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How to get rid of paint smell in the home

Get fresh walls and fresh air with these 6 handy hints on how to get rid of paint smells quickly.

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Reading Time: 5 minutes

a wall painting set with blue paint next to a wall

Key steps:

Here’s how to get rid of new paint smell in easy-to-follow steps:

  1. Open doors and windows around the house before painting.

  2. Gather your supplies. Common and natural household items such as onions, water, and coffee beans can be used to banish paint smells.

  3. Clean brushes, secure paint pot lids, and store everything away after decorating so that you tackle the source of paint smells.

There’s nothing like a freshly painted wall to lift the appearance of any room (check our wall painting ideas for inspiration). It’s just a bit of a shame that you have to put up with hours, if not days, of the lingering paint smell too! But once you know how to get rid of paint smell in a room, that issue will be a distant memory. Here’s how to remove paint smell from a room so that the problem becomes a thing of the past.

Try baking soda and vinegar! Place a few bowls containing these smell-fighting ingredients around your room and let them capture the fumes.

How to get paint smell out of house – 6 tips and tricks

Try these tips to learn how to get rid of paint smells by masking and extracting the fumes. Here are six of the best ways to get rid of the fumes:

1. How to get rid of paint smells in a room with ventilation

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Ventilation is key to getting rid of paint smells. And the job of properly ventilating your home begins before you’ve even opened the lid on your paint pot. Open windows and doors all around your home, not only in the decorated rooms, and you'll reduce the smell quickly.

2. How to get paint smells out of a room with onions

It’s an old trick but an effective one. Simply place some halved onions on plates around the room and they should absorb the paint fumes.

3. How to remove paint smells with water

No onions? A filled bucket of water can do an effective job of absorbing fumes too.

4. How to get paint smells out of a room with coffee beans

Perfect for caffeine lovers, scatter some coffee beans in small bowls and place them around the room to cover up the smell of new paint.

5. How to remove paint smells with candles

Lighting a candle and letting it burn for a few hours is a great way of getting rid of paint smells. The flame helps to burn off solvent fumes and remove them for good but make sure you keep an eye on it. Never leave a candle burning unattended.

6. How to get paint smells out of the house with home fragrances

One of the best ways to stop paint odours taking over a room is to replace them with other scents. Cover up or mask paint smells with home fragrances made from sweet scents like vanilla, lavender and peppermint.

Now you know how to remove paint smells from your home it's not necessarily time to reach for the brush or roller. Make sure you know how to prepare a wall for painting and how to remove paint stains from clothes before you get stuck in.

Originally published