Although there's many eco-friendly paint options on the market these days, that doesn't mean they are always your first choice when it comes to color or price point for the project at hand. The downfall of using more traditional paints are the fumes that come with your newly painted hue. Want to know how to make them go away in a jiffy?
Paint fumes will go away on their own, of course, but if you don't want to have them lingering you can get rid of the odor with a simple bucket of water and a handful of lemons.
If you don't own a bucket, try using your largest pot for the stove (and change it frequently) and add a few lemon slices inside. Not only will the lemons give you a natural fresh smell, but the water will actually soak up the paint fumes your diy project left behind.
Change your water once a day until fumes are gone, but in most single rooms this trick can work almost overnight! Brilliant!
(Image: Flickr member Sam Fox Photography licensed for use by Creative Commons)
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Recipe: Chopped Brown Rice Salad with Grapes and Pecans
Cutting a couple of large onions in half and leaving them overnight helps too....
M
Good to know! Since we're about to embark on a heavy painting adventure, this couldn't have come at a better time.
Does this just take away the smell or does it take away both the smell and the actual bad chemical in the air?
My husband mistakenly bought an oil based primer and the fume was so bad my husband almost fainted while painting the room. It's been almost 6 months and I can still smell the primer in the room. I tried everything to get rid of the smell..onion in the water, lemon, we even bought an expensive air cleaner but nothing really worked. The best method was to opening all the windows but that worked only while the windows were open. So please please don't ever buy oil based primer!!
Would this work for stain/poly as well? Did the inside of a table for a dog bed and don't want to put it out until the smell is gone. Been almost a week and it's still there.
bob vila once suggested a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract in the paint can before starting.
@Bali2: This wouldn't work for stain/poly. This will rid a VOC-fume from the area; unfortunately, polyurethane is a different kind of fume.
Lemons are an amazing natural disinfectant too...check out my post here for details. Thanks for the tip.
xo
E
http://urbanchiqueness.com/chique-tip-lemons-are-green/
Plants work really great at cleaning toxic air. I've had amazing success with Janet Craig plants at removing very heavy paint fumes from an office where I was working. (almost overnight)
Lady J, I tried Bob Vila's vanilla trick last time I painted, and I didn't notice a significant difference. Disappointing.
MonicaK - have you tried ground coffee beans? That's what they use in planes and I've successfully used it for microwaves, offices etc.