Refinishing Wood Furniture to Make it Look New Again with Only 2 Household Items

Do you own a solid piece of wood furniture that used to look great but now it’s a little dinged up and worn? Maybe this old piece of furniture has been handed down through a few generations and might not be in the best condition anymore.  Do me a favor, don’t EVER get rid of it! I see so many great pieces of solid wood furniture at thrift stores and yard sales because someone just “didn’t want to take the time to refinish it.” Guess what?! I found a super easy and cheap (probably free if you have the items on hand)  hack to restore and rejuvenate wood. You will never guess the two household items that I used to refinish wood furniture to make it look new again.

A friend of mine was moving and getting rid of a really nice solid wood desk, so I jumped on the opportunity to grab it. I loved the style of this antique piece of furniture.  The wood was in great condition, well, all but the top piece of the desk. It had obviously been used to write on. It was all scratched up and the top piece of wood was a different color than the rest of the desk.

You can see above the scratch marks and discoloration from years of wear and tear. Although this desk was not in terrible condition, I still wanted to refinish the wood and make it look new again.

Since I already knew this was a solid piece of antique wood furniture, I wanted to find an easy way to “polish” or remove the scratches without having to sand and re stain the wood.

My first thought was, “Duh, I just needed to buy polish.”  The problem with polish is that it looks great for the first hour or so after you’ve cleaned it. Once the polish has dried, the cracks come back and it looks just like it did before it was polished. Anyone else feel this way?

I needed a product that would really absorb deep into the furniture piece and remove the scratches and make it look new and refinished.

The older I get the more i’ve learned to look around the house and use natural household items for cleaning rather than harsh abrasive (and expensive) products. Let me tell you, some of the best cleaning tricks are from simple products like Vinegar.

Speaking of Vinegar, this is one of the two items I found that works wonders for removing and refinishing wood furniture.

When my mom told me about this little furniture refinishing “hack,” I thought it would be just like using regular furniture polish. What I mean is, I thought it might work for an hour or so and then the scratches and dings would re appear.

Guess what, I was delightfully wrong.

The two items that I used were:

• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/2 olive oil

Note: I only needed less than 1/4 of this mixture for the top of this desk. If you are not doing a full furniture piece I would suggest to mix up 1 part vinegar to 1 part olive oil with enough product you think you will need. 

Mix these two ingredients and use a soft cloth to dip and rub all over the furniture. You should be able to see the scratches magically disappear!

How does the Olive oil and vinegar work to really clean and restore the wood?

Vinegar is acidic and works to cut through the dirt and grime and clean the wood very well while the olive oil really seeps into the wood and covers the scratches and small abrasions. The oil also puts moisture back into the wood to help restore the color.

For those of you who are visual (like myself) here is a you tube video of the process:

After I rubbed the vinegar/oil solution over the piece of furniture, I let it sit about 10 minutes. After about 10 minutes I took a dry cloth and wiped the excess moisture away. I honestly expected to see the scratches reappear, but magically about 90% of them are gone!

Below is an UNEDITED picture of the before (left) and after (right).

Best part about this wipe-on finish furniture hack; it restored the top of the desk to the same color as the rest of this piece.

It’s funny how a few household items can work as well, or better, than a cleaning or refinishing furniture product you could buy at the store.

So get out the vinegar and olive oil and start bringing those old antique beauties back to life!

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Lindsey**