With the holidays coming, many people are preparing their homes to take on all the extra guests that will be joining them for holiday dining.
Once you have the guest situation taken care of, you should likely prepare your furniture.
Your dining tables are going to get quite a work out throughout the holidays.
Most the festivities surround being at the dining tables and having a meal.
That means you need to make sure your tables are up to the task and can hopefully get though it unscathed.
Here are some tips to follow to help your dining room tables last through more holiday gatherings.
Protect the Surface from Scratches The easiest damage to happen to your dining tables is for them to be scratched.
There are some things you can do to try and stop this from happening.
When it comes to centerpieces, candleholders or any other items with a solid and hard base, you should have a piece of felt to place under those items before they are set on your dining tables for all to see.
This is something you should buy now, as in the heat of dinner preparations you may not have time to go get felt to protect your table.
Protect the Surface from Spills Spills happen and with a lot of excited people gathering together for the holidays they are even more likely to happen.
While you can't do anything to stop people from spilling, you can try to protect your table from damage due to spills.
First remember, there are complete protective pads that you can put on your table if you are using a tablecloth.
The pad goes down first, then the tablecloth.
In this case, if there is a spill it is sucked into the pad and not your wood.
At the least you should put down placemats and coasters, which people will hopefully use to keep any food and drink away from the wood.
With this said, it is important to be careful what type of pads, placemats and coasters you are using on your dining tables.
Plastic and rubber mats can be damaging to your table if left sitting for too long.
Depending on the finish of your wood it could have an adverse reaction to the rubber or plastic items.
This is not to say you cannot use these items at all, just don't leave them too long.
You can put them down before the meal and pick them up as soon as the meal is over.
If there is a spill and it gets into the wood, quickly blot it up.
A cotton cloth is best for this, as it will absorb well.
Then leave the area alone to air out.
It needs to dry to hopefully free any remaining moisture.
If a little oil or butter spills onto the table, don't rub it in.
Many people think a little oil won't hurt the wood and that it's like wood oil, but all oils are not the same.
Household oils like cooking oil or butter can create a sticky line and even discolor the wood.