extremely suitable for removing circles and stains from oak tables. Using a soft cloth, rub your olive oil mixture onto the stain and let it soak in. Then you wipe it with a clean cloth and the stain is gone. Soda is an old-fashioned cleaning agent. You can also dissolve this in water and make a nice soapy solution.
You can then clean the table top and table legs with a squeezed sponge.
Please note: you have to clean an oiled table or lacquered table in a different way than a table that is untreated. raw garden tables you can clean with a brush and a solution of green soap (with or without soda). Dry well with a cloth to prevent moisture spots and your table is as good as new.
TIPS FOR PREVENTING STAINS
Prevention is better than cure, that also applies to stains in the table. Therefore, cover the table when the (grand) children are playing or coloring at the table and with the food. For example with an oilcloth, tablecloth or beautiful placemats. Also, coasters for pans keep the table beautiful. And put nice glass or cork coasters on the table in your favorite colors. These protect the table against circles and discoloration of glasses and mugs. A protective layer of lacquer can also help to protect the table. This has already been added to the table by the furniture maker. A thick layer of lacquer also makes cleaning the table much easier.
You could bring outdoor tables inside in the fall and winter months to prevent tarnish and damage. If you don’t have a place to put a garden table inside, cover the table well with a breathable tarpaulin, suitable for garden tables. It is important that oxygen can get under the tarpaulin so that the table cannot get moldy.
WOODEN TABLES AT MENEER VAN HOUT
Our oak tables are also very easy to keep clean and protect with these tips. Each oak table has its own character and robust, yet finished appearance. These tables bring your interior to life. And if a stain does appear on the table, then you now know how to clean a wooden table: just with things from the kitchen cupboard and lots of love. Then you can quickly enjoy your beautiful table again.