I was on such a roll too. I was feeling triumphant as I handed the guy at the loading dock my receipt as proof of my purchase. I found a great chair sitting on the floor of the house wares section of the local Goodwill that I have been haunting on a weekly basis. It wasn’t dirty or grubby…had no tears in the fabric and it was comfortable! The price tag said $25.00. I was thinking that was a pretty good deal. Sold. I wasn’t sure where I was going to put it but a deal is a deal and I was going to make room. The guy at the loading dock said “Nice chair” as he loaded into the back of my minivan. I said “Thanks! I’m usually not this lucky but I think I found a good one!” And I headed to work from there with my new chair in the back. Not 2 minutes into my drive did I realize that I might have made a mistake.
Now anyone who has shopped in a Goodwill will know what I mean when I say the Goodwill has a distinct smell. It is kind of a hybrid aroma….a musty smelling cross between the smell of the local dry cleaners, mildew, and Febreeze and another odor that I can’t quite put my finger on…that is until I got into my car. Since everything in the store smells anyway, I didn’t put my nose to the chair before I happily plopped down my $25.00. My new chair it seems came from the home of a smoker. I was driving down the road when it hit me. It was subtle at first, but after sitting in my van in the hot sun while I was working for a couple of hours there was no mistake. When I came out to my car to head home the odor of stale Marlboro’s or Camel’s hit me in the face when I opened the door. My new chair was starting to make my van smell like an ashtray!
As soon as I got home I put my new chair in the sun and gave it a heavy duty spray down of Febreeze. I let it bake in the sun for a couple of hours and then moved it into my husband’s office to surprise him! He was surprised alright! Let me just finish by saying that was two days ago. The chair is now out in the garage. We can’t take it anymore…the smell that is. The chair will be making a re-appearance on the sales floor at the Greensboro, NC Goodwill sometime this weekend and I have learned a $25.00 lesson. It is a good thing that I believe in what the Goodwill does and I look at my lesson learned as a donation to a worthy cause. :)
10 comments:
That's too bad. I guess you have to be careful of upholstered pieces. I haven't hit our Goodwill yet, but will probably start out looking for some of those smaller finds you usually score on.
so sad. Yes, there is really NOTHING that can take out cigerette smoke. My BIL smokes and when he comes to my home, though he smokes outside, I can smell him for a day or two after he leaves. Hate that, because it was a nice chair. Lesson learned though. Thanks for linking up to thrifty Thursday, sweet friend!
Leigh
Tales from Bloggeritaville
www.lbratina.blogspot.com
So sorry to hear this and it was such a great looking chair, too! But, alas....getting tobacco smoke out of furniture is impossible!!!
Ask for a refund at the Goodwill store...just kidding:) Call Frabreeze and tell them to send a representative to your house because you have a big challenge for them. would just put it on the curb and let the next person deal with it. Lessons learned and I have learned a few myself but you have to laugh:)
Joyce
Drats...I will have to remember this....I haven't purchased anything with fabric....
thanks !
Kammy
Oh, that's too bad because it was a cool chair. I loaned a bed once to a friend who is a smoker, and when I got it back, I had to pitch the mattress! I hate cigarette smoke.
Before you take it back, you could have it reupholstered, and that should take care of things. I bought a loveseat for $25 years ago, and it was the same thing. I had it reupholstered, and it's perfect now. It was an excellent quality love seat, so I felt good about it. I couldn't have gotten one for that price (even after being reupholstered) so it made sense for us at the time.
Hope you find another chair that is just perfect for you.
Oh, and by the way, your link on Leigh's blog is hooked up to your Outdoor Wed. post. I perservered! :-)
Happy Thrifty Thursday...
XO,
Sheila :-)
Oh that sounds like a horror story. So much work to get it home and try to clean it and it can't be saved. Now you're out $25 because somebody had a bad habit of smoking! I wish cigarettes would be banned everywhere. They are disgusting! I'm glad you didn't try to leave it in your home. You would've had people talking about how bad your house smelled! Ha!
Any chance of scrubbing it with the kind of laundry soap that takes out smell? I think Febreeze makes one. Then hose it down and let it dry in the sun. If the cushion cover is removeable, you could get a new cushion and dryclean the cover. If you can get in the sun for a couple of DAYS, that might help.
Aw that is a drag!
:(
Mann that stinks. no pun in ten did
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