This dresser stinks.
It may be curvy, old, and beautiful, but it has that musty smell. The tell tale sign it’s been sitting a bit too long in someone’s basement. Let me teach you how to clean and restore both the inside and the outside of an old piece so it will last for years to come (and so you aren’t afraid to put your clothes in those drawers).
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4 Steps to Get Rid of the Musty Smell
1. Vacuum
First things first to get rid of that musty smell, get your shop vac plugged in and vacuum as much as you can – dust, cobwebs, spider eggs, spiders, sawdust. Get whatever you can off with your vacuum.
2. Spray & Wipe Clean
Mix some cleaning solution – I used White Lightning – in a spray bottle with water and spray that sucker down. Wipe it off with a paper towel, and REPEAT until you are no longer getting dirt off the piece. I literally used a whole roll of paper towels on this dresser, that’s how dirty it was! It was actually amazing after taking off layers and layers of dirt, we were already able to see so much more of the beautiful wood grain.
3. Use some Sunshine
It is best to do this whole process on a sunny day. After spraying and wiping and spraying and wiping, the next step to getting rid of the old musty smell is to set it in the sun. The sun not only helps dry out the wood after all the cleaning solution we just put on there, but it helps deodorize it too. Sunny, dry days are sometimes hard to come by here in Pittsburgh – but I was fortunate enough to get a good one, and it really helped me with this piece!
4. Big Mama’s Butta
Say what?! Big Mama’s Butta is a wood conditioner and deodorizer. After we have sprayed the heck out of the drawers, and set it in the sun to bake, these drawers may be clean, but they are also a bit dried out. This soft wax re-hydrates the wood and has a nice smell to it that keeps these drawers smelling like roses (or oranges, or just clean wood – depending on the scent you chose). I applied a generous amount with an old t-shirt, and rubbed it into the wood. No more musty smell!
What a difference a little work will make on the inside of a piece! Here’s a video showing you each step and going more in depth on the outside of the dresser as well.
For the drawers, I wanted to uncover all that beautiful wood, so once the insides of the drawers were no longer smelling musty, I sanded the outside of the drawer fronts with 120 grit sandpaper.
I then applied a quick layer of water based wood stain – Antique Oak to be exact. And then sealed (and again re-hydrated) the wood with Hemp Oil. This soaks into the dry old wood and makes it come to life!
The case of the dresser was painted in Dixie Belle’s Antebellum Blue – a stunning color, that I cannot get enough of – and plays so well with this wood grain. New simple brass knobs finish off this piece just perfectly.
Now the inside and the outside is like a whole new dresser! Have any tricks to share for getting rid of the musty smell in old furniture – I’d love to know!
Happy Cleaning!
Jenni
