apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Does anyone know how to remove a stain left from a glass that was wet with VODKA on a wood table? I'd love to know. . .

My mom has used mayonnaise of all things to remove rings caused by a cold glass. It actually works.

I use the mayonnaise too, it works on older rings. I have used the hair dyer on fresh rings and it worked pretty good as well.

Lay a towel flat on the wood and iron the towel at low-medium heat. It takes out white marks caused by liquid. Rubbing (regular white) toothpaste into any marks that don't return to normal also improves the look of the wood. And, a little bit of lemon oil always makes wood gleam.

mayonnaise and cigarette ash. i SWEAR by all things Southern that this works.

mix a couple tablespoons of mayo and a couple Camels worth of ash, spread on the spot and let it sit for 10 minutes (or up to an hour depending on how bad the spot is). gently rub the mayo-ash into the table with a clean rag (not a paper towel) and voila!

sillahee - buy a can of howard's restore a finish. it works great. you wipe it on and wipe it off with a cloth. it took off layers of white water rings.

the only thing it didn't take off of an oak dining table and chairs were the black spots caused by too much water sitting for too long over the years in the storage unit. that apparently is a harder stain that never really comes out. you have to use toxic chemicals or sand it all down.

sillahee, I know that alcohol can dissolve some types of wood finish, so the damage may be different from a water-related mark.

goodnightdean, I tried that trick on some really brutal heat stains and it didn't even improve them! I don't know what I could have possibly done wrong.... Mayo and cigarette ash seems like a pretty simple concept.

I accidentally got a food coloring stain deep into my wood table and stupid me used rubbing alcohol to remove it. Does anyone know how to fix the damage I've done to my finish? Mom is coming to visit in two weeks and she's going to kill me!

frosting: it works on water rings, i don't know about heat stains! sorry :(

Check out my blog on removing white rings, heat stains and water spots off your furniture, it compliments this article and gives other good ways to go about getting rid of those wretched stains!

How to remove white rings and water spots off your furniture


Good Luck!