(scraping)
(spraying)
- Hi, welcome to DIY for Homeowners
by "Mother Daughter Projects".
I'm Vicki, the mom of "Mother Daughter Projects".
And I'm here with an extreme home maintenance project.
It's an extreme method of cleaning
a very sticky furniture top.
Now a little backstory on this piece of furniture.
This is a piece from 1967.
I got it actually from Craigslist,
and it was in the home of a smoker.
And I don't normally buy furniture
that's been in a smoke filled environment,
because it's hard to clean and a lot of times it's smelly.
Well this piece came with a table,
and I actually wanted the table,
and I really didn't want this,
but he made me an offer that was too good to refuse.
So I brought it home,
but the finish on the top has continued to be sticky,
and I've tried so many different things to clean it,
including mineral spirits.
Nothing has worked.
And I finally came to a head
after I was putting away my Christmas decorations
and I had used some fiber-fill
on the top of this as decoration,
and it stuck.
And I thought, "I have got to do something
"with the top of this table."
So I did a little research to see what I could do,
and I do consider what I'm going to show you
a very extreme method of cleaning the top
of this piece of furniture.
I tested a corner of it, it came clean.
I did some more.
I cleaned all that up.
I put a little cleaner on the top of it,
and it's beautiful.
I couldn't believe how good it looks,
so I thought if it'll work for me,
maybe you have a piece of furniture
that is in poor condition,
and the only thing you can do with it now at this point,
is to strip it.
This might be an alternative to stripping it.
So let's get started, and I'll show you how I did that.
I'm gonna be using Acetone.
That's the same thing as fingernail polish.
I'm going to use a glass container, a brush.
This is just to open the can.
I'm gonna clean with a little bit of Dawn and water,
and this Murphy's Oil Soap.
And you really need a very good high quality paper towel,
and these are actually Shop towels.
But, just get you a really good quality.
And you need to wear a mask.
You need to work in a well-ventilated area,
because this is very smelly, it's very,
you knew how smelly fingernail polish remover is,
that is probably double that.
And crack a window, and use a fan if you can.
And I'm just gonna pull off a few paper towels here.
And I'm gonna fold them.
You can also wear gloves with this,
but I haven't found it to be that big a deal.
And you do, before you try this method,
you really need to test it on a space that you're,
inconspicuous space.
And ideally you would do that on the back leg
of the piece of furniture, and that wouldn't be seen,
but I couldn't do that.
So I just did it on the top, make a brick.
Okay open up your can of Acetone.
That's what that screwdriver is for.
And I'm using this puppy pad to protect what I've finished,
and so I don't get this all over.
Whew, and pour that on in.
(liquid trickling)
And I'm using just a little paint brush.
And you really need to work fairly quickly,
because once the goo, whatever is on there,
is liquidated,
is that right, liquidated?
(giggles)
Is softened, you need to get it cleaned up right away,
otherwise it's get gummy again and you have to do it again.
So just put a little bit on there and I'll just,
let me just do it right here so you can see it.
And you can see it immediately is taking that up.
(scraping)
See how it's getting black.
And let me show you how much gunk is on here.
Okay just wipe it, and look.
That's what's all over the top of this piece of furniture.
So let me just do a little bit more.
(scraping)
And I'm really just going through this quickly.
And then I'm gonna go back and any places I missed,
I will go back and put a little bit more of this on.
(scraping)
And just wipe it down.
And I'm wiping with the grain.
I don't know if that matters,
but and you can see how you're getting all that stuff
in the acetone.
(scraping)
I did try putting it on just a paper towel and wiping it on,
and found the brush method works way better.
Put a little Dawn dishwashing liquid and I'm actually
just gonna clean this up a little bit.
(rubbing)
And see what's left on this.
You can't see too much, that's good.
And then a little bit of,
just damp cloth.
To thoroughly, again clean it some more,
Murphy's Oil Soap.
(squirting)
Just spray that on there,
and kind of buff it out.
(scraping)
And again, still more dirt.
I noticed on where I've done that before
it's gotten a little dull so I may come back here
and do a little bit of Danish Oil and
see if that will keep the shine.
(upbeat music)
Anyway, I can't believe how good this looks.
I can't believe I waited so long to try something
as extreme as this.
But it's really basically.
This is just a really dirty, dirty finish.
And it just needed to be totally cleaned off.
So it was a scary method, and it's not for everyone,
but if this had not worked,
I would have had to strip the top anyway,
so I didn't feel like I had anything to lose.
So you have a piece of furniture that maybe came out
of poor conditions,
this may be something you might wanna try.
So thanks for joining us.
I'll see you next time.
(upbeat music)