Musty Smell Solution for Furniture

I used to spray myself with Gingerale Perfume until my sister started accusing me of smelling like an old dirty basement. Yup, my family tells it like it is. Straight up honesty, like soda bubbles up your nose.

As much as I loved the scent, I certainly didn't want to smell musty. That goes for my husband too. We recently acquired an old dresser for him, but my nose immediately detected the scent of that Gingerale Perfume and so I went to work researching how to spare his clothing from smelling musty.

I realize that this is probably far too much background information and this really has nothing to do with being along the Ausable, but in case anyone else out there has searched high and low for answers on how to eliminate musty smells from antique furniture, I now present you with a solution.

1. Put furniture outside on a hot, sunny day to let it breathe.

2. Clean out all the dirt with a rag and vacuum out any remaining debris.

3. Using a diluted water and Murphy Oil Soap solution, wipe down the entire dresser and let air dry in the sun.

4. Put trays of baking soda in the drawers for 24 hours.

5. Dump out the baking soda and then put Activated Charcoal on baking trays inside the drawers and dresser for at least a week.

Activated Charcoal can be purchased at any Pet Store. We found it in the Fish section. I guess it makes aquarium water crystal clear and removes organic waste, colors and odor. Drew read somewhere that one gram of charcoal is equivalent to the surface area of 1/10 the size of a football field!

6. Remove charcoal trays and give the furniture another wipe down and it should be ready to store clothing!

So far, it seems to have worked. Cross your fingers for us that we have found the solution and if your nose tells you we haven't, please be honest and tell my husband he smells like an old, dirty basement as my sister once told me.