Warm and elegant, wooden furniture is ideal for those who want a rustic and warm home. However, when they have not been used for a while, an unpleasant musty smell may appear. Find out how to overcome this problem with some ingenious tips.
Whether it is chests of drawers, bookcases or cupboards, wooden furniture manages to combine tradition and modernity.
When they are closed for a long time, however, it can happen that an unpleasant smell spreads inside, especially if it is old furniture. This smell comes from indoor air stagnation but also from the aging of the wood.
It is possible to rediscover the freshness of wood and perfume them in no time.
Wooden furniture
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Wooden furniture – Source: spm
Before you start
Start by opening the doors of your wooden furniture and emptying them.
Sometimes, in fact, the musty smell can also come from objects or old clothes. Therefore, it is important to take them out of the cabinet and clean or wash anything that smells.
Do not return items to your furniture until cleaning is complete.
For a deep cleaning
Now is the time to clean your wooden furniture. This is a fundamental step in eliminating bad odors.
For this, you will need 3 liters of water, 2 teaspoons of baking soda and approximately 30 g of Marseille soap flakes (approximately 30 g of shavings). Mix everything and pass this preparation on the internal surfaces with a soft sponge.
Then dry with a microfiber cloth.
Clean wooden furniture
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Clean wooden furniture – Source: spm
To rejuvenate the wood
To effectively eliminate musty odors, you will however need to nourish the wood in order to rejuvenate it. For this you can use a conditioner which acts as an infallible remedy to give a second life to the wood.
Take a medium sized bowl and pour half a glass of olive oil into it. Then add 10 grams of solid Castile soap, the juice of half a lemon and 5 to 6 drops of the essential oil of your choice.
Spread the conditioner on the surface using a brush. If you wish, you can also apply it to the exterior wood to nourish it and make it shine.
Anti-odor tips
Even if you have cleaned your furniture well and revived the wood, the smell can return after a few weeks or months. This factor essentially depends on the age of the wood.
You can try to eliminate bad odors by inserting a DIY air freshener or odor absorber inside the furniture.
Scented sachets
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Scented sachets – Source: spm
· Scented sachets
Take a small, medium-sized fabric bag and fill it with dried orange peels, dried rose petals and cinnamon sticks. Also put a little cotton soaked in a scented essential oil: the most suitable are those with lavender and sandalwood.
Then, place the bag in a corner of your furniture. In a few hours, it will have already filled the entire interior space with a sweet and intoxicating scent.
· An odor-absorbing bowl
In addition to scented sachets, you can also put a System D odor absorber in your furniture: baking soda.
Take a small bowl and pour 3 to 4 tablespoons of this powder into it. This product has a very high absorbency and will free furniture from the smell of old wood.
If you like, you can drizzle a few drops of scented essential oil over the baking soda to give off a wonderful scent.
If in addition to the smell of old wood, there is also a musty smell in your furniture, try these other remedies!