Newspaper is also a way to restore musty smelling books or drawers of bureaus bought at yard sales, or that have been stored in a barn or basement. For books, put crumpled newspaper in the bottom of a paper bag, put book inside, add crumpled paper loosely all around it, and above it. If you can, stand the book on end, and leave the pages loosely opened, trying not to damage the pages when filling around the book, then, close the bag. It takes a while, I've forgotten how long, a couple of weeks, maybe.
With bureau drawers, take drawers out, wash in and out with Murphy's oil soap in hot water, using a mostly wrung out clean sponge, or 1/3 section cut in half - so, 1/6 of an old but clean terry cloth bath towel, or 1/2 hand towel, or old but clean wash cloth. Rinse out in clear water, in between drawers, or as needed to keep relatively soot free. Do it a second time.Rinse a couple times with another clean terry cloth or section. Then clean in and out of bureau, 2x,and then rinse 2 x. If it still has a bit of a musty smell after it dries, pack drawers with news paper, and close them, and wait a couple of weeks.
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