Normal Guest Room Odors

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Proud Texan

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Smelly socks withstanding, how do you deal with normal odors that emanate from old furniture, fabrics, carpet, bedding and all of the other sources within a guest room?
Our cottages are clean. I mean really clean. Yet, I find that when we have the room closed up for a day or two, it smells.....well.....not fresh. It's not bad, just not fresh.
One of our cabins is extensively trimmed in wood with a wood ceiling. I'm pretty sure that is that rooms problem. The other, that's full of antiques, smells like grandma's spare room. We open the windows and turn on the ceiling fan to keep fresh air circulating and that seems to help, but I'm not satisfied. We haven't had any comments about this from guests, but that doesn't mean they don't notice it.
Is there a magic solution for freshening up the room without trying to cover it up with some gagging perfume product?
 
One room checked out today and left behinfd the smell of mouthwash, it is permeating the whole hallway outside the room.
Living in a historic home with everything and it's brother having been birthed and died in here - when the humidity is up I gag on certain days (I am sensitive to it). Humidity is the enemy for those type smells to MUSTER their way back to life.
barf.gif

So keeping the a/c on works wonders.
 
Your cabins are new but my house is old. We deal with the same sort of problems when rooms go unused or if we leave the doors closed to keep wandering guests out. We've found the best thing is what you're doing. Get the windows open and run the fans. We tried those damp smell removal cakes but I never noticed they did any good in absorbing the smells.
You might try lavendar drawer paper in the furniture if the dressers have that old smell. Lavendar is not a really awful perfumey smell and it is relaxing. Especially in the heat, the closed room smell does build up. We have one room with all new carpet and bedding and furniture and it still smells different from the other rooms. At this point it's probably in the plaster and it's not going away.
 
One room checked out today and left behinfd the smell of mouthwash, it is permeating the whole hallway outside the room.
Living in a historic home with everything and it's brother having been birthed and died in here - when the humidity is up I gag on certain days (I am sensitive to it). Humidity is the enemy for those type smells to MUSTER their way back to life.
barf.gif

So keeping the a/c on works wonders..
Cigarette smoke is really bad in the damp weather. It seeps out of the walls.
 
One room checked out today and left behinfd the smell of mouthwash, it is permeating the whole hallway outside the room.
Living in a historic home with everything and it's brother having been birthed and died in here - when the humidity is up I gag on certain days (I am sensitive to it). Humidity is the enemy for those type smells to MUSTER their way back to life.
barf.gif

So keeping the a/c on works wonders..
I am so glad to hear I am not the only one with smell sensitivity....it drives my husband bonkers!!! But I am just a freak about it!!! THe humidity brings out the worst. FOr me, I keep spraying febreeze, or keep my candles burning. I'd rather smell that than musty wood odors...yuk. We do have a full house fan in the attic and if it gets really bad, we turn it on to suck out the odors. A/C helps as well.
 
One room checked out today and left behinfd the smell of mouthwash, it is permeating the whole hallway outside the room.
Living in a historic home with everything and it's brother having been birthed and died in here - when the humidity is up I gag on certain days (I am sensitive to it). Humidity is the enemy for those type smells to MUSTER their way back to life.
barf.gif

So keeping the a/c on works wonders..
Have you ever tried a dehumidifier in the room after people check-out? We have one room that lacks a bathroom exhaust fan and gets really humid when they've been using the shower and jetted tub a lot. In the winter it stays really moist in there, but after we got the dehumidifier it really does the trick. We have the old wood smell here also.
 
One room checked out today and left behinfd the smell of mouthwash, it is permeating the whole hallway outside the room.
Living in a historic home with everything and it's brother having been birthed and died in here - when the humidity is up I gag on certain days (I am sensitive to it). Humidity is the enemy for those type smells to MUSTER their way back to life.
barf.gif

So keeping the a/c on works wonders..
I am so glad to hear I am not the only one with smell sensitivity....it drives my husband bonkers!!! But I am just a freak about it!!! THe humidity brings out the worst. FOr me, I keep spraying febreeze, or keep my candles burning. I'd rather smell that than musty wood odors...yuk. We do have a full house fan in the attic and if it gets really bad, we turn it on to suck out the odors. A/C helps as well.
.
catlady said:
I am so glad to hear I am not the only one with smell sensitivity....it drives my husband bonkers!!! But I am just a freak about it!!! THe humidity brings out the worst. FOr me, I keep spraying febreeze, or keep my candles burning. I'd rather smell that than musty wood odors...yuk. We do have a full house fan in the attic and if it gets really bad, we turn it on to suck out the odors. A/C helps as well.
I run the whole house fan as well.
 
We have a 1912 house with a crawl space only and escapee from a gulag could fit under - so when we go away the first comment from DH os the "old house smell" somplaint.
I was going to suggest a small dish with vanilla will help a lot. Vanilla is a pleasant oder and it absorbs other odors.
 
One room checked out today and left behinfd the smell of mouthwash, it is permeating the whole hallway outside the room.
Living in a historic home with everything and it's brother having been birthed and died in here - when the humidity is up I gag on certain days (I am sensitive to it). Humidity is the enemy for those type smells to MUSTER their way back to life.
barf.gif

So keeping the a/c on works wonders..
Have you ever tried a dehumidifier in the room after people check-out? We have one room that lacks a bathroom exhaust fan and gets really humid when they've been using the shower and jetted tub a lot. In the winter it stays really moist in there, but after we got the dehumidifier it really does the trick. We have the old wood smell here also.
.
Breakfast Diva said:
Have you ever tried a dehumidifier in the room after people check-out? We have one room that lacks a bathroom exhaust fan and gets really humid when they've been using the shower and jetted tub a lot. In the winter it stays really moist in there, but after we got the dehumidifier it really does the trick. We have the old wood smell here also.
First of all, I'm glad I'm not crazy. Secondly, East Texas maintains a humidity level that's unusually high (sometimes 85% plus).
The dehumidifier sounds like a good option because the Air Conditioners would be too costly to run non-stop.
 
We have a 1912 house with a crawl space only and escapee from a gulag could fit under - so when we go away the first comment from DH os the "old house smell" somplaint.
I was going to suggest a small dish with vanilla will help a lot. Vanilla is a pleasant oder and it absorbs other odors..
gillumhouse said:
We have a 1912 house with a crawl space only and escapee from a gulag could fit under - so when we go away the first comment from DH os the "old house smell" somplaint.
I was going to suggest a small dish with vanilla will help a lot. Vanilla is a pleasant oder and it absorbs other odors.
Do you mean vanilla extract?
 
We have a 1912 house with a crawl space only and escapee from a gulag could fit under - so when we go away the first comment from DH os the "old house smell" somplaint.
I was going to suggest a small dish with vanilla will help a lot. Vanilla is a pleasant oder and it absorbs other odors..
gillumhouse said:
We have a 1912 house with a crawl space only and escapee from a gulag could fit under - so when we go away the first comment from DH os the "old house smell" somplaint.
I was going to suggest a small dish with vanilla will help a lot. Vanilla is a pleasant oder and it absorbs other odors.
Do you mean vanilla extract?
.
You probably could use vanilla extract. I use real vanilla. I have a friend who get me vanilla in Mexico (and if she has not been here for a while get vanilla at the bulk food).. I checked the bottle says pure vanilla. You do not need much.
 
We have a 1912 house with a crawl space only and escapee from a gulag could fit under - so when we go away the first comment from DH os the "old house smell" somplaint.
I was going to suggest a small dish with vanilla will help a lot. Vanilla is a pleasant oder and it absorbs other odors..
gillumhouse said:
We have a 1912 house with a crawl space only and escapee from a gulag could fit under - so when we go away the first comment from DH os the "old house smell" somplaint.
I was going to suggest a small dish with vanilla will help a lot. Vanilla is a pleasant oder and it absorbs other odors.
Do you mean vanilla extract?
.
You probably could use vanilla extract. I use real vanilla. I have a friend who get me vanilla in Mexico (and if she has not been here for a while get vanilla at the bulk food).. I checked the bottle says pure vanilla. You do not need much.
.
gillumhouse said:
You probably could use vanilla extract. I use real vanilla. I have a friend who get me vanilla in Mexico (and if she has not been here for a while get vanilla at the bulk food).. I checked the bottle says pure vanilla. You do not need much.
I suppose you could put it under the bed out of reach.
 
We have a 1912 house with a crawl space only and escapee from a gulag could fit under - so when we go away the first comment from DH os the "old house smell" somplaint.
I was going to suggest a small dish with vanilla will help a lot. Vanilla is a pleasant oder and it absorbs other odors..
gillumhouse said:
We have a 1912 house with a crawl space only and escapee from a gulag could fit under - so when we go away the first comment from DH os the "old house smell" somplaint.
I was going to suggest a small dish with vanilla will help a lot. Vanilla is a pleasant oder and it absorbs other odors.
Do you mean vanilla extract?
.
You probably could use vanilla extract. I use real vanilla. I have a friend who get me vanilla in Mexico (and if she has not been here for a while get vanilla at the bulk food).. I checked the bottle says pure vanilla. You do not need much.
.
gillumhouse said:
You probably could use vanilla extract. I use real vanilla. I have a friend who get me vanilla in Mexico (and if she has not been here for a while get vanilla at the bulk food).. I checked the bottle says pure vanilla. You do not need much.
I suppose you could put it under the bed out of reach.
.
or under the dresser or end table.... In any corner where - hopefully (but remember Murphy) - a guest will not step into it, kick it, or otherwise make an even bigger mess....
 
We have a 1912 house with a crawl space only and escapee from a gulag could fit under - so when we go away the first comment from DH os the "old house smell" somplaint.
I was going to suggest a small dish with vanilla will help a lot. Vanilla is a pleasant oder and it absorbs other odors..
gillumhouse said:
We have a 1912 house with a crawl space only and escapee from a gulag could fit under - so when we go away the first comment from DH os the "old house smell" somplaint.
I was going to suggest a small dish with vanilla will help a lot. Vanilla is a pleasant oder and it absorbs other odors.
Do you mean vanilla extract?
.
You probably could use vanilla extract. I use real vanilla. I have a friend who get me vanilla in Mexico (and if she has not been here for a while get vanilla at the bulk food).. I checked the bottle says pure vanilla. You do not need much.
.
gillumhouse said:
You probably could use vanilla extract. I use real vanilla. I have a friend who get me vanilla in Mexico (and if she has not been here for a while get vanilla at the bulk food).. I checked the bottle says pure vanilla. You do not need much.
They lie. It's not pure vanilla. (I did an online search about it once.) But it smells great and is super cheap!!!
=)
Kk.
 
One room checked out today and left behinfd the smell of mouthwash, it is permeating the whole hallway outside the room.
Living in a historic home with everything and it's brother having been birthed and died in here - when the humidity is up I gag on certain days (I am sensitive to it). Humidity is the enemy for those type smells to MUSTER their way back to life.
barf.gif

So keeping the a/c on works wonders..
I am so glad to hear I am not the only one with smell sensitivity....it drives my husband bonkers!!! But I am just a freak about it!!! THe humidity brings out the worst. FOr me, I keep spraying febreeze, or keep my candles burning. I'd rather smell that than musty wood odors...yuk. We do have a full house fan in the attic and if it gets really bad, we turn it on to suck out the odors. A/C helps as well.
.
My hub saya I have the best nose west of the Mississippi. It drives him nuts thst I smell everything, but I am the first one he calls over to say - "Smell this..is this bad?"
I guess we are lucky to have this low humidity, because odors don't linger very long at all, but I usually use a candle to burn off any risiduals of unpleasant smells. I hadn't thought of it 'till you brought it up PT, but we are getting rid of real candles in liew of what hapened with our friend's B&B. The vinegar is a wonderful idea! We wash our brick floors with vinegar and water and after it dries it really makes the house smell fresh!
 
Or the entire house smelling like bacon for the whole day. (Yes, I have a vented to the outside range hood.) I'm not sure...is a bacon smell good or bad? The smell had finally dissipated by this evening. A/C running non-stop because of the heat and humidity, so no way to open the windows. :-(
When rooms have been idle, I'll just use air neutralizer spray, make sure the A/C is running in the warm weather (or open windows in cooler less humid weather), and run the ceiling or tower fans to freshen the air.
 
aieechihuahua said:
I get my vanilla in Mexico. It is pure to the extent that it is not imitation. It is pure vanilla extract with alcohol to thin and caramel for color. I can now get it locally. Who wants some?
where can we get it? i have a vanilla fetish if there is such a thing!
 
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