How To Diminish The Appearance Of Scratches On Wood

I love all the natural wood in our house...that wasn't always the case. Years ago I wanted to paint it. But, my husband put a hard 'no' on that one. I'm glad he did. I have come to love the natural knotty alder in our home. I still hate our kitchen cabinets...but that's another post for itself. :) Our door and our banister posts are the knotty alder and have seen their fair share of dents, dings, and scratches throughout the years.

They weren't horrible; didn't even bother me. Well, enter in this cute pup:

The second we go out the door, even if it's just to get the mail. This dog is at the door scratching the good heck out of it. Ugh. I didn't notice he was doing this until too late and the damage was already done.  The damage was half way up the door and about 1/3 of the width.

I kind of freaked out. My husband oddly wasn't as mad as I thought he would be. Then I remembered a quick little trick to help hide those scratches. They will always be there until I can sand them down, or fill them, and restain or paint. But, this was a great bandaid, plus, I don't have do any staining or painting and can still keep my wood looking beautiful :)

The secret is walnuts.

Yep. Can you believe these can diminish the appearance of scratches on wood? They can!
Just get a chunk and start rubbing it into the scratches. These are my results.
Before (the top was actually already done, so this gives you a good before and after also):

 After:

 Here's a super good example. Before:

 After:

As I mentioned before, the dents are still there, this just makes the scratches less obvious. The oil in the walnut gets absorbed by the wood. I like to think the nut itself also acts like a filler into the scratch also.

My husband was so amazed by this, he took as many walnuts as he could and went around the house fixing all the scratches :)

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