Camila vs the Oven!
This year I decided I wanted to host Easter. Hence the mad dash to get the dining room in some sort of state so that it will not only look pretty, but we’ll actually have chairs to sit in.
This meant that yesterday I called in reinforcements aka Mom to help me clean up the house for guests.
{ What? Don’t you always look so glamorous when you clean?}
Our first business of order was cleaning the oven. I had never used a self-cleaning oven before. I think our old oven had that feature, but I just never did it.
So now over 2 years into using my new oven we decided to give it a try.
Oh my what a huge disaster. First it was loads of smoke, then burning eyes, more smoke, then the carbon monoxide alarm went off and that was only 2 hours into the clean! Once the alarm went off I turned off the oven totally freaking out that I was slowly killing, me, my mom and the dogs.
In checking the internet (thank god for google) I found out that it’s common to have levels of carbon monoxide when you have a gas oven.
I thought the worst of everything was over. I went back to painting in the dining room and my helper (aka mom) went home. Well a couple of hours later I went back into the kitchen and noticed some black dust in the sink, then it was on the countertops, on the phone, etc . All that smoke had left soot all over my mainly white kitchen. Oh and P.S. Jon was going to be home any minute.
I quickly started to clean off the surfaces only to realize then that it was also on the all of walls, in the half bathroom and oh yea once you opened the cabinets they were also full of dust along with everything inside of them.
I made a desperate call to Mom and Dad and they were over in minutes to help me get the kitchen clean before I broke down in tears.
What makes this sort of funny and prevented said tears from being shed is that this is just typical me! Things like this happen to me all the time and normally it then leads to me calling Jon and saying the words, “ Don’t be mad, but….”
It always makes me feel like I’m Lucy and he is my very forgiven husband, Ricky.
Poor Jon came home at 9pm from a long day at the office and found me standing in the sink trying to get the soot off the windows, my mom perched on stool cleaning the top of refrigerator and my dad swiffering all of the walls.
So while everyone else was watching Dancing with the stars.
You now know what I was up to! So dear readers if I still have your attention after this massive post with very little images I need help.
My house smells a massive fire! Any tricks for how to get rid of the smell before Easter Sunday?
Labels: about me
20 Comments:
Hi what a preeetty table! I wondered if you would like to exchange blog links with a fellow Style consultant from across the pond?Although I deal with Image not home's tee hee! Let me know if your interested over @ My Passport to Style.Sharon (UK) xx
Your Lucy and Ricky analogy was perfect - I'm so glad I'm not the only one! I'm impressed you even decided to take on the oven - that would never have crossed my mind! I did a little post awhile back about getting rid of cigarette smell from furniture that might help: http://itsgreattobehome.net/2009/05/15/getting-cigarette-smoke-smell-out-of-wood/. And I also found this article about getting a smoke smell out of your house: http://www.doityourself.com/stry/homesomkeodor.
Good luck!!!
Last time I tried self-cleaning I bailed! It scared me!!
Yes! Straight up white wine vinegar in a spray bottle. Spray your fabric (it won't stain or spot) and lightly spray your walls/wipe down your walls. Then leave a bowl of the same stuff in your oven, microwave, on your counter, etc. to clean the air. Do this at night just before you go to bed so you don't have to be awake for the salad dressing smell. Don't worry, it will go away along with the burnt smell.
Open the windows. Also if you have curtains or any sort of fabric in those areas, you will need to air those out as well or you can try spraying them with something to eliminate the odor. Been there!
I've tried self-cleaning and thankfully ours didn't end badly...I was very jumpy and paranoid the whole time it was on though.
As for getting the smokey smell out, definitely open the windows. You might try charcoal - it absorbs odors. Some hardware stores might have little buckets of "odor absorbers" that you can stash in various places around your house. I can't remember the brand of them.
http://www.naturesairsponge.com/index.php
Just found this! Sorry to post twice...but this was the kind of thing I was talking about. Really works!
Perhaps dinner at mom's house instead? (: I wish I had some helpful advice but hopefully just opening the windows might help! Good luck with dinner and the smell!
that is hilarious, you are Lucy
I am literally dying laughing, that is SO Lucy! What a sweet fam to come help you...I am dreading my first big family hosting moment as a wife, I am sure I will literally burn down the house!
Simmer a cup of water mixed with a few tablespoons of baking soda for about 15 minutes. It takes care of cooking smells so hopefully it will work for this too!
I so wish that I had some advice! I just had to tell you that while it sucked, I'm sure, it makes for a really great story and you told it well. Perfect amount of images, for what it's worth :)
Marija
Charcoal and baking soda are both natural odor-absorbers. A good airing-out will do wonders, too. Febreze or something similar would be good for fabrics. If I'm out of Febreze, sometimes I just sprinkle some baking soda, let it set, and then vacuum it off. Good luck!
This happened to me, not nearly as badly though. Febreeze Febreeze Febreeze! I recommend that you buy their air spray, fabric spray (1-2 bottles), and candles. That combination should do it. The fabric refresher spray in particular is a lifesaver!
This sounds like something I would get myself into... I've been thinking of using the self clean option on my oven for about a month... don't think I will! hope you get rid of the smell before your guests arrive.
Hah! no suggestions, but I did get a good laugh and am glad you're ok! I cleaned my oven for the first time a few months ago before having guests over, and I had to call my mom to ask for advice. Fortunately my experience was not nearly as traumatic as yours!
Love that table-scape!
oh no I am so sorry! That sounds like a massive headache for sure. I have no clue how to get the smell out- but I'm sure some of the other readers do- good luck hun!!
I won't lie, I'm very sorry this happened to you but it makes me laugh. This past year I decided I would host Thanksgiving -this was my first time hosting a holiday as we've only lived on our own for a year. I also had the genius idea to brine my turkey. Well I had a bag on the counter filled with gallons and gallons of water -went to put the 18 pound turkey in by myself, hit the edge of the bag and proceeded to dump a couple gallons of water along with lots of seasoning and herbs all over my kitchen floor. It probably actually counted as a flood. I do things like this all the time, and there is always the inevitable phone call, text, email to my husband that also starts out - please don't be mad, or do you want to hear something funny... (usually he won't think its funny). And I always think of us as Rickie and Lucy - my husbands name is really Rickie and I have red hair! Good luck with Easter and just remember there are plenty of us out there destroying our homes one holiday disaster at a time!
Oh, no! Why would they even put that function on an oven if this is what happens?? Yikes. It was a funny story though! ha
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