Odor

I begin this blog with a call for help from you, lovely reader:

How do I get cigarette smell out of bookshelves?

I have acquired these fabulous, dirt-cheap bookshelves, and, as you may remember from earlier posts about my overcrowded bookshelves, you know I’m in desperate need of them.

However, they were apparently once the happy property of a smoker. And they reek. (I didn’t realized how bad they smelled until they’d been inside my apartment for two hours, but now, ti’s all I smell.) And the longer they are in my apartment, the more my apartment smells like an ashtray. Sailor Boy has decreed that if they do not stop smelling in two days, they’re out of here. But I’d really like to keep them.

They’re painted particle board. Any suggestions?

Should I spray them with Febreeze? Or does that only work on fabrics? I think I read somewhere that I should wash them with vinegar solution. I know to get smells out of carpet you dust coffee or baking soda around, then vacuum it up, but does that work on wood surfaces? I can’t imagine how it could.

Want bookshelves. Hate smell. See my dilemma?