The power of baking soda...

I know they say that baking soda can be used for almost anything but recently I got to experience the magic of baking soda.

I have an old dresser that may not be worth much in dollar value but it has a lot of sentimental value to me. Due to the teeny-tiny-ness of our house the dresser is currently shoved into my closet patiently waiting for us to finish this addition so that it can have a place to reside. I have at times been very careful to not stack anything on top of the dresser, and then one item gets placed on top, and then another, and another, and before long the dresser is being used as another closet shelf. There were times when I looked in the closet and thought, "I really should cover up that dresser so that nothing happens to it." Then I would dash off in another direction and the thought would quickly get deleted from my mind.

Then one day disaster struck. I went into the closet and found a puddle on top of the dresser. Not only a puddle but a blue puddle. Not a baby blue puddle, and bright, electric, 4th of July blue puddle. I should have taken pictures but I was so upset that I frantically started cleaning off the dresser to find out what had happened. Turns out, a jar of ring cleaner had leaked. As if that wasn't bad enough for the finish of my antique dresser, it leaked onto a blue napkin that held the curls from my son's first hair cut. Thus, the blue puddle.

So I cleaned everything off of the dresser but when I removed all the liquid I was left with a large purple stain on the dresser. For some reason I thought of baking soda. So I made a paste of baking soda and smeared it into the dresser. Lo and behold, the baking soda pulled the purple out of the wood! I was still left with damaged wood because the finish is messed up but at least the top of the dresser isn't purple!  Using the Old English wood products I have actually improved the damaged area. It won't ever look beautiful again until it is refinished but at least for now I don't have to look at a purple dresser!

'til next time...