Giving new life to wood furniture

At the beginning of the summer we thought about selling our current home so we could purchase a new home. There were about three weeks where we thought it might actually happen and three weeks where we frantically worked on our house to give it more perceived value.

One of the things on the list of fix its was the kitchen cabinets. They have seen better days as they are original to the house which was built in 1988. Golden Oak stained cabinets that were dirty, scratched up, and almost dried out in some spots. The first thought was to sand and refinish them, but that seemed like a lot of work for an unskilled painter. So, the online searches ensued.

I started with the simplest option and was pleasantly surprised by the results. You really only need some oil and a paper towel. I tried olive oil, canola oil, and coconut oil with the latter being my favorite - it smells better! If your cabinets are super dirty or sticky you can use some Murphy’s Oil Soap first to get more of the grime off and follow it with a coat of coconut oil.

I applied the same technique to a hand-me-down crib that was given to us for our son. I used a liberal amount of oil, let it soak in for a few minutes and then followed up with a wipe down to remove any excess oil since I figured I’d be leaning over the rails and my son would be hanging onto the rungs.

It made a huge difference as you can see from the photos. Sometimes wood just needs a little drink to refresh!