Permanent marker stains can end up on a dining room table in a few different ways. Maybe you have a kid who got a little overenthusiastic with their art project, or maybe you had a pen leak. Either way the mishap happens, permanent marker stains can ruin the look of a table.
Below you’ll find a guide for removing permanent marker stains from your dining room table whether it’s made of wood, glass, or metal. Read on to learn more about getting marker stains off your dining room table and how to avoid damaging it in the process.
Permanent Marker Can Be Removed From a Dining Room Table
Even though it might seem hopeless when you first see the mess made by a permanent marker on your furniture, there’s no need to panic. There are several different solvent chemicals that can be used to help lift permanent marker stains off the surface of wood, glass, and other materials without hurting the finish of the table.
Here’s a list of some of the household items you can potentially use to help remove permanent marker stains from your dining room table:
- Hairspray
- Rubbing alcohol
- Vodka
- Nail polish remover
- Makeup remover
- Fine grit sandpaper
- Dry erase markers
- Magic erasers
- Baking soda
If you have any of these items on hand, they can provide a quick way for you to lift permanent marker stains from your dining room table without hurting it. Now we’ll learn some more in-depth methods for removing permanent marker stains.
Using Hairspray to Remove Permanent Marker
Hairspray is a useful tool for removing permanent marker stains from a wooden dining room table. It can also be used to pull marker stains up out of fabric. To use it on a dining room table, spray a small amount of hairspray directly on the stain and then wipe it with a soft cloth to lift the marker from the wood’s surface.
Using Alcohol to Remove Permanent Marker
Rubbing alcohol or vodka can be used to remove permanent marker stains from wooden, glass, and metal dining room tables. To use it, rub a small amount of alcohol into a soft cloth rag and then dab at the area of the table where the stain is.
Don’t rub at the marker stain, as this can cause it to smear and spread. Keep dabbing until the stain begins to lift, applying more rubbing alcohol as necessary.
Using Nail Polish Remover to Remove Permanent Marker
Nail polish remover can be a practical tool to help remove more stubborn permanent marker stains on dining room tables, but be careful. Using too much nail polish remover or rubbing nail polish remover into a table that is varnished can potentially ruin the finish.
Try applying the nail polish remover in an inconspicuous test area first before using it on the stain to make sure the table doesn’t react badly to it.
Using Sandpaper to Remove Permanent Marker
One challenge you may run into is permanent marker stains on an unfinished wooden dining room table. Unfinished wood that hasn’t been varnished will soak up permanent marker, making it difficult to remove.
In this case, one of the best ways to remove the permanent marker stain is to use a fine grit sandpaper. By gently sanding away at the surface of the wood, you can remove the marker by removing the very top layer of wood on the table’s surface. While this tactic may not completely remove a permanent marker stain in unfinished wood, it should lighten it.
Using Makeup Remover to Remove Permanent Marker
Makeup remover wipes have a strong reputation for getting permanent markers or other tough stains off your skin, but you may not know that these handy wipes can also be used to remove permanent marker from hard surfaces like your dining room table.
To remove permanent marker stains using makeup remover wipes, move the wipe in a circular motion over the stain, keeping pressure light and steady. Rubbing too hard can potentially damage the varnish on your dining room table.
Using Dry Erase Markers to Remove Permanent Marker
A trick you can try to remove permanent marker from your dining room table is to draw over the permanent marker stain with a dry erase marker. The chemicals in the dry erase marker bind with the permanent marker and make it easier to wipe away.
It’s important to wipe away the marker stain while the dry erase marker over it is still wet. This will allow the pigment in the permanent marker stain to be moved with the erasable marker stain. As it dries, the dry erase marker fluid will not bind as easily with the permanent marker. You may need several passes with the dry erase marker to completely remove the marker.
Using Magic Erasers to Remove Permanent Marker
Magic erasers are special abrasive sponges that have been soaked in cleaning chemicals. These erasers are strong, and useful for removing stubborn stains like permanent marker.
Since you don’t want to damage the finish on your dining room table, you should blot gently at the permanent marker stain with the magic eraser rather than wiping it across the table’s surface. This will restrict the chemicals in the magic eraser to the surface of the wood that has been stained, protecting the varnish on the wood underneath.
If you have a metal or glass dining room table, you can be a little more aggressive with your use of a magic eraser. These surfaces aren’t nearly as fragile as varnished wood, and can handle stronger scrubbing.
Using Baking Soda to Remove Permanent Marker
If you’re looking for environmentally-friendly solutions for your permanent marker stains, baking soda is a practical option. Permanent marker can be lifted from many wooden table surfaces with a paste made from baking soda and water. This paste can then be applied with a soft cloth. Baking soda helps to lift a permanent marker stain by gently agitating the surface of the wood.
Baking soda is generally a gentle cleanser for using on wood, but since it does contain grit it’s a good idea to wipe the paste gently into the stain rather than scrubbing at it. Scrubbing the varnish on a table with any abrasive or corrosive chemical has the potential to damage the finish, so using a cleaning solution in an inconspicuous test area is always a smart idea.
Marker Stains on Dining Room Tables Can Be Fixed
A permanent marker stain on your dining room table might seem like a disaster when it happens, but the list above should show you that you don’t have any reason to panic. By using one of the cleaning solutions in our guide, you can make that permanent marker stain disappear in a snap.
