Mayo Mishaps

Sometimes you can score some pretty sweet freebies. My mom called me up saying that one of her co-workers was giving some side tables away. They were vintage but still in amazing shape. She emailed me some photos and I thought "well those would be nice in our retro furniture bedroom". At my cousin's wedding, we made the switch and brought these bad boys home along with the new couch. They turned out to be vintage finds from Lane Furniture and very high quality.

After doing a little research with Google, I found the same table selling anywhere from $250 for a set, or $280 for one piece. Giving quite a range of $250-$560 for a set. I think we have quite a score! These were just a few of the ones I found.

These were already sold from Furnish Me Vintage.

This one from Vintage & Modern sold while I was looking at for $280 for the single table.

These are currently (as of Sunday, June 24th, 2012) on-sale at Esty shop Walnut Hollow Vintage Collections for $250 for the set of two like mine.

There is one catch though to my wonderful find. Although the overall condition was amazing on these, one had a water stain. I figured I would just sand them down and refinish them but that just seemed like a ton of work. There had to be a better way.

For a couple of weeks, I just covered it with a book or magazine. Yes, I'm that classy. But enough was enough. 

I saw a thing on Pinterest to remove water stains with wood with mayo. I was as shocked as you are now. After some research on eHow, apparently it acts like a deep conditioner. Ever heard of the mayo mask for your hair, think that. I figured why not try it. The worst case I still have to stand them down and refinish them. No harm in trying to improve the situation.

I applied a healthy amount directly to the stain.

Then dabbed it more evenly with my finger. No jokes, yes, I know what this looks like.

I carefully covered the area with a paper towel to adhere the mayo to the table. Be super cautious to keep your pets out of reach, or you will have to do the whole process over again (thanks Turk).

After sitting on the water stain for three hours... I got this.

The stain is darker and less noticeable but I feel its been set in so long that it would not help completely. I guess refinish it is. :( Boo.

The article did say to get the stain as quickly as possible. Oh well. It was worth a try.