A chest of drawers that has spent a few years in a shed will hand that smell back to everything you put in it, and it will keep doing it for a year. Sachets work for about ten days. A scented liner works for about ten days. An air freshener taped inside the top drawer works for about ten days, and then you are back where you started.
What actually fixes it is boring, takes a weekend, and has almost nothing to do with the chest. The smell is moisture living in the timber, and you cannot perfume moisture out of anything.
Why a Closed Drawer Goes Off
A drawer is a small volume of air that does not move. Put anything in it that carries even a trace of moisture, close it, and that moisture has nowhere to go. Over months it soaks into the timber and the board, and the microbial activity that produces the smell gets going in there quietly.
Three things feed it. Clothes that went away not quite dry, which is most of what people fold on a humid day. Body oils on clothing that was clean enough to put away but not actually washed. And a room that runs damp, which in an older Australian house with no subfloor ventilation is a great many rooms.
New furniture can smell too, and it is a completely different thing. That is the finish off-gassing, it smells sharp rather than sour, and it goes away on its own in a few weeks with the drawers left open. Do not treat it as a musty smell, because the treatment is different and unnecessary.
Empty It Completely, Then Take the Drawers Out
Everything out. Not most things, everything, including the liner if there is one. Then pull each drawer right out of the carcass and stand them somewhere with air moving around them, because you are trying to dry six surfaces on each drawer and you can only reach three of them while it is in the chest.
Outside is best and shade is essential. A back verandah for most of a Saturday is about right. Direct sun dries timber faster and fades it permanently, which trades one problem for a worse one, and the difference in drying speed is not worth it.
Leave the carcass open at the same time. The inside of the box holds as much of the smell as the drawers do, and it is the part everybody forgets.
Wipe, But Barely
A cloth wrung out in a solution of one part white vinegar to four parts water, run over every internal surface, then a dry cloth straight behind it. The vinegar deals with what is on the surface and the dry cloth is the important half, because adding moisture to a piece of furniture with a moisture problem is how people make this worse.
If the cloth drips when you lift it, there is too much water in it. On board or veneered surfaces this matters more than on solid timber, because a swollen board edge never goes back down.
Then dry it properly. A fan pointed into the open carcass for a few hours does more than a day of leaving it standing. Do not put the drawers back until the timber feels dry to the touch and, more usefully, until it stops smelling when you put your face close to it.
Then Absorb What Is Left
Bicarbonate of soda in an open container, one in each drawer and one in the carcass, left for three to five days with everything closed. Bicarb genuinely absorbs odour compounds rather than covering them, and it costs a few dollars. Throw it out afterwards and do not be tempted to leave it in there for a month.
Activated charcoal does the same job and lasts longer, which makes it the better choice for maintenance once the smell has gone. A small bag in the back of a rarely opened cabinet is genuinely worth doing.
What is not worth bothering with: scented sachets, cedar balls and drawer liners, at least not as a fix. All of them are pleasant and none of them removes anything. Lavender in a drawer that still smells musty gives you a drawer that smells of musty lavender.
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Fix the Room or It Comes Back
This is the part almost everybody skips. A drawer in a damp room will be damp again in a month, and the smell will come back exactly as it was.
Aim for 40 to 55 per cent relative humidity in the room, which is the same range that keeps timber from cracking in winter and swelling in summer. A cheap hygrometer tells you where you actually are, and the answer tends to surprise people in both directions.
Pull furniture 3cm to 5cm off external walls so air can move behind it. Open the drawers for an hour on a dry day every few weeks, particularly in a bedroom that stays closed. And do not put anything away that is not properly dry, which in a Sydney summer means giving folded washing longer than feels necessary.
If the room itself is the problem rather than the habit, that is a subfloor and ventilation conversation rather than a furniture one, and no amount of bicarb will settle it.
The One That Will Not Shift
Occasionally a piece has had water in it, not damp air, and the smell is in the board rather than on it. You will know because it comes back within days of a full treatment.
On solid timber you can sometimes get there with a light sand of the internal surfaces and a coat of shellac to seal it, which is what usually works on an old piece. On a swollen board or particle base, there is no repair, because the material has taken the moisture into its structure and it stays there. Replacing the drawer base is cheaper and quicker than fighting it.
How to tell which you are dealing with is in how to tell if furniture is solid wood.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get a musty smell out of a chest of drawers?
Empty it, take the drawers right out and air them in the shade, wipe every internal surface with a cloth wrung out in one part white vinegar to four parts water, then dry hard with a fan. Finish with an open container of bicarbonate of soda in each drawer for three to five days.
Why do my drawers smell musty?
Because a closed drawer is a small volume of still air, and anything you put in it that carries moisture has nowhere to release it. Clothes put away not quite dry, body oils on lightly worn clothing, and a room that runs damp are the three usual causes.
Does bicarbonate of soda actually remove smells?
Yes, it absorbs odour compounds rather than masking them, which is why it works where scented sachets do not. Use it in an open container for three to five days and then throw it out. Activated charcoal does the same job and lasts longer for ongoing maintenance.
Why does my new furniture smell?
That is the finish off-gassing, and it is a different smell from musty, sharper rather than sour. Leave the drawers and doors open in a ventilated room and it clears in a few weeks on its own. It does not need vinegar or bicarb.
How do I stop the musty smell coming back?
Fix the room rather than the drawer. Aim for 40 to 55 per cent relative humidity, pull furniture a few centimetres off external walls so air moves behind it, open drawers for an hour on a dry day every few weeks, and never put clothing away that is not fully dry.
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