Who Knew??????

Last fall my dear daughter in-law decorated their beautiful dining room table with pumpkins for the holiday.  One of those pumpkins left two white damage spots on the table.  Both Katie and I were just sick over what had happened and consulted a few people and websites on what might be done short of having the table refinished. This beautiful table is from the Bernhardt Martha Stewart East Hampton collection and was just a perfect piece for their new home. 

For a few months the spots were just ignored in hopes that the furniture fairy would come during the night and fix it... that didn't happen. Katie tried the mayonnaise treatment that was suggested by many people.  It didn't make the slightest difference on the damaged area, the good news from this experiment was that it didn't damage the finish further.  A few more months go by...coming up on a year since the great pumpkin debacle and there it is.....the damaged area staring up at us like two giant eyeballs.

I had recently done some additional research on the internet finding suggestions of using olive oil and soda, back to the mayo thing, etc.  One suggestion caught my eye and read as follows:  Use your steam iron set on medium heat but high steam, place a doubled over towel over the damaged area and move the iron with steam back and forth over the damaged area with a light touch.  Do not put pressure on the table with the iron and the damage area should disappear within a couple of minutes.  There were many many testimonials on how this method had worked.  

Last night I stopped by to see my grand puppies before leaving on a trip and Katie and I were discussing yet another consultation I had with a furniture vendor earlier in the day, nothing new or helpful came from that conversation.  Between kisses from the pups Katie and I decided to give the iron method a try...at this point facing the prospect of calling in a furniture specialists to refinish the table what did we have to lose?

HOLY COW IT WORK!!!!! I was practically giddy when I left the house last night knowing that something that has been gnawing at both of us for months had been repaired.  I mean there is no sign of any damage at all, the table is again a beautiful piece of furniture.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures to show you what the damaged area looked like before and after but take my word for it I was astonished at the results.

I feel like I should be standing out in front of the big furniture store in town with a sign that says

"I KNOW A SECRET" .