How to Easily Remove Candle Wax from Furniture

It’s easy to remove candle wax from furniture with just a few everyday household items. Here’s how to go about it.

How to remove candle wax from furniture:

1. Place a plastic bag filled with ice on the wax to harden it.
2. Remove the ice bag when the wax is hard (about 10 minutes).
3. Scrape the wax off with a plastic putty knife held at a 45-degree angle with the bevel facing up.
4. Buff off any remaining wax with a paper towel.

Watch this video to find out more.

Further Information

• Repairing Scratches on Cabinets and Furniture (video)
• How to Remove Water Stains from Furniture (article)
• Removing White Water Marks from Furniture (video)
• Remove Water Stains from Furniture with Mayonnaise (article)

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Joe Truini: If you have candlesticks in your home, chances are you’ve experienced this problem where an unattended candle has dripped wax all over a piece of furniture. Now, your first reaction might be to immediately scrape it up, but don’t do that. You’re better off waiting, and here’s why.

This wax is still soft, and you’re just going to end up with a mess. You’re better off letting it harden first, and we’re going to speed that process with a plastic bag full of ice. We’re going to set the ice on there, wait about 10 minutes, come back, and then scrape it up.

OK, it’s been about 10 minutes now. We’re going to remove the ice. The wax is now nice and hard, and we’re going to scrape it up with a plastic putty knife. Do not use a metal putty knife or a butter knife or anything else because you’ll only harm the table.

So you want to take the plastic putty knife with the bevel facing up, hold at about a 45-degree angle. I’m going to scrape it. If you hit it nice and hard, it usually pops up just like that in big chunks, and that’s what you’re looking for.

At the end, after you scrape it all up, there might still be a little wax residue on the tabletop, but you can buff that off with a dry paper towel.