DIY "Old Fashioned" Furniture Polish ~ A Tittlemouse Tutorial

"Next morning she got up very early and began a spring cleaning which lasted a fortnight... She swept, and scrubbed, and dusted; and she rubbed up the furniture with beeswax..."

~ Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

{Welcome to another edition of "Fun Friday" this spring with Beatrix Potter!}

Dear Mrs. Tittlemouse is quite the cleaner and has quite the repertoire of cleaning recipes! Today she wanted to share a few old fashioned tutorials for making furniture polish. Being she always kept a supply of beeswax in her cottage, this of course was the base for many of her charming "all natural" recipes. As we know her feelings on the subject (she is quite the candid creature), "she is no lab rat" and everything in her home is safe for proper mouse society!

"Good-day, Babbitty Bumble; I should be glad to buy some beeswax. But what are you doing down here? Why do you always come in at a window, and say Zizz, Bizz, Bizzz?" Mrs. Tittlemouse began to get cross."

~ Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

Basic "Old Fashioned" Furniture Polish ~ Recipe #1

{recipe can be halved or doubled}

• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. grated beeswax or pastilles (which are much easier to use)
• 20 drops lemon essential oil*

*Mrs. Tittlemouse uses lemon essential oil as the most frugal choice for this project. However, you can also replace it with lavender or woodsy oils such as cedarwood and sandalwood.

1. If you have a double boiler, you may use it to melt together the beeswax and oil. If you don’t, you can make your own by placing a small saucepan filled 1/3 of the way with water on the stove.

2. Pour your olive oil into a heatproof item such as a glass-measuring cup (or a recycled tin food can that you may throw out afterward with no need to clean up -- I gleaned this nifty tip here) and place that inside your “water bath” on the stove. Begin heating the water until it simmers.

3. Add the beeswax into your warmed oil. Let this sit a minute and stir until combined. Once mixture has melted together, remove it from the pan and carefully place it on a potholder to cool slightly.

4. After a few minutes, add the essential oil drops and stir for another minute. The reason for the wait is that if the oil mixture is too hot, the essential oil may evaporate.

5. Pour your polish into a small glass jar or lidded tin. It will firm up in an hour or so. Once completely cooled and hardened, you may label your product and it is ready to use.

"Old Fashioned" Furniture Polish ~ Recipe #2

{NOT shown in photos} {recipe can be halved or doubled}

• 1/2 c. turpentine
• 1/2 c. grated beeswax or pastilles (which are much easier to use)
• 20 drops lemon essential oil*

1. Place your beeswax in a small glass jar.

2. Pour 1/2 cup of turpentine over the wax and screw on your lid.

3. Let this mixture sit a few days and give it a few stirs. Let it sit for another three days and stir until it is finally smooth and creamy.

4. Add 20 drops of lemon essential oil and stir again until combined.

5. The polish is now ready to label and use.

How to Use:

Apply the furniture polishes sparingly using a clean soft cloth (you can make your own soft cloths here). Let it sit for five minutes and then buff down with another clean soft cloth.

How Often to Apply:

“Once a piece of furniture has been sealed with polish, it need only be reapplied occasionally. The National Trust in England wax polishes the furniture in its stately homes only once or twice a year; the rest of the time , dusting or buffing suffices. According to the experts, polish does not “feed” the wood; rather it applies a protective coating that can build up and actually dull the surface if applied too frequently.”

~ Excerpt from Household Wisdom by Stephanie Donaldson

You will find our printable "old fashioned furniture polish" recipe and labels HERE. Perhaps you would like to place it in Mrs. Tittlemouse's "Manual of Household Hints and Delights"? This is simply a safe place you can store all of her homemaking printables to have them handy until you are ready to use them. You will find the free download here if you are interested. The cover page is designed to slide into the front of the binder as a title page insert. The tabs are best printed on card stock, affixed with glue to card stock and staggered as you attach them. It is just a bit of extra fun!

We hope you have enjoyed this tutorial by Mrs. Tittlemouse. If so, you may also be interested in her DIY bug spray, her "un-paper" towel tutorial and/or her free printable “cottage rose” pantry labels. Happy Friday to you dear friends!

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2sdays, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Shabbilicious Friday, Earth Day Blog Hop,  Five Star Frou Frou Friday, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. Recipes are adapted from The Country Store by Stephanie Donaldson.