Freshening Up Your Space
There’s nothing quite as disheartening as finding that perfect loveseat and realizing it’s thick with the smell of smoke. Vintage shoppers, estate sale seekers, family furniture inheritors and garage sale junkies are all too familiar with the claustrophobic odor of cigarettes and smoke that lingers on not just fabric but seemingly clings to every kind of exposed surface. Any object that’s been in a smoker's home can’t shake the stink, so are you doomed to give up that perfect piece, or can it be salvaged? Read on to learn how to get a smoke smell out of furniture.
7 Ways to Get the Smell of Smoke Out of Your Furniture
The stench of cigarette odor may overwhelm your lungs, but, fortunately, you’ll find the various DIY methods to eliminate it decidedly not overwhelming. These easy at-home methods can do the trick in removing cigarette smoke with little effort and cost. So before you toss your five-pack-a-day grandfather’s reading chair, try these tricks to retain the memories and not the cigarette smoke.
Air It Out
No matter which method you pursue, start with airing out the furniture. Open your windows and screened doors, point a fan at the smoky piece and let the air do the heavy lifting. Airflow can help dissipate toxins responsible for the smell. For light-colored furniture, sun exposure can also aid in essentially burning away the molecules causing cigarette smell to cling. If you can manage it, open up shades and windows to let the light in. Just avoid doing this with dark furniture because the UV radiation can cause the fabric to become sun-bleached.
On furniture pieces that possess a light cigarette odor, you might be able to get away with simply airing them out and goodbye smell! For furniture items that have been put through the test of a heavily reliant chain smoker—well, consider this the first step in your furniture’s road to recovery.
Baking Soda
Once the furniture has been aired out, it’s time to step up your method to something with a little more muscle: baking soda. The good news is that you probably don’t need to make a special trip to the store. Baking soda is one of the ubiquitous ingredients you likely have tucked away in a cupboard, and if you don’t, it’s at little cost to you.
Baking soda excels at sucking up nasty odors. It’s why we use it in the fridge, our laundry and to work out stains. Sprinkle this natural deodorizer onto the furniture and let it sit for a while (depending on just how stinky the furniture is, you can let it be for half an hour or a few hours). The severity of the cigarette odor will dictate if this process needs repeating. The baking soda can then easily be vacuumed and swept off.
A Fresh Coat of Paint
Maybe you’ve got a piece that doesn’t have fabric, like an entertainment console, end table, coffee table or bed frame, that unfortunately reeks of cigarette smoke. Odors don’t just seep into fabrics. They can also become absorbed into wood grain. Baking soda will be ineffective in eliminating these odors, but you’d be surprised what a fresh coat of paint will do.
A little bit of sanding, a base coat of primer and two layers of paint will suffocate the smoke smell, and your furniture will look brand new. You can also purchase special odor-eliminating paint to apply as a base layer to target and remove odors.
Coffee Grounds
For pieces without fabric that you want to skip the paint job and leave in their original condition, try this odd trick: coffee grounds. Coffee is used as a scent neutralizer, and it’s why stores that sell perfume keep jars of beans on their shelves. Smelling coffee between different perfume scents clears your nose’s passageways so you can start fresh after each sniff. While it may feel odd to spread coffee grounds on your end table, it can work! As long as you’re confident the used grounds won’t leave a stain, let them sit for a while and allow the coffee to neutralize the cigarette odor.
Good Old Fashioned Soap and Water
Sometimes, the simplest solutions work best, and for stinky smells or stains, soap and water may just be the ticket to removing that cigarette odor. Fabrics can respond well to a solution of warm water and dish soap. Try using a scented dish soap—preferably a scent you like because the hope is that your furniture piece will rid itself of the cigarette odor and be replaced with a much more pleasant smell.
Use a washcloth or paper towel and dampen it with warm water, applying some of the soap and working in small circular movements along the odorous fabric. The dish soap and water solution won’t harm your fabric, so feel free to repeat this process, letting the fabric absorb it until it’s dried.
Air Fresheners
Why not use something designed to tackle the worst smells? Air fresheners are created for this very purpose, after all. Products like Glade or Febreeze can safely be sprayed onto any type of furniture—even those with a fabric overlay. In fact, these air freshener products are advertised for this use. You can pick up a bottle of air freshener at any home improvement store or superstore like Walmart or Lowes. Read the manufacturer’s instructions before use. Spray down your piece in question until the cigarette odor has dissipated.
Professional Cleaner
Have you tried all the DIY methods, and your furniture still smells like cigarettes? It might be time to turn to the professionals. Fortunately, you aren’t the only person to own a piece of furniture with a cigarette smell that won’t go away. Professional furniture cleaning companies are in business for this very reason. You might find them by searching for a company that cleans upholstery, carpets and rugs. A professional cleaner has industrial-level tools and equipment that are designed to eliminate stains and odors completely. You might pay between $150 and $200, but you won’t have to worry about your piece stinking or frantically search for another DIY method to get the smell out.