Antique Furniture Care-Part 1

Another week down and a crazy busy week it's been. March is already looking better than February. Our house warming party is only a few weeks away and since I'll be tracked out of school I have planned an intense cleaning regiment for the week before. I will be scrubbing and organizing every square inch of our house, but by spreading it out over the whole week it won't be quite as daunting. During my list making process, yes I'm a list maker, I realized how little some people know about the care of furniture--mainly antique furniture.

Don't get me wrong I'm no expert on mainting antique furniture, but I have some gorgeous pieces that I baby. I wanted to create a series of posts about how to care and maintain these pieces without ruining them or losing their charm. I came up with the idea watching decorating shows and seeing pinterest how everyone wants to use antique pieces (me included) in their homes. So, todays lesson is oiling the wood. Wood dries out overtime, especially during the winter. This is a good lesson to learn even for new wood pieces to keep them looking new, but is a MUST with antique wood pieces.

Oiling 101

I use Old English--swear by it in fact. This is the one for dark woods since all of my furniture is dark. This is nice because it helps fill in any of those cracks or scratches and make them harder to see. They do make a lighter version that you should use for the lighter woods. The nasty rag next to it? It's an old t-shirt of Brad's. I sprinkle my oil onto the soft shirt and wipe it liberally all over furniture. Be sure to wipe it in enough so it's not gobbed on, but should be enough to make it shiny.

I only use my Old English on my antique furniture and use the Pledge or Endust spray for my newer pieces. This way I still am able to keep the wood hydrated and looking nice hopefully for a very long time. My antique furniture though, I like to baby a little more and use the nicer oil on it. This does take a little more time, but trust me--it's so worth it in the end.

Here are a few before and after shots using Old English on my antique Furniture:

You may not see a drastic change in my furniture since I do keep up with their oiling, but it is still amazing the slight difference it makes. The right side of this piece is oiled and the left is not, should be able to see a line where I stopped.

This piece is even darker than the last one, but it's in worse shape. Again, I oiled the right side and not the left side yet. There's a faint line where you can see the difference. This is the top of my Maternal Great Grandmother's Dress. Absolutely love this piece, but it is always in need of repairing and some TLC.

This is the headboard from my Maternal Grand Grandfather's bed. It's a little try to tell the difference between the before and after, but the top picture is before I oiled it and the bottom is after. This bed is quite the pain to oil with all of the intricate detail, but it's 100% worth it in the long run. This was one of my Grandmother's most prized possessions and I was so excited when I got it.

Same bed as above, thankfully the footboard is a lot less detailed. It also has a lot more scratches on it. I am extra careful to add a little extra oil to the scratches to help hide them and keep them from getting any worse when they dry out. The top is before, bottom is after. I really think this bed is something else when it's been oiled. It's so shiny and pretty.

So I realize this isn't the best picture, but have you ever tried taking a picture of a mirror without you in it? Not as easy as you might think. This mirror is between my Rustic Sconces I made. It was given to us by Brad's boss and even she admitted it was in rough shape. It is the original mirror though, you can even see the wipe marks and hand print on the back of the mirror from whoever put it in. This actually belonged attached to a dresser, but we added piano wire and hung it up. I'm so mad I didn't take a picture of the mirror before the first time I oiled it, but it was a very dull tan color when I got it. I used my Old English on it and I swear I could hear the wood sigh and thank me. Granted I used oil for dark woods which is why it came out dark, but it is absolutely stunning now. I love this mirror. Just be careful to wipe any excess oil off the mirror when you're done.

Lastly is another piece you've seen from a previous post. This may actually be my favorite piece in my entire house--hands down. It's my Grandmother's Singer Treadle Sewing Machine from 1929. It's actually in great shape, but was completely covered in dust and hadn't been taken care of it who knows how long. The above picture was when I first got it. Antique furniture needs constant care and this one obviously didn't get it. You can even see how dry the wood is. However, you have to be very careful what you use on it. The metal components I only used water and hand dried it, but used my Old English on the wood and now it's a BEAUTIFUL statement piece as soon as you walk in the door.

If you don't take anything else from this post, oil oil oil. All wood furniture wants to be hydrated. It'd be like never watering your plants. It will shrivel up and it will become fragile and it will break. With your antique furniture don't be afraid to spend a little more time on these and spend a little more money on quality oils. Old English is probably the lowest quality I would go for any of my pieces, but you could even go higher to pure pecan oil or pure lemon oil. I oil my pieces at least once a month, sometimes more. In the winter when it's less humid here I will do it every few weeks instead of once a month.

Do you have any tips to taking care of your antique pieces? What's your favorite kind of oil to use on your wooden furniture?