Thursday, March 5, 2009

My poor kitchen table


We recently (in the past 6 months) bought a new kitchen table. Two reasons. First - Jacob outgrew his highchair and we needed seating for 5 at our kitchen table. Second - the 4-year-old table was losing its finish and looked all cracked and yucky.

We have a tiny space in the kitchen for a table, so we didn't have many choices (tiny space + seating for 5 = almost no selection). We found a set that works for us at Ashley Furniture and have been happy with it thus far.

But today, I made a quick decision to use paper plates (which I almost never do) to feed the kids chicken nuggets for lunch. They really weren't super hot, but must have been hot enough because when I cleared the table I found white spots all over the table where ever a chicken nugget had been!

It looked like bleached spots all over the table! I cried. And then I called my husband and cried to him. And he did a quick internet search and told me to rub Vasoline on the spots.

It's working! At this point, the vasoline has been on for 2 hours and the bleach-white spots now look like dull water stains. My table is still slightly marred, but it's not a glaring problem now.

Hope this tip can help someone else too!

5 comments:

  1. I wonder if that would work on a very old stain? I had a dish towel under a cup of hot chocolate a while back on our hope chest. It wasn't enough I guess because it left a huge white mark. I'll have to give it a try!

    Glad you got your appointment moved up!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It didn't do as well on an older & smaller stain on the table, but it can't hurt to try. it actually left the table looking nicely polished.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not only do I also have a farmhouse table (LOVE that yours is white!) but I just did the EXACT SAME THING WITH PAPER PLATES...YESTERDAY! Oh Lisa, you are my darling lifesaver! I can't wait to vasoline up the entire thing now!!! THANK YOU!

    P.S. How is the table looking now? Did all the white go away? I just praised God for placemats afterwards but was so upset!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am so glad I posted my table "oops" Kelly! I hope it works for you! The white stains are just about gone from my table, but I can still see the spots just a bit if I look at the table at an angle. But there is a HUGE improvement over what it looked like after the "oops!"

    Try Vasoline, mayonnaise, or a 50/50 mix of olive oil and vinegar. Those were reported to have the best results. I was pleased with the Vasoline. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Toothpaste will work too. I think the silica in the toothpaste will suck out the water or something. I know we used to do this all the time as kids when we left cup rings on the table while Mom was at work :) I've even been able to use toothpaste for some old stains.

    Lisa, I'm glad I found your blog! I can't believe how big everybody is!

    ReplyDelete