This summer my husband and I bought our first-ever, brand-new, no-assembly-required piece of actual furniture. From a furniture store and everything. We bought that couch. Isn’t it pretty? It’s comfy and the perfect size, and now we actually have living room furniture that looks like it belongs together.
Three months ago, I went upstairs to use the bathroom. I have actually used the bathroom since then too, but you don’t need to hear about those trips. Anywho, I went upstairs to use the biff and left my son downstairs in front of the TV for those few minutes.
What was I thinking? Mommies don’t get potty breaks.
I came downstairs to find this:
“Oh no.”
“Oh NO.”
I immediately got on the phone with the furniture store to see if our StainGuard warranty covered massive ink stains caused by unruly toddlers with stupid mothers. Not covered. Shocker. The helpful salesman got on the company computer and looked up what solvent would have the best chance of removing the ink from the upholstery.
He said, “You can either come to the store and buy our $30 bottle of solvent, or it says here you can also just use rubbing alcohol.”“You mean the stuff you get at the drug store for 88 cents?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll try that first. Thanks.”
In a moment of uncharacteristic calm, I managed to snap those before pictures before I got to work. I dug out our bottle of rubbing alcohol and some paper towel, not expecting much. Low and behold…. It worked! Really, really well, in fact! It worked so well that my son is still alive doesn’t have to live in the dog’s crate.
I can’t tell you how relieved I was that I didn’t have to explain to my husband that our brand new couch was ruined because I was a neglectful parent. Three cheers for rubbing alcohol!
P.S. It took a little more scrubbing to get the artist clean.
Oh my gosh – My heart skipped a beat reading your post and seeing your pictures! AGH!!! Who would have thought – rubbing alcohol! So glad it came out for ya and your little artist is still alive! =) Happy Holidays!
That's amazing. I will have to remember that trick. I still haven't gotten the dry erase marker off my wall – everything seems to want to take the paint off with it.
Yes, alcohol for ink and windex for nail polish….LOL.Don't ask me how I know…I'll just say I have a 3 year old daughter. (-;
I use the alcohol too-works great!
I'm so glad you took pictures of the little artist. Believe me, in 20 years you WILL be able to laugh uncontrollably at the situation. A couch is just a thing. My 18 month old (now 32year old) daughter stuffed every towel she could find in the toilet to help me clean. Thank goodness, I grabbed the camera (instead of her) to take pictures with her proudly standing next to the toilet heaped with towels. We still laugh…
I have the same type of sofa and I used alcohol to get out a stain we had about a year ago! I was so happy it when it worked.
LOL……..My 3 yr old daughter “decorated” the entire screen of our brand-new ( we had it for a week) flat-screen TV AND the living room windows this summer with crayons. Windex and rubbing alcohol didn’t work on the wax. Help!
I discovered that Mr. Clean Magic Erasers really do work “magic” for crayon marks on almost anything!! ( I did NOT take photos, and my husband has still not heard that story!)
I think u may have just saved my sofa. Can't wait to get home now!
I enjoyed your story of sofa rescue very much, and glad it had a happy ending.