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Trash to Treasures... (and a contest!!!)
One of the really cool things I like to do is to re purpose items!!! You know, turning trash to treasures?!?! Bahahahha!!! Recently I picked up six old WWII electrical lighting trunks. These are wooden trunks that the Army used to haul and ship their electrical items... well I have decided that I want to try and turn these trunks into a cabinet/bookcase for hubby's Army themed "I love me" office..
The one thing that no one ever expects when re purposing items is how much work it is actually going to be.... There always seems to be one hitch or another... yesterday and today I am dealing with those hitches I am afraid.
See the trunks are OLD, like really old... and therefore they are musty and smell yucko... So yesterday I power washed all the trunks and then I powered wash them a second time with Krud Kutter power wash soap. I left them out in the 91 degree sun all day thinking that would get rid of the smell. No such luck...
So today I am mixing up so "Odor Ban" at 50/50 strength. I went out there and sprayed all the trunks again with that and now I am letting them sit in the sun again for the day. Hopefully that will work. If not then I am assuming that my only other option is going to be to paint then in some type of sealer. Which I was kind of hoping to avoid as I wanted to keep them as original as I possible could. Oh well... I guess we will have to wait and see!!
If anyone has any idea's on how to get "musty" smells out of really old wood stuff I would love to hear them!!! In addition - I would love to hear what is your favorite item you have re purposed???
Hmmm - as a matter of fact - how about a little contest??? Tell me what your favorite item you have re purpose is (in the comment section) and tomorrow we will have a drawing from all them comments and the winner can pick out any BELOVED KEEPSAKES DESIGN for FREE!!!!
Can't wait to see your comments and suggestions!
Until Next Time!
Cya~
Lori McDonald, Designer
My cutter files work on many machines. Some examples are the: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the most common softwares involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create and Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, and Robomaster. These file are available exclusively at: VDBC!!! We also specialize in original photo keepsakes(including our one of a kind photo Stars). Additionally we are in the process of adding a new "Honoring your Hero" line of products. Make sure to visit our Store!
Don't forget to check back often as we host our scrapbooking digital cutting file freebies at least once a week!!!
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11 comments:
Lori-
I wish I could help with the smell, but I ma afraid I have no idea how to get the smell out of old wood. I would think that over a couple days it would disappear, but I have no idea.
My favorite thing to repurpose was taking an old solid core door that hubby found and turning it into a table for my scraproom. It is really sturdy and great for all my supplies that I use for cutting.
Hi Lori,
Have you tried baking soda? I've never used it on wood, but I've used it on other stuff and it's worked great on drying up stuff and eliminating odors! I bought in bulk when my son was potting training and kept having accidents on the rugs, couches, whatever. Sprinkle some on, leave overnight, vacuum the next day. No smell!
Good luck!!!!
p.s. My latest repurposed item is yogurt cups that have the mix-ins on top. After they are eaten, the mix-in portion makes a great cover for the yogurt cup! I wash and use them for dry snacks all the time - the fit perfectly in car cup holders. And I have so many of them that my son's preschool is going to use them to make rockets this summer (not realy rockets lol)
Hugs,
Heather
Wood is such a porous substance that the musty smell may be coming from mold under the surface. You could try lightly sanding them to see if that helps. Otherwise, your idea of coating them with a sealer may be your best option.
My favorite re-purposed item is my Pampered Chef Baker's Roller. It is basically a mini roller for rolling out dough, etc. I never used it in the kitchen, so it moved to my craft area and got re-purposed as a brayer of sorts. I use it to stick my paper down to my mat and it works beautifully.
My only suggestion would be baking soda for removing odors.
I re-purposed an old window that I found into a wine rack. Wine glasses hang from the top from wood that my hubby cut and attached and wine sits on the shelf he also created at the bottom of the window. The window was painted then "repainted" to look aged. I then found a poster and cut it to fit the window panes to resemble a vineyard. It looks great hanging in our dining area. I love it! Sally G
Ut oh! Where'd the comments go? I hope you saw my comment earlier...before Blogger got all wonky! LOL
Heather D.
Lori, I "inherited" a very old chest of drawers a few years ago, and it smelled awful! Very musty! After trying a few other things, I decided to try Febreeze. It worked!! If there is any smell left, you can just hit it again (with Febreeze spray!). You can also then sand a little bit and rub lightly with some fabric softener sheets. Good luck!
I re-purposed an old metal trunk. I got rid of the musty smell by using deactivated charcoal like you would use in a flower pot. It worked pretty well then I reupholstered the inside.
I haven't repurposed anything on a large scale. =( But I love to repurpose the pop top cans! i think they are so cool to stuff with goodies! Thanks, and good luck with your project! joy4umetoo at hotmail dot com
I wish I had something good but I'm not real creative - the best I have is I took a small cabinet that was for CD and put a stained glass panel that I found in the door, screwed some small cup hooks in the back of it and turned it into a jewelry cabinet - the necklaces hang on the hooks and I put little plastic cups in the bottom and put pens and such in that.
I haven't re-purposed anything but my daughter's apartment smelled musty and we used the charcoal that I put in small bags that I made. It worked!! I hope you find something. Good luck. Pam
I haven't re-purposed anything but my daughter's apartment smelled musty and we used the charcoal that I put in small bags that I made. It worked!! I hope you find something. Good luck. Pam
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