Having people over for a few drinks and a catch-up can be great fun, but all too often people will ignore your coasters and leave glasses all over your wooden surfaces. This can result in unsightly water rings all over your coffee and dining room tables, and a fair bit of post-party despair.
However, there's no need to worry, as cleaning up such marks doesn't necessarily mean you need to spend a bomb, and you absolutely don't need to go about replacing your table. Interior experts at Beanbags.co.uk have now offered five top tips for ridding your wooden surfaces of such frustrating stains, without having to splash out on pricey products.
Get the news you want straight to your inbox. Sign up for a Mirror newsletter here.
1. A dab of mayonnaise
Experts advise applying a bit of mayonnaise to a microfiber towel, which will then be used to dab the stain. You should then pop a paper towel over the top, and leave it to sit for a few hours or so, allowing time for the oil in the mayonnaise to displace the moisture from the table into the towel.
After a few hours have passed, you can either remove the mayo to polish the table, if it's worked and if it hasn’t worked, then leave it overnight and check again.
2. Lightly ironing it
This particular method is said to work best for still-damp stains, with the heat of the iron helping to evaporate moisture a treat. First of all, you should remove water from the iron before setting it to a low temperature.
Whilst waiting for this to heat up, a plain cloth should be put over the mark, before lightly placing the iron on top. You should then keep checking every three seconds to see if this has done the trick, repeating it until it does.
3. Blasting your hairdryer
Of course, not everyone will be a hundred percent comfortable using an iron on their table, so using a hairdryer makes for a good swap in this instance. Whack it on its highest setting, and point it at the stain until it vanishes.
4. Vaseline
Much like mayonnaise, the oil in Vaseline is very effective when it comes to removing the white case of a water ring, and this method couldn't be easier.
Simply apply the Vaseline to the surface in question and buff it in using a good old-fashioned dust cloth. This should then be left to sit overnight and wiped away in the morning.
5. Toothpaste
You should opt for white toothpaste without any whitening capabilities which could change the colour of the wood, dabbing this onto a dust cloth before applying it to the stain. This can then be removed using a damp cloth.
The table should be left to dry before furniture polish can be applied. If this doesn't quite do the job, then you can whip up a stronger mix of equal parts white toothpaste with baking soda and try again.
Do you have a cleaning tip to share? Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
