Monday, October 30, 2006

Sideboard smells

Due to my family's collective cold, today's project is a small one. I know this sideboard's musty smell is bad if it breaks through this sinusitis! I've never had a place to organize my linens and china, and I'm itching to unpack those boxes.
What I want to buy right this minute: a spray can of instant smell-be-gone, pretty herb sachets or scented drawer liner
The stay-at-home substitute: a bowl of vinegar in each drawer overnight, followed by perfume samples from old magazines.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tell if this really works.

I have a moldy smelling trunk. Have also heard to put crumpled newspaper and/or charcoal briquettes within to neutralize the odors.

debbie

Anonymous said...

Real (ground beans) or instant coffee works well too.

It took the cigarette smells out of some books I got on ebay (sealed together in a bag), as well as rotting orange smells out of a used refrigerator.

Anonymous said...

Oops, should have mentioned that the coffee needs to be the dried ground beans or the granules. Just in a dish in the smelly area.

Anonymous said...

I know I've used the wadded-up newspaper trick to get rid of weird fridge smells.

When I was in my first trimester of pregnancy, the husband left an uncooked combination pizza in the fridge for far too long. The ensuing nausea left me frightened to open the fridge for weeks--until I did the newspaper trick.

Anonymous said...

I noticed you used apple cider vinegar. I have used white vinegar..is the apple cider better to use?? Another way I use it is I keep some out in a bowl on the kitchen counter when I am cooking and it really eliminates the cooking smells. It has so many uses. Somewhere on a blog I read to use wintergreen alcohol for some use. Wow, I wanted to try it! The trouble is that now that I finally found it I can't remember why the wintergreen! Does anyone remember reading this hint???!!! :-)

Meredith said...

Anna, I was out of white vinegar and had this 60-cent bottle on hand. I hope it works as well!

I think you read the wintergreen alcohol tip here on Merchant Ships! Helen shared it on PH forums. I use it as a glass and tile cleaner in the bathroom. The wintergreen takes away the alcohol smell. I also use it for the toilet seat and bowl. It makes the whole room smell so fresh!

Kim said...

Newspapers wadded up and left for 24-48 hours inside. Works for the nasty old combo organs my hubby buys on eBay that come from people's attics, basements, and garages. :)

Carrie J said...

My daughter works in theater. They use vinegar and water instead of Febreeze to spritz clothes to remove oders, because some of the actors are sensitive to Febreeze. My sister has an old wardrobe that she tried vinegar in to remove oders. It helped but what really got the final scent away was wiping the inside with Vodka.
Who knew?

Anonymous said...

My daughter, Corin, beat me to the ground coffee suggestion. That one has never failed for us.

Kayla said...

I used vanilla on a rubbermaid container I got from thrift (swiped on with cotton). Maybe a spritz of vanilla would help? Oh I also used it in a large canning jar in which I'd let the compost bits stay too long *blush* Worked fab, especially since those lids have porous linings.