Odor Removal From Old Furniture

My thrifted dish cabinet smelled of a musty old house and worst of all cigarettes. 

It was stained with nicotine inside and out.

Dawn soap, white vinegar, and coffee grounds

ODOR REMOVAL FROM OLD FURNITURE

1. Clean entire surface of wood with warm water and Dawn soap. Dawn is an excellent degreaser.
2. Go over entire surface of wood with warm water and vinegar. This may need to be done multiple times.
3. Place used coffee grounds in containers inside furniture in multiple places. Change coffee grounds frequently. The grounds absorb odors.

Charcoal briquets could be used in place of coffee grounds.

A reader of this blog also suggested crumpled up newspaper inside the cabinets.

 The back wall of the piece is particle board. 

and therefore almost impossible to wipe down.

Because of this I only removed about 75% of the odor but that is still a vast improvement.

 I could replace that board and remove a lot of odor.

 On a fine solid wood antique this process would be more effective.

It is almost impossible to remove mold and mildew odors from furniture. 

I do not buy furniture that smells like mildew or that has water stains.

The English roses I am allowing to dry inside the cabinet are leaving a lovely natural rose scent.

 So dry some scented flowers inside your malodorous furniture too.

joy and peace

Olive

Coffee Station

Welcome to the dark underworld that exists under my kitchen cabinets. Taking a photo here is a hoot and a half. I called it the Coffee Cave in yesterday's post. In the McCoy cookie jar, on the left, are coffee filters. The coffee is in the coffee canister that I recently found at a thrift store(it hails from Pottery Barn originally). It has a tight seal on the lid that works well to keep air out.

The coffee pots sits on the right there by the sink so it is easy to fill with water.

Splenda and Sugar in the Raw are in these two containers. They are Trader Joe's Corn and Chile Salsa jars. I love TJ's graphics and never discard their jars or bottles. I keep these in the cabinet over the coffee maker. I may move them to the counter if I can find a tray that will hold every item.

I am so CraZy this week that I auto posted this for February first instead of today March first. Still some commented. Y'all are on top of things and clearly I am confused:}

hoping coffee brings you warmth today

Olive

T Y P O G R A P H Y On Dishes

You gals know I visited some high end outlets last weekend (see images of Pottery Barn Outlet in my last post). I bought  little as the purpose of the weekend was to see our daughter.  We did drop in on some thrift stores and found two Pottery Barn items. Woot. This "tea" cup was one of the finds. It was fifty cents. CC and Joe have already done one cup intervention. Guess it did not work.

The Pottery Barn coffee canister was two dollars. I will use it for coffee storage by the coffee maker.

"Honey Bunny" is a tea cup I ordered, at Christmas, from One Kings Lane. I ordered a few more for gifts. Crafted by artist Keith Bryner Jones a British ceramic designer. Each of his pieces has a word in a font recalling old type writers.

 On the next post I will show you my dark little coffee station. Prepare to enter the Coffee Cave.

♥♥♥

In Olive Out news I am now on tumblr. The link is on my sidebar. I did not need another blog but Pinterest got me interested in tumblr. Where does this stop? Anyhoo, I am stumbling through tumblr.  I will be posting other peoples beautiful images and sometimes mine there. Sprinkled with quotes. This blog needs tons of technical work that I constantly avoid. I prefer fiddling with the pretty images and writing. I need Joe to retire and be my technical assistant. The pay would be awesome. Wink.

Linking@Be Inspired

joy and grace

Olive

Attention Morning People

Are you perky in the morning?

I'm not. CC, our daughter is certainly not. She does not form language well. She kind of growls at us. I bought this coffee cup for her at a thrift store.

I am having fun with the island to the degree Clovis, our cat, allows it. He eats on the island and I have tried to configure a cat friendly vignette on it. He is not a morning cat. He often gets up, eats and goes back to bed. 

Spoiled cat.

The large platter, ironstone platter, and cow creamer do not get in the cat's way. We would not want to upset him now would we? One day last week Shelley, our German Shepherd, was chasing him and Clovis nearly pulled this tray down on his head whilst executing a jump onto the island.  I have moved the tray to the center of the island for him since that incident.

Drama, we have it.

I also purchased this Organic Housekeeping  book yesterday and read half of it. That is why I did not post or pick up my laptop. Sometimes I get lost in books. Those are lovely days.

Today it will get to 74 degrees and I am going out to spread wood stove ashes around my hydrangea (trying to turn it pink). Then I am going to rake. Raking is an endless task here. There is absolutely no need to join a gym with all the garden tasks we have. I will be back tonight to visit with all of you. I am not picking up that book. 

Promise.

Linking@Tweak It Tuesday

The Budget Decorating Party

Wow Us Wednesday's

joy and peace

Olive

Morning Coffee

Good morning friends. 

Can you sit with me and have coffee and coffee bars?

I am partial to coffee.  

And chocolate. 

Do you see my favorite spoon? 

It has a fairy on it.

Yesterday I had a migraine headache.
 Caffeine is often used to treat headaches.
 In the 80's I administered intravenous caffeine to patients
 with spinal tap headaches.
 A headache from a spinal tap is dreadful.
 A caffeine drip brought these patients relief.
That illustrates the power of caffeine.
I did not drink coffee then and did not get
the connection but boy now I "get" it.

What are you doing this fine Saturday? 

Do tell.

joy and peace

Olive