: Thanks, Rehd. It looks like it's just on the surface, but I didn't know if it
: would ever clean up and look pretty again without sanding clear through
: the veneer. I'll see if I can get it dried out.

You can try washing the area with a weak solution of chlorine bleach (ordinary laundry bleach); 2 or three tablespoons to a gallon of water, and then let that dry. Besides killing the mildew this may lighten the wood color a bit. Rinse it off well to remove all bleach residue.

If you like the color -- and mildew stain is a strange but possible alternative to a deep stain -- then use a mix of borax (laundry department 20 mule team borax) and water to kill the mildew. This won't bleach the wood like chlorine bleach, and you can saturate the wood with it and just blot it off. Any borax that soaks into the wood fibers can stay there. using a coarse scrub brush can loosen and remove any actual mildew on the surface of the wood.

If you want a better bleaching job, to lighten the wood more, you can try oxalic acid (ask for this at a hardware store) or reapply the mild chlorine bleach and let it sit a while before washing it off.

Keep the wood dry after you clean it, and once it is sealed under epoxy the mildew won't have enough moisture to keep growing, so you'll never see it again.

Paint covers so many imperfections I'm thinking of wearing some all the time

Good luck with this.

PGJ