Want to fix those dents in your wooden furniture or floors?

We’ve all done it – watched as what was once the vessel for your morning coffee is transformed into something looking more like the aftermath of a home invasion.

It’s worse when it’s your favourite mug too. Everybody has a favourite, and you’re lying if you say you don’t.

And even worse when it leaves behind a crescent shaped dent in your hardwood floor to remind you that your mug once had form and function. And maybe even a soul.

Getting rid of the evidence

So once you’ve come to terms with what you’ve done, you’re going to need to contain the fallout. Luckily coffee doesn’t stain too badly, and if you’ve managed to drench your sofa in it there’s a two step method you should follow to make sure your significant other doesn’t brain you with a second coffee mug:

• Grab your cauldron and create a solution of either 50/50 white vinegar and cold water, or one-teaspoon washing-up liquid to two cups of water.
• Apply your potion to the offending coffee stain and dab, dab, dab away with a clean white cloth until the stain has been absorbed.

Remember, speed is critical. Not only will it reduce the risk of you being found destroying evidence, but the longer a substance has to set, the harder it will be to remove.

Now, about that dent in your wooden floor 

This can be tricky. The best solution is always to not have dropped the mug in the first place, though if ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts we’d all have a merry Christmas, right? The point is we’re here, right now, standing at this crossroad. The events that led us here are not important, but what comes next is.

Remember, the fresher the dent the easier it is to fix. And there’s no guarantee it will work anyway – this works best on untreated wood, but most furniture and flooring is treated with some sort of coating. You’ve likely damaged this treatment too; throwing mugs of hot coffee around the house will always present you with collateral damage, but lets focus.

• Gather your kit together – you’ll need a steam iron, and kitchen roll or a cloth and some water. If you don’t have store bought filtered spring water from a remote spot in the Scottish Highlands, tap water will do.
• Wet the dent – if you need any advice on how to do this, you should probably ask for adult supervision with the next couple of steps.
• Moisten the cloth or kitchen roll and cover the dent with it.
• Apply the iron – make sure it’s switched on first or this step is likely to be somewhat unsuccessful. Keep the iron moving, making circular motions; either clockwise or anti-clockwise is fine, just go with whatever feels natural. If you don’t you’re likely to burn the towel, wood and whatever chances you have of survival when someone finds out what you’ve done.
• Keep this up for 3-5 minutes and check the results, making sure that the iron is constantly generating as much steam as possible.

Sometimes things just aren’t meant to be