That tragic story from two days ago, goes something like this:
On Greta’s last day of two-dom, we ran to the Benjamin Moore store in the morning (this was after she covered my entire lamp with my lotion from Hawaii) to pick up a quart of “Peony” and supplies to paint her closet. When we got home, we brought everything up to her room and Greta helped me clear out the rest of the clothes on the floor in her closet. I ran down to the garage to get a drop cloth and a paint can opener and I heard a thud and then a laugh and another thud and I turned around and ran back up a half flight of stairs and down the hall to Greta’s room.
I was met with the horrific sight of deep pink paint spilled all over her carpet (cue scream), her baseboard, her vintage bed (cue tears) and new duvet (luckily it missed her gold dotted sheets and new throw!). I found Greta hidden behind her curtains. When I asked her (sternly) what happened, she said, “Mommy, I throw it. Oh no!” The quart was nearly empty and quickly seeping into the carpet. For three minutes I worked as fast as I could to sop up the excess paint with our shop vac and paper towels while simultaneously trying to keep Greta out of her room. It was impossible. Greta wants to be where I am, doing what I’m doing–always. But at this point, I was pretty fume-y and it was best–for both of us–if she was somewhere else. I dropped her off at my neighbor’s (thanks Melissa!) and ran back home to read your suggestions of what to do on Facebook…besides cry and hyperventilate. Those things weren’t getting me anywhere.
There were so many good suggestions, but I had to stick with what I had on hand first. One person suggested to make sure to keep it wet. Someone else suggested using dish soap and baking soda. And after I called Chris, crying, he suggested calling a professional carpet cleaner. We were dealing with light new-ish carpet and a deep base paint. Luckily, one guy was able to come that day, but it would be a couple hours. He advised me to use no chemicals on the carpet but to keep it damp and dish soap was fine. I work on the carpet for an hour and a half with very little improvement. Finally I covered everything with damp paper towels and turned my attention to the bed that I had only quickly wiped down. The duvet was ruined. But easily replaced for $30.
When the carpet guy got here, he worked on her floor for an additional hour and fifteen minutes and while it is drastically better–there is still evidence of pink paint. Especially next to the baseboard:
So where does that leave us? The hopefully good news is that the Martha Stewart carpet we installed in Greta’s room has a lifetime stain warranty. I say “hopefully” because I really don’t know what that means. Does it cover pink paint?! Home Depot is sending a rep out to take a look at it and we’ll go from there. Where does that leave us as far as a painted closet goes? I bought a fresh can last night. ;) And now that you’ve seen the color, what do you think??
PS. On Greta’s behavior on her very last day of being two, I loved Brandilyn’s comment on Instagram, “Well THAT explains her crazy day! In my family, the day before your birthday is your goof off day–your last day being that age! You get to act as crazy as you want.” Her first day of being three was drastically better.
PPS. Happy Valentine’s Day, from Chris.
I am catching up on your podcast and heard this story, and I felt like I had to comment because I know how to fix this! I was painting my first college apartment bedroom and I accidentally knocked half a quart of paint off the top of my ladder. It was a pretty similar mess as yours but with real paint. I called my (art teacher) mom in a panic and she told me to:
1) Blot out as much as you can with paper towels
2) Pour rubbing alcohol on it until the whole stain is pretty wet
3) Put a few layers of paper towels down over the stain (or a rag/towel you don’t mind staining)
4) Put a plastic bag (like a grocery bag) down over the paper towels
5) Put something heavy on top of the plastic bag (I used a college chemistry textbook)
6) Check it every couple of hours. You want to keep it damp/wet with alcohol until the stain is out. Replace the paper towels as they get soaked with paint. It will take a bunch of rounds of replacing paper towels and adding rubbing alcohol (I used two liters of rubbing alcohol)
It works like a charm! No paint, no stain, just normal carpet.
Meant to say: “similar mess to yours but with TEAL paint” ????
I’m looking into this Martha Stewart carpet for my house. Does anyone know what color the carpet is in these pictures?
It’s called “Potter’s Clay” Michelle!
Sorry if I missed an update but did the stain ever come out?!?? We are remodeling our 2nd floor and will be replacing the carpet on the stairs and two kids’ bedrooms. Hopefully we find something affordable and durable!
Bummer!
Yeh, who does that?!? If someone actually got it professionally cleaned, they probably wouldn’t even need a stain warranty!
I’ll keep that in mind when carpet shopping!
(Stains aside – the room is gorgeous!)
We had it professionally cleaned immediately after the accident, and it looked so much better, but there is a hint of pink still there. It doesn’t look like they are going to replace it. Apparently for the carpet to stay under its lifetime stain warranty, it has to be professionally cleaned every 6 months–and we have to have proof. Who does that?! So, :/
I had to comment because we were painting our house to sell 13 years ago when my toddler daughter did the EXACT SAME THING. I remember weeping while I tried (and failed) to clean slate blue paint out of tan carpet. We ended up throwing a carpet credit into the house deal. Good thing she was so adorable.
Best. birth control. ever. ;)