7 Ways To Remove Perfume Smells From Wood Furniture

Cleaning wood furniture can be a tricky business. 

Wood is naturally porous, and so when stains and smells embed themselves into wood, they won’t willingly come out. And if you spill perfume on your wood furniture, it’s going to take no small amount of elbow grease to remove it. That beautiful smell you love on your skin might become a beautiful nightmare that won’t leave if not dealt with properly. 

However, there are ways to remove the smell of perfume from wood furniture. 

There are many ways to remove the smell of perfume from wood furniture, including using:

• Vinegar solution
• Baking soda
• Coffee grounds
• Charcoal
• Bleach
• Wood soap
• Wood Furniture Odor Removers 

Let’s take a closer look. 

1. Vinegar Solution

Once again, is there anything that vinegar can’t do? This titan of stain removing, flavorizing, and deodorizing can take down just about any pesky smell on any material, whether it be fabric, carpet, or wood. 

Just be sure that you’re using white vinegar – you don’t wanna break out your apple cider or aged balsamic for this – and, for the best results, use extra strength cleaning vinegar. It’ll go a long way towards deodorizing your furniture. 

To use a vinegar solution to remove the smell of perfume from your wood furniture: 

1. Mix equal parts vinegar and lukewarm water in an empty, clean spray bottle. You MUST dilute the vinegar first before using it. Unless the wood is sealed, vinegar can very easily stain wood furniture due to its acidic nature. 
2. Spray the vinegar solution on the perfume-affected area of the furniture. 
3. Let it sit on the affected area for a few hours, or until it evaporates. 
4. Wipe down with a damp rag. 
5. If the smell of vinegar persists, use a scented wood cleaner after using the vinegar solution. 

If you don’t have vinegar at hand I can recommend Lucy’s Family Owned Natural Distilled White Vinegar which you can get here (Amazon).

2. Baking Soda

The home cleaning colossus that is sodium bicarbonate hardly requires any introduction. Baking soda is one of the most effective deodorizing materials on the planet, and it certainly can help to deodorize your wood furniture. Using baking soda is especially useful for deodorizing perfume-redolent drawers, closets, dressers, and vanities, where you might not even know where the smell of perfume is coming from. 

To use baking soda to remove the smell of perfume from your wood furniture: 

1. Sprinkle handfuls of baking soda in the affected drawer, cabinet, vanity, etc. If you’d like, you can also use a bowl of baking soda. 
2. Let the baking soda sit and absorb the odor for at least two to three days. 
3. If you’ve sprinkled the baking soda, vacuum it up. If not, then simply remove the bowl. 

3. Coffee Grounds

Coffee grounds are another quick homegrown deodorizing solution. They don’t use them at perfume stores for nothing – coffee grounds and beans are naturally absorbent, and soak up foul odors like a sponge. It’s best to use coffee grounds in the same way as you’d use baking soda – think of it more as a shotgun blast of odor-absorption, rather than a targeted sniper shot. 

To use coffee grounds to remove the smell of perfume from your wood furniture: 

1. Place coffee grounds in a plate, bowl, or other container and put in the affected drawer, armoire, closet, etc. 
2. Let the coffee grounds sit and absorb the smell for a few days at a time. If the odor persists after a few days, refresh the bowl with new coffee grounds. 
3. Repeat the process until the smell is gone. 

4. Charcoal

Charcoal is another great natural absorbent and deodorizer that can be used for a whole host of household cleaning duties. Best of all, you can reuse the charcoal for barbecuing afterwards – the odors won’t affect it even a fig. 

Just like coffee grounds and baking soda, charcoal is best used for deodorizing a larger area, rather than for spot cleaning – we’ll get into that in the next one. 

To use charcoal to remove the smell of perfume from your wood furniture: 

1. Place a few charcoal pieces in a plate, bowl, or other container and put in the affected drawer, closet, vanity, etc. 
2. Let the charcoal sit and absorb the perfume smell for a few days at a time. If the odor persists after a few days, refresh the bowl with new charcoal pieces. 
3. Repeat the process until the smell is gone. 

5. Bleach 

Another champion of any household cleaning cupboard worth its salt, bleach is well known for its capacity to annihilate stink and deodorize like its no one’s beeswax. Using bleach is certainly a viable solution for removing the smell from wood. 

However, it MUST be said that if you use bleach for your wood furniture, you NEED to dilute it – pretty heavily, at that. Otherwise, the bleach can remove the varnish or stain from the wood. 

One more thing: this method works best for spot cleaning. If you’re dealing with a larger problem, go with baking soda, coffee grounds, or charcoal. 

To use bleach to remove the smell of perfume from your wood furniture: 

1. Dilute your bleach. Use a ratio of 1:100 parts bleach to water. For example, ⅓ cup of bleach to 2 gallons of water (80ml:8l). If you’re worried about your furniture staining, use a greater dilution of 1:500 parts bleach to water, ex. 1 tsp bleach in 10 cups of water (5ml:2.5l). 
2. Dip a rag in the diluted bleach, or, if using sufficiently small quantities, in a clean, empty spray bottle. Be aware that bleach is corrosive, and can erode the spraying mechanism of the bottle if used for an extended period of time. 
3. Wipe down the affected area with the bleach solution. 
4. Let the bleach soak into the affected area for around thirty minutes. 
5. Rinse the bleach solution with a rag moistened in water. 
6. If the smell of bleach persists, use a scented wood cleaner after you’ve rinsed the furniture. 

If you don’t already bleach at home, you can get your Clorox bleach online here (Amazon).

6. Wood Soap

If you’d like, using a wood soap product can be a great way to get the smell of perfume out of your wood furniture. Bacteria and germs can soak into your wood furniture, especially if you live in a humid climate. If you spill perfume and the smell saturates the wood, it can mix with the smell of bacteria in a particularly unpleasant way. 

A wood soap product can eliminate both the bacteria and the odor of the perfume. What’s better than killing two birds with one stone? Just make sure that you’ve chosen a wood soap product that matches your wood furniture. 

To use wood soap to remove the smell of perfume from your wood furniture: 

1. Make sure that your wood furniture is clean before using. 
2. Apply the wood soap product following the manufacturer’s instructions on the label. 
3. Clean the affected area thoroughly. 
4. Let dry completely. 

If you don’t have any wood soap available, you can get Murphy Oil Soap Wood Cleaner here (Amazon).

7. Wood Furniture Odor Removers

Finally, if you want to remove the smell of perfume from your wood furniture, why not use a product specifically made for it? 

There are a number of wood furniture odor removers available in your local hardware stores, and on Amazon. 

The Howard Complete Wood Restoration Kit, for instance, will give you products that will not only deodorize and sanitize your wood furniture, but will restore the finish too, leaving your wood furniture looking good as new. 

Or, you could try some all purpose deodorizing sprays that work on wood surfaces as well. Try Oxyfresh’s All Purpose Deodorizer (Amazon), a natural product that’s packed with essential oils, or Force of Nature’s Multi-Purpose Cleaner (Amazon), a sanitizer, disinfectant, and deodorizing spray that is kryptonite for stubborn smells and stains. 

These products all have different uses, so just remember to choose a product that works with your wood furniture, and to read the manufacturer’s label before use. 

The Final Word

Cleaning wood furniture can be tough, and getting the smell out of it can be even tougher. But with these seven methods, getting rid of that pesky perfume odor from your wood furniture will be a breeze. 

Home cleaning solutions like vinegar, bleach, baking soda, and charcoal are effective at removing the smell of perfume from wood furniture. However, specialized wood products such as wood soap and wood furniture odor removers are great at deodorizing and sanitizing wood furniture as well.