DIY Natural Orange Wood Polish

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I love my natural Orange Wood Polish!

Last summer I wrote about how to make your own basic wood polish. Today I thought I'd share a fun citrus twist on that recipe.

Materials for making orange wood polish.

I made orange wood polish using some of the orange infused vinegar I made earlier in the week and olive oil from my pantry. I simply poured equal parts of citrus vinegar and olive oil into a squeezable honey container and shook them together. It's just like making salad dressing. (Actually, you could use any remaining polish to top your salad!)

To use, squirt about 5 drops onto a soft folded cloth (or old sock or flannel pajamas, #realtalk). Rub into a small area. Refold the cloth so that you can use a clean surface when needed. Repeat until you are done. Easy!

Check out these results:

I polished my ratty "entertainment" table (above) and our bookcase.

The polish created a sheen on my superratty old third hand TV table which has all sorts of scratches, rings, and water damage action going on. It didn't restore it (of course, I'd be foolish to expect it to), but it does look much better. I also did a quick pass with the cloth on one shelf of our bookcase, which is solid wood and in pretty good shape. The polish made it look even better. (You can see the contrast in the spots near the books where the cloth didn't reach.)

This orange wood polish actually makes me excited to give my wood some TLC, which is not something I normally think about. I usually draw the line at dusting because I'm selfish/ afraid of dust bunnies and have more fun things to do (#realtalk), but polishing wood is important because the oils keep furniture from cracking, allowing it to age gracefully like people who remember to use moisturizer do.

This wood polish contains olive oil so be sure to store it out of direct sunlight, preferably in a dark cabinet.

Do you have wood furniture? (I feel like in the IKEA age it's becoming rare.) How often, if ever, do you polish your wood furniture?

Thanks so much for reading this blog entry! I hope it was helpful. Please like Olivia Cleans Green on Facebook, join my email list, subscribe to my YouTube channel, follow me on Twitter, and subscribe to my blog posts (by RSS or email) to keep in touch and discover more creative green homemaking tips.