You are in a dilemma. Soaking dry clean only drapes is liable to shrink them. I would offer to pay to have them dry cleaned. It might be cheaper in the long run. On second thought, your landlord should have told you not to leave the curtains closed all the time. The water is probably from condensation on the window in winter. With them closed all the time it creates a cold zone behind them, but not as cold as the outside. Ice or just condensation on the window has no where to go and can't dry up because it is away from the heat. This can happen even with new airtight windows.

Are you sure the "Water Seal" you refer to is an oil based (requiring a petrochemical to clean the brushes and NOT soap and water)? Is it "transparent" and has no color listed or shown on the can? There is no need to "strip" or "sand" the Thompson's Oil based TRANSPARENT Water seal Product because the paraffin soaks into the wood and is not on the surface. It has no pigments in it that rest on top of the wood. Therefore there should be no "peeling" or "chipping" of the surface and no obvious wear other than wear to the wood itself, usually near stairs and door and very slight in most instances. If its the Thompson Oil Based Transparent product you used, there is no need to strip or sand. You may want to clean the surface (IF it is visibly in need of it) with something like diluted Clorox Exterior house cleaner to remove pollen, dust, dirt and any surface mildew (mildew spores are transported by the wind and there is always some on the surface, although it probably hasn't "stuck" to it. Its basically a spray or brush on job and rinse with a garden hose. Let it dry fully for at least a day (two is better). then you can apply your new oil based deck product. I suggest you wait at least one full year for the beading of water to stop and even two years is OK. My front deck got the Thompson's two years ago and I will stain it with an oil based stain this year. It requires minimal cleaning....I may just use a garden hose with a firemen's nozzle. The deck gets full sun all morning so mildew is very hard pressed to survive there. Best stain, IMO are oil based TWP. The main thing to watch for is to avoid "soap and water cleanup" because that is a water based, possibly latex deck product. You wouldn't think to put latex paint on your indoor hardwood. Latex wears like crap to foot traffic. A true stain soaks the color deep into the wood and is not a "paint pigment" that sits on top of the wood. The whole problem with deck preservation has been caused by the VOC controversy which tossed a lot of good products out of the market by legislation. The emphasis on water based products opened the door for a lot of "new" water products with "paint stains" which are not stains at all. Unfortunately, those products require stripping because they wear out fast, leaving some areas bare and have adhesion problems as they age. Stripping is more work than the refinishing. ALWAYS google the Material Safety Data Sheet of the product you are considering so you know exactly what it is. Be careful that most big box stores sales clerks are "selling" what the store has in stock. That is why they get paid. The best products used by Contractors are available through building supply vendors that cater to builders and carpenters and not the general public consumer. They do not refuse to sell to the general public, but "quality" is their life blood, not quantity of sales based on huge purchasing contracts supplying a nationwide chain. Wish you good luck. Don't be swayed by the claims of 6 year and 10 year lifespans. If its a water based paint pigment product, it will look like hell for half of those claimed "lifespans", Most people would prefer a true stain that can be reapplied easily without having to strip the deck. And. if you have to strip the deck, how do you strip the railings and balusters? I've done it....took a pressure washer and two days to complete. Then I started reading and wised up on the number of really crummy products that are available, being pushed by big box stores and consumer agencies that prioritize water based over oil because of an "environmental" bias. The idea behind using an initial Thompson's Oil Based Transparent on a new deck comes from a highly ethical, lifelong contractor/carpenter who needed a workable solution for customers who couldn't decide how they wanted there decks treated during an age of great confusion. The Thompson Transparent has an effective anti-fungal and gives good service up to two years. When you compare to other oil based products costing three times as much, many of them also recommend restaining after two years. BTW, oil based paraffin products do not support fungus.

Thanks BMU, I will take your advice on much of this. Yep, I am going to back up and stain the legs with some sort of Espresso like the chairs. I am a bit disheartened right now trying desperately to get the old finish(s) off of the legs that are turned. I now realize that this table was touched up after the original and not a very good job at that. Some places are hugely built up gook and the underside is raw in the table top center but the drop leaves are literally full of drips and runny old dried stain. I am stripping the bottom of the leaves and will do them better than the runny mess they are. I will use the center of the table for trial stain Although the underside center of the table is nearly 'white' whereas what I am stripping clean has a reddish tint to the wood. I am not sure if sanding will remove the redish hue or not. I am going to go and get a brush and see if it works better for the turned legs ??? I am also using two coats of stripper. The first one just takes globs of sludge and dries very fast. I am using an MC stripper. The table top is actually two pieces of wood that were apparently glued in the dead center at one time and I see that on one end the glue was gone and the boards do not sit flush. I have no clue how to try to stick them back together but I have my thinking cap on. I am afraid to try to stick glue in there for fear of getting it on the table top and it would stain differently ?? What do you think of a small piece of wood on the underside glued board to board and clamped while drying? I have used Poly wipe on my tables and will take that advice at the end. It is a pretty table and I'm sure at one time it was a treasure but it certainly has seen its years of service and there are dents and there is three very bad liquid marks that I doubt if I can get to stain evenly. I sure appreciate your time. I want this to look pretty for her. It is an elderly couple and they have a tiny kitchen and this table is perfect for the space. I am thinking that I have to stop trying to make it look as smooth as the chair which is brand new. Donna

Christyne Ponchron: "I read on BFK’s website that it is not safe for stainless steel. Could take the finish off?" This may be referring to the "fake" finishes such as black stainless steel which has a polymer (plastic) coating that can be easily scratched and damaged. Stainless steel itself is an alloy of steel and chromium, with carbon, silicon, and manganese, and sometimes other metals such as nickel also added. The chromium component causes a very thin layer of oxidation on the surface, effectively preventing further corrosion or rusting. The oxalic acid in BKF removes the oxidation layer, which quickly reforms itself to a fresh surface. That's the point of it. BKF is mildly abrasive so a highly-polished stainless steel could be scuffed by aggressive rubbing. Rubbing with the polish marks (grain) helps avoid the risk. I used oily polishes for some years but they caused various degrees of smudging and smears. Initial use of BKF removed all that oily mess to a fresh gleaming finish, with reuse of it only as needed (not much) to remove water drips, fingerprints, and mineral residue (kitchen sink, hard water).