6.23.2011

kitchen mishap

I have a funny story for you, but no pictures.  You'll understand why there are no pictures after you read the story.

Dan and I decided to redo our kitchen table because of sentimental reasons (my grandfather made the table and I grew up doing my art work on it).  It was very beat up.  Dan rebuilt it and had it all ready to be sanded and painted.  Yesterday, I decided I didn't want to wait for the weekend and in a crazy moment decided to start spray painting it right in the kitchen.  That right there was my biggest mistake.  I used old sheets to cover the kitchen in the direction I was spray painting.  Apparently, that isn't enough!

All those warnings people tell you about NOT spray painting in your house... yeah, there are reasons for it!

Well, the spray paint was ALL over the floor... EVERYWHERE.  Not on the walls, not on the appliances.  Just the linoleum.

I ended up scrubbing to death trying to figure out how to get it off.  

If you are ever stupid enough to paint in your house, I have a tip for removing spray paint from linoleum that is non toxic (most of the other methods I read about were nasty... like ammonia).

  
Sprinkle borax on your floor and WITH A GLOVE ON (!) start wiping your floors with your hand.  The borax powder will turn grey and with a little elbow grease, your ugly linoleum will be back to it's original ugliness.  There is one spot I can't clean up though.  It was a discolored, yellow spot that is now a black spot.  It's big too.  Good thing our kitchen will be getting redone soon!!!

So, big lesson, DON'T SPRAY PAINT IN YOUR HOUSE!!!  If you have a moment of insanity and impatience, use borax to remove the overspray.

The reason there are no pictures is because I was freaking out trying to figure out how to get the paint off the floor before my husband got home.  I had kids dumping crackers all over my living room carpet.  When I tried to vacuum the mess, the vacuum so wonderfully broke.  So, I swept my carpet and scrubbed paint off my kitchen floor.  Pictures were not an option!

3 comments:

Amy said...

I am sitting here laughing... It sounds like something i would try to do.... Yay for the good old Borax! That stuff is pretty awesome.

chris said...

Agreed. Borax is a wonderful cleaner...now I know an additional use!

A'n'G Johnson said...

ooo I wish I had known that trick when I was the smartie that spray painted in my school's sculpture studio. The chew-out session that followed that incident was BRUTAL! lesson learned though.