Help - I've got a smelly wardrobe!

[chocccie]

I've had an old Maple wadrobe for ages and want to start using it.  But it's got a strong woody smell, slightly musty (probably gentlemen in the 1920s had a strong hint of this smell .... that's what I imagine anyway!).

 

It's not an unpleasant smell .... but it is making all of the clothes put in there smell, which I don't want.  I've tried leaving bicarb of soda in their to absorb the smell - but I didn't think it would work - and it didn't!

 

So, I've decided to paint or varnish the inside of the wardrobe/drawers.  Varnish would be my preferred option.   Is there anybody out there who is familiar enough with wood who can tell me if this will "seal in" the wood's smell and stop it making the  clothes smell?  Or am I wasting my time/varnish?

 

Thanks

[thunderhorse]

Isn't the smell part of the character of the furniture? What about a pot-pourri, or spray deodoriser type thingy? Painting/varnishing insides may just spoil the piece.

If I think on, I tend to leave empty aftershave bottles in drawers for a few days - more by habit from Navy days.

[Framboise]

I found bicarb worked personally.  Failing that buy some lavender oil and paint a little around the cupboard - preferably where it won't touch the clothes, like on the inside of the top - and that should cure it. 

[chocccie]

Framboise ... lovely for me, but I don't think hubbie will appreciate all of his shirts smelling of lavendar! 

Bicarb doesn't work and I don't want to scent the wardrobe artificially ... what I like, hubbie wont', and vice versa.

 

 

[trees 2]

Tried WASHING the interior with anti-bacterial, or even a/b wipes?

Some of our older furniture smelled a little, and it turned out to be a thin patina of mould.

Wife did the insides with a/b wipes and it's gone.

[tegwini]

Hi Choccie

Lavendar will also help keep moths away.

I bought an old Edwardian chest of drawers which was smelly, I used drawer liners and pot-pourri bags, but it took ages for the stale smell to go.   Just leaving it open & spray after shave might help.  Trouble is with all the rain this year a musty smell is not unusual.

Regards

Tegwini

[Callie]

I would do what others have suggested :  wipe out the inside with bicarbs and a mild solution of bleach or Miltons.  This will  kill any mould or bacteria which could be lurking as a result of the cupboard not being aired for a long time.  When you have done this, you will need to leave the doors open so that it can dry out properly.  Lavender or cedar are both good for keeping moths and mites away, as well as leaving a nice smell. 

If the cupboard is very dark inside, there is nothing wrong in painting the inside, though paper (or drawer liners) on the shelves would perhaps be nicer.

[suein56]

[quote user="Callie"] Lavender or cedar are both good for keeping moths and mites away, as well as leaving a nice smell. 
[/quote]

Casino supermarkets sell a bag of 4 shaped pieces of cedar, to put in drawers and wardrobes, for about 2€50 so perhaps other supermarkets will do the same.

Sue

[chocccie]

thanks for all of the replies ... but I don't want to scent the wardrobe with anything ... I just want to get rid of the current smell.  I'll give the anti-bac wipes a go ... but if that fails does anybody know if varnishing or painting the insides will stop the wood smelling ... or will it just seep through that layer.  I would have thought a varnish would stop the smell, but I don't know wood well enough to know.

Thanks [:)]

[andyh4]

As has already ben said it could ruin the piece of furniture.  Wood, painted or treated on one side only tends to warp.  In the case of furniture where it is common to treat one side only (the outside) construction methods have evolved to minimise or even use this tendency to create strength in the piece.

Treating the other side as you now propose could cause the piece to twist or even fall apart.

[Callie]

Choccie - I have used paint (matt milk paint) on the inside of an old pine, glass fronted cupboard and a more modern pine corner cupboard with no ill effects whatsoever.  I did them about 15 years ago !  If you intend keeping the cupboard, then I think you should do as you like with it.  If it is old, then the wood will be well seasoned and is unlikely to warp unless you keep it in extreme conditions, ie in a damp room, then in a very hot room.  The paint I used was water-based and it has really improved the dull interior.

Otherwise, perhaps you could look for some sort of wood sealer, though varnish might well do the trick.  If you want to use it, then you need to do something !

[Lilly]

Hi,

Andy is dead write about finishing one side or the other of a wooden piece of furniture and it makes no difference whether the piece is old or new as wood will always react to its environment, sooo try a bowl of warm water with a sprinkle of bicarb in a solution, a drop of vinegar and a drop of olive or linsead oil, clean in the direction of the grain and immediatly wipe with a dryish cloth ,leave open to air dry you could add a drop of bleach but if this is a  treasured piece of furniture go easy on treating the inside, if not you will raise the grain and distroy any colouring on the surface. Try a small area first after its dry you could use a spray polish with some wax in it but this may require you to leave the doors open longer to get rid of the polish smell.  Good luck

. 

[chocccie]

Thanks for the advice Lilly ... I'll give your suggestions a go and hope for the best.  But if it doesn't work I'm going to paint it as Callie has. 

It is a Maple piece, so very good quality ... and whilst I like it very much (mainly becasue it is so huge!), I don't love it ... so if it get ruined it will be a shame, but not the end of the world.  As it is, I won't use it as it is giving the clothes an "old man" smell!   so fingers crossed .... I'll report back if your remedy works Lilly as others might like to use the same method.

Thanks again  [:)]

 

(Lilly ... just to clarify ... did you mean to put the bicarb, vinegar and oil in a bowl of warm water and wash the insides down with that?   Or am I misreading and the water and bicarb are to sit in the bowl in the wardrobe to absorb the smell and the vinegar/oil is to wipe down the insides.  ..... I think the former, but best make sure!  )

[Lilly]

Sorry I meant mix the ingrediants together in the warm water and wash with that. I also meant to say add also a drip of washing up liquid to the water to act as an emulsifier.

 

Good luck

[jondeau]

[quote user="chocccie"]

  As it is, I won't use it as it is giving the clothes an "old man" smell!  

[/quote]

So what is it us old men smell like then ?

[chocccie]

Hi Lilly

Thanks for the advice about using the cleaning solution ... I did and it worked a treat!  [:D]

Hubbie stuck his ultra-sensitive nose in and he couldn't smell a thing.

You've saved me a job.  Now I can iron that big pile of stuff that's going to live in it.  Or maybe I'll just shove them in on hangars and hope the creases fall out  [:P]

 

Thanks again xxx

[Anton Redman]

After you have washed it put a small light bulb, say 20 watts, inside but well away from the sides and door so it dries out the wardrode completly

[chocccie]

Anton - is that a clever joke that I don't understand???   [blink]

 

 

[Anton Redman]

Er No Churchill.  The heat from the bulb warms up the wardrobe and dries it out  

[chocccie]

ahl. ... you meant put a lamp with a low watt bulb in the wardrobe then - light dawns!

 

I thought maybe lightbulbs have some fancy moisture-sucking-up-properties that I knew nothing about.  (I just wiped the insides down with a tea towel and left the doors open and it dried out in no time).

 

Now, that just leaves the Chuchill reference that I don't understand!  [:P]