Tag Archives: wood

wood & vinegar



Along with most women who spend a considerable amount of time pinteresting (that shouldn’t be a word, but I’m pretending it is), I have heard that vinegar and steel wool can combine their home cleaning powers and actually become a wood stain alternative. This week, I finally had a reason to test it out. A friend of ours asked Josh to build a little stand to put cupcakes on at her wedding. For germ reasons, we wanted to start with new wood, not scrap wood. I added the steel wool to a glass bowl, poured white vinegar over that until it was covered and then dumped a scoop of coffee grounds in for good measure. Then I covered that bowl with a plate, because vinegar smells horrible.

So, Josh rubbed the vinegar mix on with the steel wool and about an hour later, we had this awesome antique look! It worked as well as everyone has been saying it would, but word to the wise: give it time to dry. This was a late night project for us and the house smelled like vinegar for a whole day while the wood dried.



Anyway, give it a try, we love the way it turned out!
xoxo,
Adora

How to: oil a wood cutting board



Start with your board

Start with your board

Start with your sad dry wooden cutting board. It’s so far gone you think you might get splinters, but don’t lose hope.

Mineral Oil: part time laxative, full time super hero

Mineral Oil: part time laxative, full time super hero

Get some of this stuff. Mineral Oil. Don’t use olive oil. Have you ever smelled olive oil that’s had too much air exposure and gets that horrible rancid smell? That will happen to your cutting board if you use olive oil. No, no. Yucky. Next step.

spill and wipe

spill and wipe

I’m sure your grandma knows how to do this better. I’ve heard people say everything about going with the grain or against it or around it, but I don’t actually know what any of that means. So, I spill the mineral oil on it, try to spread it out while I spill, then wipe the entire board with oil using a paper towel. It’s not the most graceful process, but it get’s the oil in there.

Ooooooo. Ooooooil.

Ooooooo. Ooooooil.

Bing. Bang. Boom. You got yourself a well oiled machine! Wait, not machine. Well oiled cutting board, let’s make that the new phrase. Huzzah! Easy as pie, babies. Pie you can eat off of your beautiful cutting board.

xoxo,
Adora