We recently spoke with one of our wonderful, loyal clients and she gave us a great little tip on how she cleans her wicker patio furniture.  For any of you who have wicker and rattan furniture, you know how tricky it can be to get into the nooks and grooves to give it an honest cleaning – not to mention a well-earned conditioning.

If you don’t, it starts to look dry, dirty and dull.

You don’t want dry, dirty and dull.

So we are passing her tip along to you so you can easily clean and effectively condition your wicker furniture.

First, she uses only the finest Polish (aka Milsek Furniture Polish & Wood Cleaner with Lemon Oil).  She pours it into a bowl and dips a Paint Brush into the Milsek and uses that brush to literally “paint” the Milsek onto the furniture.  Now, if you want to mix a little water in there as well, it’s ok to do that because it will really help boost the cleaning process.   And what you will be doing is cleaning, polishing, preserving and ultimately, protecting your piece.

Now, we recommend doing this outdoors – to avoid having Milsek drip onto your carpet.  Otherwise, we suggest moving the piece onto a drop cloth of some kind if you are working indoors.   Allow the surface to dry before replacing cushions. (Remember – Mislek is Oil-Based and Oil will stain upholstery, carpet and clothing).

Milsek contains no wax or silicone which means it will NOT Build up.  So you can apply it as much and as often you would like, to achieve the results you would like.

So, thank you to our loyal client for the great conversation and the creative tip on cleaning the tricky surface of wicker!

(By the way, Milsek will do wonders on the deck too!)

Happy Cleaning!

There is a lot of good in that Vitamin D which streams from that bright star in the sky.  And a lot of money and research goes into how beneficial the sun can be to our health and psyche.

More than likely, even more money has been spent on how damaging those rays can be to the human skin.

But we in the furniture care business also have a concern about how the sun can damage your furniture – as many times these can be large investments.

Did you ever wonder why museums are so dark?  Or why in those old movies with the big rooms and large windows they are often blanketed with heavy curtains or exterior shutters?  Sure they may have helped keep the room cooler in the summer – but they also helped to keep their furniture from fading from over exposed hours of sunlight.

And since many of these historic buildings would prefer to not have folks milling around in the dark, many have installed UV light filters in their windows.  They have been effective in blocking one type of harmful rays – the ultraviolet radiation kind – much like sunblock for skin.

So you get the idea here.

A major source of damage to wood – especially antiques, is sunlight.  It can cause damage to the finish, resulting in cracking, flaking and also the original stains to fade away.  Clear finishes can yellow or take on an opaque look from too much exposure.

Here are some tips to help preserve your wood furniture including antiques:

• Try to avoid placing wood furniture in direct sunlight.
• Curtains or shades are a great way to diffuse or block sunlight from landing directly on your furniture.
• Re-arrange the furniture in the room to limit the time one piece is exposed to sun.
• Use Milsek Furniture Polish & Cleaner to help to reverse the damage caused by the sun’s damaging rays.
• Milsek will also help replenish necessary oils to minimize cracking and flaking and keep the piece protected.

Give Milsek a try!  It just may be your answer to sun damaged wood!

And don’t forget the sunblock for your skin.

Don’t you just love those convenient products that ‘spray’ or ‘pump’ and ‘wipe’ on?  So easy to use!

And it looks great for a bit.  You are feeling immediate gratification!  Look how nice and clean that looks!  But over time, or as the house warms up, that shiny surface will soften, dust will fall and stick, and then you will use your ‘convenience’ product again and again and the cycle continues.  Spray, soften, dust, spray, soften, dust, spray….
See the pattern?

Many of today’s modern dusting sprays and furniture polishes contain silicone to make furniture shiny.  But don’t fall prey to the ‘easy to use’ marketing strategies that will eventually ruin your furniture.  Silicone build up is incredibly difficult to remove. Even more so than wax build up.  Just ask any furniture guy who has had to refinish a piece. Silicone build up is pure, unadulterated evil.

Just say no.

And if you are getting a cloudy appearance after switching from a wax polish to a silicone polish – well, that is actually the silicone softening the wax and smearing it around.  How convenient is that?

Here at Milsek, we receive a lot of calls from folks who have used these convenience products for years.  Unfortunately, they now have damaging build-up.  Wax or Silicone build-up to be precise.

Keep in mind that your furniture was actually alive once.  A tree absorbing water and air!  Even though it may now be your favorite table, it still needs moisture and air!  Your ‘convenient’ product is suffocating it  – layer after sticky layer.  So be kind to your table.  Use Milsek Furniture Polish & Multi-Purpose Cleaner with Real Lemon Oil.  Milsek will clean, polish, preserve and protect your favorite piece.  It’s easy to apply with a damp soft cloth.  And, it may even reverse the damage left behind by that other product.

No Wax.  No Silicone. No Build Up.

Milsek It.