We had a small kitchen fire on Black Friday. Except for the one kitchen item burnt & destroyed, there was no other fire damage. Nevertheless, our home still got filled with thick black smoke. The noxious smoke went everywhere.

So, we've been fighting to eliminate smoke damage for about a week. You can't see the damage, but you sure can smell it. So, there has been lots of washing everything (and I mean everything in the house) down, lots of Fabreeze, lots of baking soda set out, plus, the outside airing of all smaller "soft goods" that can be put outside for a couple of days.

Because I have a large collection of high-end, limited-edition teddy bears (plus lots of pillows on our sofas & numerous, soft dog beds), that means there will be a whole lot of cycling different things outdoors on this quilt. Once the smoke smell is totally gone from them, these items are being packed away in closed containers until the overwhelming smell of smoke in the house can be gotten rid of. That way the smoke free soft goods won't collect the odor again. Above are a just a few of my bears. Not arranged. Just dumped to air out. The quilt will probably be covered wall to wall at least a dozen more times with more items (for 2 to 3 days each time) before all similar soft goods can be temporarily stored to eliminate all places for the smoke smell to return. Thankfully, no rain is predicted for another week.

Meanwhile, it's been very cold outside (20 degrees today). So, we can't air the inside of the house out as much as I would like. But we're doing the best we can in a bad situation. Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Walls, floors, ceilings, everything. Over and over and over again. I never realized before that even a very tiny fire could produce so much smoke that could cause so many problems.

A big downside is that it's the holidays, and this has all stopped my decorating for Christmas. After a week of intense cleaning, the smoke smell is starting to lessen some. However, it's still a major problem to me. By the time this is over, we'll probably have the cleanest house around. It might even be better than new. Meanwhile, the whole situation has been quite unsettling. I now really can sympathize with those who experience far worse than what we're going through right now. I never understood before what "smoke damage" meant. Now, I do. Meanwhile, the experts say that a home can eventually be restored to pristine condition if there was no other damage (as in our situation). But it can take a lot of effort.