Oh my God, it smells like something died in here!
Apparently, in my circle of friends, I am the go-to person if you have this kind of problem.
I hope it’s not because my furniture and house stinks but rather because I’m always rehabbing old, musty, dusty furniture:
My friend, Amy, who is a real-life CSI, recently sent me this query:
You can imagine that crime scene investigators like me get interesting questions. However, tonight’s, though forensically sound, is more appropriate for my Atta Girls. Neighbor: “How do you get the smell of ‘dead’ out of furniture?”
Seems a 78-year-old, sentimental chest of drawers in her garage became home to a decaying critter without her immediate knowledge. She’s tried Fabreeze and bleach, which not only didn’t work, but also warped a thin, wood packing crate her father used to craft the piece. Any suggestions from the Atta Girls or Friends of Atta Girls?
Well, I certainly have experience with stinky furniture, but thankfully dead is not a stench that I’ve encountered — yet. So, I turned to some of my blogger friends on Hometalk for their input on Amy’s “something died in here” query.
In my experience, the best solution for getting rid of stinky odors is to neutralize them, not to mask them. Because no matter how much air freshener you use, it always seems the stench comes back. I suspect that what the neighbor’s chest needs is a good airing out — lots of sunshine and fresh air — with some neutralizing agent thrown into the mix.
Here are some tips for getting rid of stinky odors, pulled from my own experience and from the suggestions of the Hometalk bloggers:
- Clean the stinky chest of drawers, inside and out, with an appropriate cleanser. For the neighbor’s chest, the safest option may be a slighty dampened rag with water or another furniture-safe cleanser. Vinegar and water is another option. For another stinky container, like a trash can or a dirty diaper genie, I would scrub with a bleach-based cleaner and also apply Lysol liberally. The neighbor may be able to use Lysol on her stinky piece of furniture.
- Sprinkle the drawers with baking soda, which should absorb the odors. Let the baking soda sit for several days, and vacuum it up. You may need to try several applications. Alternately, you can place a bowl of baking soda inside each drawer. The longer it is left in, the better.
- Let the stinky piece air out. Leave it outside in the sunshine — for days, if necessary.
- Line the drawers with dryer sheets, and let them work their magic for several days (weeks even, if the smell is quite malodorous).
- Pour kitty litter into the drawers and leave it for several days. It should absorb the odor. Dump it out, vacuum well and sniff. Repeat, if necessary.
- Put coffee beans inside the drawers to absorb and mask the odor.
- Place a few jars of white vinegar inside the furniture. The vinegar smell doesn’t linger and it should remove the odor. Depending on how bad the smell is, you may need to leave the vinegar in place longer and repeat, as necessary.
- Furniture painting pal Lori Young of Vintage Charm Restored swears by TSP cleaner, available at home improvement stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot.
- Paint can sometimes mask and cover odors. If the neighbor paints the inside of the drawers, the smell may go away.
- Once the drawers are clean and the odor has been removed, consider storing scented candles inside the chest of drawers. The candles will cover up any lingering scent that may return over time.
Thanks to bloggers Janel at Nellie Bellie and Cheri at It’s So Very Cheri!, as well as my friend Kaaren, for weighing in with tips on how to get rid of stinky smells in furniture. And for more tips on removing odors from furniture, check out this post from Living with Lindsay, and be sure to read the comments for even more suggestions.
For answering this question, I think we all deserve a “get-out-of-jail-free” card from the other Amy!
If you have suggestions for Amy’s friend, please add them to the comments. I’ll make sure you get your very own get-out-of-jail-free card for adding your two cents.
A wealth of information here…thanks!
Diane recently posted..Trying Out New Recipes
Also, crumpled pages of newspaper left in there for a few days can help. Ground coffee (in paper towels or clean filters) also can work.
Any suggestions how to get the odor out of leather couches? I have 3 dogs…enough said, right?!! Thanks!!!
My husband and a friend manufacture a product that is an odor Kill product that works well to take care of odors. even got the smell out of a car that had leather seats after it sat in a field and mice made their home in it . It can be ordered online and you can read testimonials of successful treatments of bad odors at their site. ATX Odor Kill
http://www.odorkill.com/
TSP is the way to go–definitely! I have re-habbed a lot of old furniture and TSP is the bomb!
Twitter: Amy_Bly
says:
Another good odor-absorber is charcoal — add an open bag or tray of it to the drawers and leave for a few days — this worked great when we apparently had a mouse or some other little critter die in the outside wall of our main floor guest room, and the pest removal service said it would have required cutting numerous openings throughout the wall to try to find and remove it. We left a large open bag of charcoal in there for a few days, and it quickly absorbed the foul odor while the critter was decaying (UGH). Another idea is KILZ, which a client selling her house used to effectively cover cat urine odors in the flooring of her sunporch.
How do you get cigarette smell out of a vehicle? A strong mix of vinegar and water scrub has been tried with very little success.
If you buy a house where someone decided their cat should be a “free range” feline with no litter box and the smell is just awful, not only do you need to replace the carpet and pad, but you will need to paint the wood or concrete under the carpet with something like Kilz Primer. If you don’t, in a month or so, that smell will come right back up through the carpet and ruin the new carpet as well. Sometimes you can scrub out dog urine if it isn’t too bad, but NOTHING will take out cat urine. I have used a giant box of soda to get rid of the smell that raccoons left up inside a chimney. It works well, but you may have to repeat the treatment a couple of times. Don’t put it in water, just dump an inch or two on the smell dry and let it set. Not a furniture tip, but might be adapted to some furniture.
I had a dresser that had been sitting in the garage for who knows how long. It had dead mice and tirds, bird feathers from them nesting in open drawers and musty, molding pieces of clothing and lots of bird shit. I cleaned it up with a touch of bleach, lots of fantastic with water. Then made newspaper pouches and filled each with charcoal briquets. Placed one in each drawer and left for a couple of weeks. Stench gone. Sanded it down, refinished it, looks and smells like new. This idea was given to be by a caregiver in a seniors home. It was how they freshened the dresser drawers of seniors.
The charcoal trick really worked for me. I put berry baskets with a few bricketts in the fridge, a musty closet, under sink, and old nicotine saturated furniture drawers. The bad doers may take a few days/weeks, but it does work. No harsh chemicals!
So glad charcoal worked for you.
Musty and stinky odors are a problem with old furniture, but I love hearing what has worked for other people.
Twitter: StephanieSNordlinDesign
says:
I bought the couch of my dreams to recover, but can’t get the musty basement odor out of it. I tried Fabreze, leaving dryer sheets in it and putting it in my living room. It has been cold, snowy/rainy since I got it last fall so I haven’t been able to put it in the sun. PLEASE tell me I don’t have to replace all the stuffing in this couch…it’s an Ethan Allen.