New Year 2007

Home Staging Tip:  Candles!

Have you had the same candles out on display in your home for quite a while now?  With a New Year starting it's time to enjoy a candle light dinner and light up all your old candles.   Annually every January is the time to change them!  Go to a bargain store and buy some new ones to keep on hand, both for decor and for emergency power outages.  In Vancouver, BC we've certainly had quite a few power emergencies lately!

How To Store Candles...

Store candles in a cool, dark place.  Light may cause them to fade, heat may cause them to warp, and always display your candles with the wick burned and trimmed to a quarter-inch.

How To Remove Melted Wax...

To remove the old melted wax stubs from candle holders, pop them into the freezer for a few hours.  The wax should shrink just enough to pop it out.

Did wax drip on your favourite table cloth? 

Try this:  Use the freezer or ice cubes to "freeze" the wax first, then scrape or crack off as much wax as possible.  Next use oil solvent or mineral spirits to remove residue.  Red wax has always been my worst enemy, and the red dye may never come out.  I've also heard of using a warm iron to melt the wax, with blotting paper to absorb it, but I haven't had any luck myself with this method.

Safety Tip on Candles...

Avoid damage to the table or table cloth and use small round glass "drip catcher rings" (like small dishes with holes in the center) that fit right over the candle and nestle on top of the candle holder, to catch all the wax drips (find them at Hallmarks). 

Do not use flammable decorative flower candle rings as they can be a big fire risk.  I know this from experience as this happened to Mike and I at our family Christmas breakfast  a few years ago when our dining room table and tablecloth did catch on fire.  One hand rolled beeswax candle burned down much faster than the other three and the flower candle ring caught on fire.  Fortunately, this caused a whole lot of excitement and very little harm.