Last Friday, we got a bigger dining room table. It’s from Pottery Barn, ya’ll. Remember my love affair with Pottery Barn?
Even though it isn’t new, it’s the only thing in my house from Pottery Barn (and probably always will be), Better yet, all my kids can fit around it with room for company (as long as that company doesn’t have personal space issues), so I kind of love it.
Two days after we hauled that baby into the dining room, I scorched the top. If you follow my Five in Tow Facbebook page, you already heard the confession. Basically, I plunked my red-hot cast-iron Dutch oven smack down on top of that thing, and even though I had hot pads underneath the pot, it didn’t matter.
When I cleared the table after dinner, I saw a huge, ugly white mark right in the middle of the table. I ruined my Pottery Barn table two days after taking possession of it!
This is why we can’t have nice stuff. I am not worthy.
I almost burst into tears right then and there. Then I remembered some old trick involving mayonnaise and wood. Really, that’s all I had. I couldn’t even remember what the mayo was supposed to help with but I grabbed the jar from the fridge and smeared some right on that horrific mark.
It disappeared.
I could not believe it. I can have nice things after all! I can!
In my distress about the table, I did not think to take a picture before smearing on the condiments, but I did post my success to Facebook. I went on there and told you all how to fix furniture with mayo.
That started an interesting question. Some of you had heard of the ol’ mayo trick but had not had such stellar results. You were sad because you could not fix your furniture with mayo.
That got me thinking. I had some ideas of why my table responded so well to the mayonnaise, and it had to do with heat. The spot on my table was still warm when I applied the mayo, and I wondered if that had anything to do with the amazing results.
I decided to do some experimenting.
CAN MAYO REALLY FIX FURNITURE?
It just so happens that I also ruined another piece of furniture a few years ago (see note above about not being able to have nice things). My mother-in-law gave me an antique dresser when we first got married. Technically, she loaned it to me, but I’ve got squatter’s rights on it now.
Besides, there’s the awkward fact that I made a huge watermark on the top of that very dresser because I didn’t realize the fern I had watered completely overflowed. Water pooled up under the pot and sat there grinning until I noticed it later that night.
By then, it was too late.
I didn’t know what to do so I’ve been hiding that awful spot under piles of clothing for the last two years. My husband thinks I’m a slob. Really, I just can’t have nice things (see note above).
Do you think she’d notice something is different about it? I mean, it has been a few years.
It seemed this piece of furniture was prime for a little..experimentation (my husband agrees, especially if experimentation is synonymous with burning). If anything screams, “You’ve got nothing to lose!” it’s this dresser.
First, I smeared mayonnaise all over the watermark and let it sit. I didn’t notice much, if any, difference. Some of the very faint marks looked a little better, but it was negligible.
It was time to test my hypothesis.
SO…I got out my hair dryer. Holy smokes. Check out what happened.
I put the hair-dryer on high, and half-an-hour later, it looked like this:
That’s a two-year-old, nasty watermark, and it almost disappeared! In case you forgot how horrific it looked before, here’s the side-by-side:
I noticed that the darker places were the peaks of the mayo. In other words, the places where the mayo was the thickest turned out the darkest.
So I went gangster with the mayo on that watermark.
Overkill, perhaps?
This time, I heated the wood before I applied the mayonnaise. Then, I smeared it on thick and hit it with more heat. I know you’re thinking, “I don’t have time to blow-dry a dresser.” Neither do I. So, I rigged up this high-tech automatic blow-drying device. Ta-da!
After three rounds, the dresser looks like this:
Now, it’s not perfect, especially since the water damage actually changed the texture of the top of the dresser. But it’s significantly better than it was earlier today. Given the level of damage on this particular piece of furniture, I’d say the mayonnaise did an amazing job! In fact, I could probably get away with putting just one bird on it.
MAYO FOR THE WIN!
I’m pretty convinced. Mayonnaise does an amazing job of restoring furniture damage due to heat, water, or (ahem) neglect.
What does this mean?
We can all have nice things! (Just keep the mayo close by).
Audrey says
I was already trying the Mayo trick on a piece of furniture when I ran across your tip to heat it. I did that and then rubbed the stain vigorously with a paper towel. I do think the combination of the vinegar and the oil picks up some of the original stain and then I was able to basically spread it into the water stain filling in the color. Until I rubbed it I saw no real change. I have a vintage dresser top that is faded and scratched. I’m thinking of taking mayonnaise and mixing in just a tad of matching stain to enhance the color and bring the richness back. 😬
Shunda says
Wow!! I found you by trying to find out how to fix a huge watermark on my table. This is awesome and it absolutely worked for me. The watermark was about a couple of weeks old. Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Joe says
Can mayonnaise repair wood furniture damaged by the sun?
Heidi says
I wonder if Vegannaise would work since my daughter is allergic to eggs in regular mayonnaise?
Amanda Conquers says
Okay. This was so helpful…. and omygoodness it had me in tears from laughing so hard. Thank you!
Amy says
I’ve heard about this trick before, but this is the VERY FIRST TIME I’ve seen it dramatized. It think that means that this post is History In the Making. I’m honored to be part of this. 🙂 Well done!
gail says
Wonderful! Thank you.
Dionna says
Wow! Could it really be so simple? I’m afraid of ruining wood further with mayo. But we’ve got some watermarks and some definite moving damage done to some of our things. I will seriously consider trying this.
Helen Diels says
I am sufficiently impressed. I’ll make a note of this because I never know when I might need this information. Right now I have glass tables (except my dining room table) and my bedroom furniture is that glossy black stuff.
Trudy Cary says
Six kids. A lot of ruined stuff. Tomorrow is the day I fix it all…thank you!!
Karie says
I will be trying this tomorrow on our cherry wood buffet. Here’s hoping!
Jessiqua Wittman says
This was awesome! EEK! And I had so much fun with every step of your storytelling and graphics. 😀