apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Contact Puck at:

http://cottageofstone.blogspot.com

She wrote about getting a couch on craigslist that reeked of cigarette smoke (very tough to rid). She used some type of odd "odor bomb" and it worked very well. I couldn't find the info on her blog, but if you contact her I'm sure she'll reply.

Oh, and it is a cute house/blog, also.

I just asked some Indian friends here in the States and their answer is "you don't". Super strength Fabreze helps, but the smell is from essential oils. It has bonded with the fabric and wood.

Here is instructions for eliminating the smell from a house:

"How to eliminate Curry smell to sell the house?

You will need about two weeks to prepare the house

1. Change all the air filters. Remove and discard curtains, and other upholstered furniture.

2. Wash all the surfaces with Vinegar solution (One cup of water, Two Tablespoons of white vinegar). Spray the carpet, and walls to a damp. Keep the windows open to let the house air-dry.

3. Buy 'Live Microbial Agent' sold at most of the hardware store. Prepare a spray with equal amount of water. The Microbial agents have a live bacteria that eats odors. Spray the entire house with the live microbial agent (ceilings, walls, carpets, furniture and equipments). Keep the windows open to let the house air-dry for 2 days. Repeat this process 4 more times

4. Paint the house. Add two Tablespoons of vanilla extract to every gallon of paint."

A friend of mine recently came home to find that his wife had washed the cushion covers of their new (old) couch, and he was really disappointed that it no longer smelled like curry... So, if any of the fabric is easily removable, try just throwing it in the washer...

A tip from Scott Common Sense is to lightly sprinkle baking soda on the furniture and let it sit overnight then just vacuum it all up the next day. Hope this works!

What a dilemma!

arroyo -

thank you for remembering me!

yes, i do have an entry all about de-stinkifying furniture. i had wonderful results, and it was super easy and pretty affordable.

if you need the particulars, here is the link:

http://cottageofstone.blogspot.com/2009/01/diy-deordorizing-furniture-or-smoke-be.html

Can't vouch for curry, but I once got a pair of mid century chairs at Goodwill ($20 each!) that stank of cigarette smoke and mildew (or, at least, must.)

I shampooed the upholstery, liberally coated them (when dry) with a noxiously perfumed carpet cleaner, vacuumed that off a few days later, coated them with baking powder for a couple of days, vacuumed that off, and left them sit outdoors on the balcony in the sun as much and often as possible. It took a while, but the odors went away and I have had the chairs for probably 15 years now.

Me, I love the smell of curry, though, so I'd probably just be sad when it faded on it's own!

Put it in the kitchen and cook some fish?

I'm sure that the smell (I love curry!) will disspiate on its one in time...

I bought a terrific craigslist couch that had "other person's house" smell to it. It did go away after a few months. When I vacuum the room, I beat the sofa a bit with the nozzle to loosen up dust, and I think that helps keep it fresh.

I would try products designed for pet-odor removal (Nature's Miracle, pehaps), fresh air/sunlight, or Febreze.

I guess the moral is to smell before buying.

I would totally try Nature's Miracle. It's amazing at getting out pet smells - deep, nasty ones, and if you really soak the couch with it, I would expect great results.

I cook curry all the time, but find that if i keep the window even slightly open and light a candle, the smell never sits in my upholstery or clothes. If it's deep seated however, I'd try the Febreeze with anti-bacterial liberally over the whole thing and let it air out for a couple of days.

'Aromatic' smell of curry? I used to work at an apartment complex with a large Indian population, and the hallways would REEK. We lost an innumerable amount of renters, and had to avoid showing certain buildings altogether, because they wouldn't even look at the unit after getting a whiff of the hallways. Once that smell is in the unit, it is impossible to remove. We would replace the carpet, paint the walls, and clean with bleach, and the smell didn't even lighten up. It got to the point that we had to forbid 'offensive cooking smells' solely due to people using curry because it would seep into other units and disturb other residents. That stuff is noxious, even if it is delicious.

I can't believe nobody sees the racist connotations of this question/post, and of some of the responses.

Why is it necessary to mention the couple you got it from are Indian? Why does that otherwise matter? What's next?:

"I just bought a set of pillows from a Asian woman (nice people there, those Asians, by the way!) ....."

Screw this!

alpha, I doubt the question was intentionally worded to have that connotation.

I'm Chinese, but I wouldn't get offended if the asker had said "I recently bought a couch from a lovely Chinese couple off of Craigslist. The couch is perfect except for the fact that the couch smells like wood-ears."

Because, the way my mom prepares them, they sure do leave a scent in the house!

(I like the scent of my mom's cooking, and a lot of people like the scent of Indian cooking. But it's not for everyone.)

Chikiyuu, that's funny. And you're right -- cooking smells are subjective. I wouldn't want furniture that smelled like shrimp paste, either. Or even "Amurrican" BBQ charred meat (I don't eat meat).

Nature's Miracle gets the worst of the worst pet smells and stains out, but you would need gallons of it to do a stuffed sofa. The smell is likely in the stuffing as well as on the fabric. I'd suggest getting a professional carpet/furniture cleaner to come out and do an enzyme cleaning job on it, but if that's too much money you could rent the equipment and do it yourself. Do it outside and leave the sofa in the sun for a day. Get some of those bags of mineral odor remover and place them in and around the sofa after it dries:

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/earth-care-odor-remover-bag-p-430.html

alpha,
i noticed.

if only those indian people would switch to trader joe's chicken tikka masala they would save us this conundrum.

by the way, my husband and i are thinking about buying a couch from a lovely white couple. how would you suggest we get rid of the smell of mayonnaise sandwich?

My apartment complex is full of Indians, and you'd be amazed by some of the racist comments that can get on apartment review sites.

My only problem with it is now AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS the hallways smell. It's always a tiny bit of a let down to walk past doors hiding the best smelling curry and pilau, and then walk into my empty kitchen knowing I just don't match up!

Least anyone think I'm just biased towards Indian food, there's also another neighbor who seems to be in the habit of roasting chicken, which drives me to drooling jealousy as well.

GET A NEW COUCH.

The whole problem is that most apartment comples dont have a window in either the kitchen or the bathroom (most odor originating places). Even if they did exist, i dont see anyoen open their windows even on a perfect day!...so i assume everyonez house should smell of some odor or th other...else why would Febreeze even exist...lol