Pickup tips

We know street finds are risky, but we were curious about merchandise in secondhand stores. So we called a dozen of the big-name shops in various boroughs. Surprisingly, all admitted to not doing much more than eyeballing an item before reselling it. Given the way bedbugs tunnel and hide, that’s not very comforting. If you still insist on bringing home those preloved items—whether from the street or the store—then please, take these debugging and degunking pointers. And P.S. We’re never sleeping at your place.

Fabric
If your “new” item is soiled with things like wine, food grease or oil, Linda Wary of salvage pros Wary Meyers Decorative Arts recommends Carbona Stain Devils #5 ($20.94 for a pack of six at Amazon.com). “OxiClean [$5.22 for 21.5 oz. at Drugstore.com] is a miracle worker,” she adds. “It takes out stains that nothing else takes out.” Use this for heavy-duty splotches of questionable origin.

Wood
Wary suggests any kind of orange-oil solvent ($10 for a pint of Citrus King at citrusdepot.net) to “clean the item and just make it look pretty.” Additionally, Myriah Scruggs of Nightwood, the Brooklyn duo that reincarnates furniture and textiles, suggests sanding down the wood so there’s “no dirty surface left to clean.” Or try the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser ($7.99 at Staples), which removes pencil, pen, scuffs and dirt. “It’s like a very mild sandpaper, so be careful of anything with a sheen—it could turn matte,” Wary says.

Leather furniture
Wary’s favorite potion is Saddler’s TLC ($7.74 for 16 oz. at Amazon.com), which both disinfects and conditions leather surfaces.

Metal
Wipe it down with any disinfectant. To get rust out, use a file or steel wool—preferably the superfine kind (0000 grade) for chrome items.

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