Unless your home is like a museum, expect your wood furniture to take lots of blows.  Wet glasses leaving white-ring marks, scratches, divots, and dents, can make your home furniture look like its just been in a hurricane.  Don’t despair.  You can actually fix all these superficial damages on your furniture’s finish without damaging the furniture and your wallet.

The simple repair techniques works on any type of clear finish, including varnish, lacquer, shellac, and polyurethane.  Moreover, you’ll only need a few materials for the work, such wax sticks, touch-up markers, and denatured alcohols, which can all be found in most home-improvement shops.

Preparation
Before starting any repair, thoroughly clean the furniture using a Murphy Oil Soap or dishwashing liquid solution and water.  This will remove grease, wax, polish, or oil on the furniture.  Once the furniture is clean, make the repair in the following order:  white-water rings; minor scratches on the surface; deep scratches; and lastly, nicks and dings.

“Stains, chips, and scratches”
To remove water stains like white rings, wipe them gently using a cloth that’s only barely dampened “denatured alcohol”.  Don’t use a lot of alcohol, as it may dull the furniture’s finish.  If this occurs, restore its satin shine by rubbing it with “extra-fine” steel wool with paste wax.  Bring back the gloss finish by using an auto polish applied using a rag.  Let the repair done blend-in by going over its damaged area, as well as the whole adjacent surface.

Shallow chips on clear finish that still has its underlying color intact, can be fixed by filling the ding with some drops of “clear” nail polish. When the polish is dry, sand flush using 600-grit sandpaper.  Restore the shine on satin finish by rubbing with “oooo steel wool” and paste wax.  If the furniture has a gloss finish, use an auto polish and rag.

Worn edges and big scratches
Use “felt-tip touch-up markers” to color big scratches or on edges where stain has faded.  These markers come in various wood tones that match common finishes of furniture.  Apply them only to the area that’s damaged, and immediately wipe if it gets on neighboring finish.  Apply one coat of “paste wax” on the repair, as well as its whole adjacent surface for even sheen.

Keeping furniture finishes clean
It is important to keep it clean once repairs have been done, or even when maintaining your wooden home furniture.  There are lots of products in home-improvement shops that promise to keep your furniture clean and shiny.  However, while they don’t do any harm to your furniture, they’re not necessary for keeping your furniture looking like new.

The key to clean furniture is simply knowing and doing some things.  First, dusting furniture with the use of dry cloth produces friction, creating static on its surface, which in turn draws more dust.  While polishing sprays reduces static and help rags hold the dust, a damp cloth will do the same.  A number of sprays leave a thin layer of oil that adds shines temporarily, but the oil can also act as a magnet to dust that lands on it.

When doing routine cleanings, the combination of dishwashing soap and water is very effective and gentle.  Keep away from using strong ammonia- or alkaline-based detergents, as they harm some furniture finishes.  Lastly, never use “scrubbing cleansers” containing abrasives, as they will dull nearly all types of sheen on furniture.

Fixing and improving your home furniture is a doable task that shouldn’t be put aside.  Remember, the earlier you solve slight furniture damages, the more you prevent it from getting worse.  Improve the total look of your home’s interior by maintaining the looks of your furniture.