I receive a fair share of e-mails and I have to say, you guys are asking the BEST questions!
I LOVE answering your questions personally so don’t hesitate to write in!
With the growing number of e-mails, I’m starting to notice some questions popping-up again and again. To me, this indicates all of us Creative Furniture Re-Stylists have some common concerns. So, with your consent (the e-mailer’s), I think I’ll start posting and answering some of your questions here on the SI blog to benefit us all.
Thank you Sue in the Sunshine State for your excellent question.
[box] “Hi Denise, I was wondering if you could give me a tip on how to get the odor of mothballs out of fabulous furniture that I’m finding at thrift stores.
I live in Florida which enables me to put the furniture outside in the sun but it is also quite humid, so they don’t really like keeping the furniture outside for that reason.
Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much and I love the work that you do.”[/box]
To answer your question Sue, I’ll share the nastiest experiences I’ve ever had with a musty, moldy, mothballed dresser.
It was a vintage high-boy dresser I curb-shopped. This dresser was absolutely stunning and in perfect condition. (I wish I had taken a picture to show you)
Perfect in every way except for the stench of mold and mothballs that permeated and assaulted my nostrils the minute it was placed in the back of my van. If I was smart, I would have put it back where I found it.
Instead, I brought it home and it ended up sitting in the back of my garage for months while I tried to figure out how to get that awful old musty smell out of the wood.
I never did. All those awful musty odors were permeated right into the wood.
Now don’t let my story deter you. Depending on the wood and age of your furniture, removing musty smells (and this includes the old stench of mothballs) can be a challenge… but it can be done!
I’ve had other pieces which weren’t quite so bad and have had great success.
The key to getting rid of musty odors: It usually requires more than one solution and a lot of time and patience.
Here’s 5 Ways To Remove Musty Smells From Your Wood Furniture
1. Wipe and Clean
Bacteria and germs can permeate porous wood causing awful “old-smell” odors. To eliminate the smell, kill the bacteria and germs by cleaning the inside of the drawers and all surfaces with a sponge dampened with vinegar, Murphy’s Oil Wood Soap or any Anti-Fungal Detergents. Then let dry in a well ventilated area.
2. Vinegar & Other Odor Absorbing Substances
Fill a plastic or glass container/ bowl with vinegar and place in each drawer. Close the drawers and wait a few days to see if the vinegar absorbs the odor. Other odor absorbing substances like charcoal, coffee grounds, kitty liter or baking soda may also help.
3. Natural Sun Light / Dehumidify
Porous wood absorbs moisture and smells from it’s surrounding environment. If your piece smells like a thrift store or old attic, try leaving the piece to dry out in the natural sun light. If you live in a humid environment, try placing your piece with a dehumidifier in a small enclosed room. Leave it running for a few days to suck the moisture and odors out of the wood.
4. Strip and Sand
Strip and sand the piece. If the odors are caught in the original finish, this will help by removing the finish and letting the natural wood breath. If there is still a slight odor after stripping and sanding, using method #2. The odor absorbing substance should get rid of any remaining unpleasantness.
5. Bleach or Vodka
Put bleach or cheap vodka into a spray bottle and mist the entire piece inside and out. Then leave it in the sunshine or another moisture free area to completely dry. This will help disinfect and eliminate odors.
So how did my nasty experience with “high-boy” end… I re-claimed the gorgeous hardware and put the piece out on my curb for garbage collection.
The interesting part of the story is even with missing hardware, someone curbed-shopped it from MY driveway! I really hope they had better luck removing the odors than I did. I’d love to think that stunning piece got a new lease on life and is sitting pretty in someone’s home.
Once again, thank you Sue for this great question.
If you have any other methods of Getting Rid Of Mothball Smell & Other Musty Odors… PLEASE PLEASE SHARE! I would love to learn more techniques so next time I can be the one to save the “high-boy”.
Have the best day!
Denise x
Hello again... I'm so happy you dropped by! Let's keep in touch! Follow me on social media or sign up for a dose of furniture painting inspiration and diy tutorials. :) 
I tried EVERYTHING to get rid of the smell in my MCM dresser. I finally tried chalk paint. ( I make my own w latex paint & calcium carbonate, h2O, baby powder. ) It works fantastic! As long as you don’t need the drawers to be natural wood color it gets rid of the smell. I tried it just for an experiment. The chalk must absorb the smell
I have a basement that has partical boards on the walls and there has been several leaks and they have been sealed but not very well and when it rains water still leaks but in a different place and after a while there is a musty smell. How does one get rid of the musty smell from behind the wood walls? The water damage and the mold have been cleaned with bleach and pinesol and it still smells but of must.
1. You have to seal the basement walls. Use a reputable company so that if there’s issues they should have a guarantee.
2. Replace all damaged wood.
3. Rent an ozone machine and run it for several days, if not longer.
I once removed very strong and pungent tobacco odor from a mattress by placing a bowl of sliced onions underneath the bed. It took several weeks, and several changes of onion slices. In the end, no smell, of onion or tobacco. Found the suggestion online. Was about 15 years ago.
Onions are great for eliminating odours and bacteria.
I will give this a try for an antique dresser.
Hello there, a tip from Brazil:
recently my carpenter did that with wonderful result: (there was no aparent mold or stains, just smelled like old, mold, moth and the like. It was also lined with wall paper.
1. clean with dump cloth with regular household cleaner, let dry
2. send the wood interior with fine grit sendpaper to remove superficial oxidated old varnish, along the woodgrain.
3. hen he used a transparent solvent-base wood sealer that already comes with wax in it (i dont know the equivalent name in english) but before, he mixed it with an oil-based fragrance of my clients choice (those used in perfumed candles, home scents, etc) the solvent smell was off in a few hours with doors open.
The wardrobe interior came out luxurious! all new with silky finish and smelling like heaven.
Thanks so much for sharing this Christina!
I recently bought 5 pieces of beautiful Antique Ethan Allen pieces only to come home to 60 years of smoke engraved into it. After all the steps you listed.. I also spread baking soda all over the drawers and let sit in sun. Baking soda can also suffocate bed bugs. Disgusting , but you never know what can be hiding in those cracks. After all the cleaning you will have to SHELLAC!!!! This will encapsulate the smell. Then I soak essential oils on a cotton and leave it in a bowl in the drawers!
Thanks for the awesome tips!
I use Odor Fighting Primer from Zinsser. It goes on white and dries clear. Coat every inch of the piece. I’ve used this twice on really stinky dressers and no more smells. Works great!
I love this tip Leslie, thank you!
DO NOT USE VODKA! It’s a waste of good booze! Instead, use a 50/50 solution of rubbing alcohol & water in a spray bottle. The alcohol kills the bacteria causing the smell and should leave the furniture smelling like NOTHING. I use it on anything in the house that has a smell (i.e. the couch after the wet dog has been on it, clothes that aren’t quite ready to be washed, but may need to be refreshed, pillows, bedding, etc.) ANY fragrance gives me a migraine, so I’m happy to have found a solution that doesn’t leave a fragrance behind. When you’re finished, you can make a Bloody Mary with the vodka you saved!
I love this tip Laurel, thank you! And enjoy your Bloody Mary! 😉
Wipe down with your mix and if that doesn’t work use charcoal and seal the piece in a plastic. Hopefully, that will work.
I live on the coast where it is damp everywhere. Damp rid works. First I wash the the surfaces with Lysol but don’t get the wood too wet. Allow to dry throughly. Then, place the Damp Rid single containers in each drawer until the smell disappears. This will happen in about a week. Then, place one of the containers under the dresser permanently, discarding the water collected and refilling with damp rid. About every 4-6 weeks.
Use the other containers in closets, on shelves in your linen closets, or any cupboard.
Great tips Meg! Thank you!!!
Hi this product, sounds good , but does it have strong smell because my daughter has ASTHMA can’t take sprays anymore , need later to replace kitchen cupboards but for now we need it , makes house smell fowl , and I’m a smoker too so would you suggest this product before I buy it , are there stores in uitenhage to buy it from , SA ? Please advise thank you
I bought an old wood bread box that appeared to be re finished at an antique store. It didn’t smell in the store but I could have been nose blind in that big old antique store. I brought it home and opened it up to smell the old musty smell inside. I wiped it all down with Lysol wipes, washed it again with dawn soap and hot water. I then cleaned it with pure vinegar on a cloth twice, and now have 2 cups of baking soda sitting inside the box. It appears to already have varnish on it, can I add a sealer on top of it? Will this keep the bacteria from coming through? It’s to old an flimsy to sand.
Hi. I have noticed that no one has mentioned Oxyclean, whether the name brand or store brand. For me Oxyclean is the best. Bleach is very potent and not for everything. Once I left a big frozen turkey in the back of my Jeep thinking it’d be fine because of the freezing weather forgetting about radiant heat from the sun. So it thawed and , of course leaked and no real way for me to clean where the bloody juices ran down. I had washed the carpeting but days later could still smell the rotten smell. It was Winter-too cold to drive with windows down. Mixed up strong solution os hot water &Oxyclean and poured it down where juices went. Took care of that smell! Also had area where my cats kept hitting and had dried. Had used borax, baking soda, vinegar , stuff made especially for cat urine. Nothing worked. Few years later discovered Oxyclean figured what the heck wood smells can’t hurt it more so made strong solution of Oxy poured it on the carpeted area and wood soaked it when it dried I soaked it again. All better. Also use Oxy to clean large kitty litter pans 1/2 cup in hot water, stir good to dissolve. Soak for a few hours, rinse. Smells good and no dangerous chlorine gas. Soak clothes/fabrics that have dried cat urine on them overnight then wash in warmest water. I love this stuff. Ps cat urine/spray has an oily component to it so braking down the oils helps remove it. Also disregard amt called for on package. I always use at least a half of a cup to about 2-3 gallons.
I’m guessing if it can get through cat urine it can get through almost anything…lol. 😉 Thanks so much for this Suzanne! I’m going to google this stuff right now!
How to rid my grandfather’s old pump organ of a funky musty moldy smell.
My house had “old house & previous cat” funk, especially in some closets and corners. After many failed attempts at odor removal, I sprinkled sweet pdz on the areas and brushed it into the cracks in and at the floorboards to the baseboards where the smell seemed to originate, then ignored the spaces for a month or so, and finally swept everything up. The areas I have treated seem to be fresh. It is most commonly used as a horse stall or rabbit hutch odor eliminator.
Hi Dee! I’m going to google “sweet pdz” because I’ve never heard of this. Thanks for sharing this!🤗
Sometimes using oil base enamel covering every inch inside and out will eliminate the smell completely. It worked for me.
Thanks for this Phyllis!😃
In redecorating our apartment in preparation to sell it, we got rid of mould on walls with a mould/stain blocker. For wood furniture we found Tea tree oil, which originates I believe from Australia, very effective in getting rid of mould and stopping it from returning. We bought a small bottle of oil and diluted it with water, using a spray bottle to apply.
I have used spray clear lacquer and sprayed the entire piece inside and out. It definitely has worked for me! Lacquer seals it so the nasty smells don’t seep out.
I bought a fixer upper in Michigan a couple years ago. It had sat abandoned and during my walkthrough I hadn’t noticed the smell.
I was too cold lol having flown out from California to walk through 3ft of snow!
Anyway, fast forward 3 months later to moving in.
The gorgeous hardwood floors reeked of cat urine. I tried everything. Finally, I remembered when we had a toilet break while on vacation and returned to a flooded home, the cleaners used a special enzyme to remove the sewage smell.
Petco and pet smart sell a liqiud enzyme product that does the trick!!!!
They even sell it by the gallon!!!!!!!
It took 8 gallons and a couple weeks to do my floors, but you would never know
🙂
This is now my go-to product for wood with any kind of funky smell. I just pour it on and let sit a day or two till dry, if needed repeat.
What is the product called?
Probably “Scout’s Honor” – we use this at home for pet urine smells (and even around the toilet!) Works amazing!!
I moved back into my elderly parents home, to help take care of them, in 2014, To “keep the peace”, I stored a dozen pairs of my beloved Levi’s 550 100% denim jeans and some other shirts in a couple of 60+ year old dressers that had a nauseating musty smell (no visible mold), because my 80 yr old mother was emotionally offended when I initially didn’t want to store my clothes in her antique dressers (won’t make that mistake again!).
For the past two years, I have tried everything I can think of to get that musty old wood smell out of my jeans. Vinegar, baking soda, bleach, ammonia, various detergents, EnviroKlenz, Benefect….. Soaking them for hours in a tub full of the same things mentioned above that I’ve tried in the washing machine…. Even hanging everything out in sunlight for days.
The smell has decreased but the mold that is causing the smell remains. The problem is, I’m severely allergic to ten species of molds. Just sniffing these jeans after they come out of the dryer either triggers a severe sinus infection or at least intense sinus and facial pain.
I’m about to give up and throw out all of those clothes.
Forgot to mention I even steam ironed the clothes several times, thinking steam heat kills almost everything. But that didn’t work either.
Unless someone here has an idea that I haven’t tried yet, these clothes are going out with the trash. The smell bothered me so much last night, that I got up at 4:00am and packed them back into laundry baskets and covered them with bath towels.
You might’ve already tried it, but if not, it can’t hurt to try soaking in Borax. A couple times a year, I have to wash a load of extra-stinky laundry that’s accumulated. I tried everything under the sun to get the odors out, but they just wouldn’t budge. I stumbled on the suggestion of Borax, tried it, and was shocked when it worked. I typically run the stinky clothes through a quick rinse to get them wet. Then set my washing machine on the deepest water setting with the warmest water temp recommended (depends on the type of fabrics being laundered), and add 2-4 cups of powdered Borax right where the water fills the tub. Let the machine fill and move everything around for 5 mins, then pause the cycle and let everything soak for 4+ hours (ideally, overnight). After, un-pause and let the machine finish the cycle. Then, run through the normal detergent wash and dry as recommended. It’s worked for all the pungent must I’ve had, so it might just do the trick. HTH.
I cam across an amazing discovery on social media which is to read your Pine Sol bottle and use 1/2 a cup in with normal detergent while washing. Gets rid of the most obnoxious smells!
My sister had a box of baby clothes get damp and moldy in a assuage shed. We tried everything to get the smell out to no avail. Until we soaked them in odoban. Odoban is a eucalyptus based germ fighter that works great on pretty much anything. We’ve found the lavender one isn’t too bad in the long run. You will have to wash the clothes again afterwards but it might help. Best of luck!
I know this is a late response, but if you have t ever tried the detergent called HEX, you should! It is amazing!! It has eliminated smells from things I never thought would smell normal ever again!
Stuff them all in the freezer for about a week or 2 and then let them sit, to dry. This happened to me and when all else failed they went into freezer. It seemed to work! Good luck
Wow, its funny you should say how sick you get from different kinds of mold. We bought my grandparents house and they have tons of high end beautiful furniture. Upon going through them, trying to clean them, and empty them out, I ended up w a severe sinus infection, that left me with the WORST headache AND FACIAL pain, just like you said. omg I’m so glad im not going crazy. I was ready to go to the doctor, as if something was major wrong— then I realized it was the day after starting our journey of clearing the place out. I just ended up at this thread trying to find out a way to get the smell out of old dressers. I now have them moved over to my house and cleaned them with soap and water, left baking soda in each drawer for a week, nothing. and im scared to out my clothes in there bc I dont want them to smell musty and old. Hmm. Maybe vinegar next?
Fire restoration companies use lacquer base BIN . My family had a paint store and supplied a couple of these companies.
You cannot use a water based product for this as the stains will come right through.
Wondering if after all the cleaning, sanding, etc., you still have an odor. If sealing all of the wood with a polyurethane, varnish, shellac???? Might it work??
It sure will Diane. An odor-blocking primer works best… like a BIN Shellac Primer. Be sure to read the label so it specifically states odor blocker.
I’ve used alcohol and cedar oil to spray down stinky things such as old furniture.
Any suggestions for getting perfume smell out of wood. I’m sure someone spilled some in a drawer. Sprayed bleach and set in sun last summer. Still smells. Then I used a oil primer. Still smells. Help
I’ve inherited a secretary desk that belonged to my great great great grandparents. It smells something fierce. Will the methods above be safe to use without damaging the stain and Patina?
bought a beautiful chest of drawers supper cheap with a foul odor and after searching I found the solution,,,after everything else failed I emptied it out then out to the garage with it and used sealer on every inch of the inside,,,let it dry a few days took it back inside and problem solved
What kind of sealer
I I don’t know what the person above used, but we had a house fire, and everything that couldn’t be removed was sealed in
“ Rust-Oleum® Zinsser® Clear B-I-N Sealer. This dewaxed shellac solution eliminates the toughest odors such as food, pet urine and cigarette smoke, and it won’t yellow with age for lasting preservation of the original appearance.” Actually, we used oil base white, but I sure wish I knew about the clear at the time.
My mother in law told me Borax gets the mildew smell out of books. Just put in a container and cover with Borax. Wonder if it would work for furniture too?
do you put the books in a container and directly cover with dry Borax?
I just sprayed this smelly piece down with MOLD STAT. After reading this blog for about 30 minutes, I took my ETHANOL HAND SANITIZER gallon and used a micro cloth saturated and a wet sponge to clean every nook and cranny inside and out. Letting in dry in front of a fan for now. It is 66 degrees outside with cloudy skies expecting rain at some point. I will then attempty to sand the top only. DO I CHALK PAINT THEN POLY or POLY THEN CHALK PAINT IT? To give the piece no room to breath and grow mold.