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3/15/2009

Furniture Refresher

There are posts all over blog land about people finding old furniture and thrift stores or yard sales and making it beautiful. A new coat of paint can definitely work magic on the outside, but it doesn't always help get rid of the musty smell on the inside.

This tip from Martha is a good one to get rid of that smell:


You fill plastic containers (that have lids) with white vinegar, close them and punch some holes in lid. Put one in each drawer overnight to help absorb odors. If that doesn't work, use a cloth that you have dampened with vinegar to clean the inside of the furniture. For extreme cases, clean interiors with a vinegar-dampened cloth.

Do you have any tips for getting rid of the musty old furniture smell. Baking soda is always a good odor remover. And if I can't get a smell to go away I usually cover it up by sticking a dryer sheet in the drawers. Then every time you open the cupboards you get a fresh laundry smell!

7 comments:

Laura said...

I use the dryer sheet trick too!

Unknown said...

I'm a big fan of vinegar and baking soda for non-toxic odor relief. I HAVE been known to try the dryer sheet trick too, though. And crumpled up newspaper sometimes works too.

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

That's a great tip! I like the dryer sheet one too!

You come up with the cleverist things!

XOXO
Jen

Cindi said...

Great tip! I just picked up a beautiful buffet on Craig's list for $100, but it does smell funky.

The Phillips Place said...

Thanks for this! Is there anything vinegar DOESN'T help? Seems like everytime I need something cleaned lately, vinegar winds up being the answer!!

Anonymous said...

When I walked into my new classroom, the first thing I realized was that there had been a rodent of some sort in their the year before. The stench was everywhere and no amount of cleaning or airing out would help. Finally someone suggested vanilla. I soaked several paper towels in plain old vanilla, then left them on plates around the room for the weekend. By Monday, the smell was gone.

As for the vinegar, I used to have a piano that had been owned by a heavy smoker. I cleaned the whole thing with vinegar (several times in fact) and it did the trick...eventually. That is a lot of smoke in a lot of wood.

Sarah said...

Thanks for the reminder tip! I just got a side table free this weekend that I need to get creative with but it smells a little old so it is still in the garage! :)