Dining Room Care

Wood Furniture: Wood furniture must be deep cleaned and conditioned twice a year to prevent drying. Using a clean, old cotton tube sock, pour on some of our Wood Cleaner and Conditioner. It cleans and conditions the wood with one application. Our Wood Cleaner and Conditioner does a marvelous job removing water marks from furniture and keeps cabinets in top condition as well.

If your family uses your dining room table for homework assignments, craft projects or as a gathering place, keep it covered with either a protectant pad or a plastic table cloth. You can cover the plastic table cloth with one made with cloth for a more attractive setting. The plastic table cloth will protect the table from spills and accidents. Fingernail polish does not remove from wood tables. Keep them covered.

Coffee Stains: Oh, that spilled coffee used to mean hours of removing the stain. Not any more. No other stain remover could be more helpful in the dining room than our Ion-A-Clean. This remarkable product is actually water. Only the ions in the water have been negatively charged. This patented process encapsulates the soil separating it from the fabric. Read more about our exciting Ion-A-Clean.

When working with Ion-A-Clean in carpet, you must blot to remove the stain. It looks like the stain is disappearing when it has actually released from the fibers and is soaking further into the carpet. Simply blot. It’s that easy. Because it’s only water, Ion-A-Clean is safe for use on wool carpet, Persian rugs, the newer fibrous type floorings and virtually any floor covering including hard surfaces.

Dinner by candlelight: Never place a candle on any surface without having a holder under it. Even when they are not lit, candle wax sweats leaving nasty stains in wood or any surface. Those stains cannot be removed.

Resist moving a lit candle. In fact never move a candle until the wax has solidified. Otherwise you will be searching my stain removal guide on tips for removing the wax. It’s best to blow out the candle, let it set about 5 minutes then move it and relight it.

I highly recommend buying soy candles that do not smoke when burning. Look for ones that have natural wicks without lead. Breathing lead from burning candles is not healthy. Soy candles burn three to four times longer than wax candles. Burning smokeless candles saves your hours of labor cleaning soot from walls. Keep the wicks trimmed on candles to reduce the amount of smoke emitted.

Vases: Clean the inside of a vase by filling it about two-thirds full with a 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide to water. Then add one teaspoon full of baking soda. Yes do this in the sink in case it bubbles over. Let that set overnight and your vase will be fresh and clean the next morning.

Answers to your questions:

1. I have small children and when they spill their drinks at the table, it soaks into the cushions leaving a stain. Is there an easy way to remove those stains?
   With small children in the home where spills often happen, you might want to invest in a couple of plastic table cloths. Cut one about twice as large as the seat of their chair. Turn the tablecloth fuzzy side up. When a spill happens the fuzzy part catches the spill and the plastic protects the seat. Keep a second plastic cloth to place on the floor of any room so they can play games without the worry of staining the carpet. It also comes in handy for those youngsters who are potty training to place under them when they fall asleep on the couch or floor.

   Removing stains depends on the type of stain you are working with. For milk, our Bac Out, which is an enzyme product, deep treats the stain to remove both the stain and the odor. Remember though, if you have already used a cleaner, Bac Out will not work as the cleaner will kill the enzymes that “eat” the bacteria causing the stain.

   For punch stains, Kool-Aid or juice stains, lightly spray straight hydrogen peroxide on the stain. Wait 15 to 20 minutes then rinse with a vinegar and water solution. The problem with peroxide is that it is bleach and can remove the color from the fabric. Our Ion-A-Clean is a patented process that negatively charges water. In just a few seconds that negative “charge” lifts and separates the stain from the fabric allowing you to simply blot the stain away.

2. My Grandmother’s lace tablecloth has yellowed with age. What can I do to safely remove that yellowing?
   Fill the sink with cool water adding 2 cups of 3% hydrogen peroxide. Use one-half cup if you are using a 20% peroxide. Soak the lace for an hour, longer if needed, rinse in cool water and air dry. If the 3% peroxide does not work, call some medical supply stores and ask for their 20% peroxide. It’s more expensive but sometimes it takes that extra strength to remove the yellowing although the 3% usually works just fine.
3. My dog loves to beg food when we eat dinner. My daughter just can’t resist those sad eyes. What can I use to remove the half chewed food from the carpet? I keep getting a rotten odor coming from the one spot.
   You must have a dog just like our Pepper. He was a pointer/setter mix. He set his rump on the floor and pointed his nose at the table. You will marvel how easy our Bac Out makes removing food stains and odors. Those odors develop because it’s downright tricky to remove all the food particles. That is the job of Bac-Out. Thousands of enzymes “eat” the food removing both the stain and the odor.

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