I had a terrible afternoon on Monday. I decided to clean out some clutter from a bathroom drawer, and I was throwing things out, into the garbage. One of the main things I was culling was old bottles of fingernail polish. For whatever reason, I decided to open one of them and look at it. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea. I thought I had it closed, but no, it was not closed, and being the clumsy oaf that I am, I dropped it. It was a bottle of really bright pink nail polish and it bounced on my white counter tops, spilled out a bunch into my white sink. Then, I tried to catch it and ended up tipping it down my white cabinets and onto my new ceramic tile floors, including in the light colored grout. Then, when I finally got the bottle and threw it away, I got bright pink nail polish all over my wicker wastebasket. 😳
Well, I only had about half a bottle of fingernail polish remover and I went through that in just a few minutes. I tried to clean up polish from the sink, counter top, cabinet and floor with other cleaners that I had, only to learn that nothing gets up fingernail polish other than nail polish remover. I drove to Walmart and bought several huge bottles, then spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get it up.
I learned two things:
1. Fingernail polish remover will take the top layer of paint off of latex painted surfaces. My cabinets and drawers now need to be repainted because of all the paint that peeled off where I was cleaning off bright pink nail polish.
2. Not even fingernail polish remover will remove hot pink from light colored grout between ceramic tiles. Nothing gets it out. I used a bottle of remover and then some grout cleaner and they are still stained.
Sigh. I despise being clumsy. I despise ruining things that Tim and I work so hard to improve and maintain. I hate messing up my homey little house. Sigh. Monday was not a good day. I know in the overall scheme of things it doesn’t matter, but yesterday, and today, it matters to me. Especially every time I walk in the bathroom and see pink. 😥
What an awful thing to happen! I too am clumsy and can sympathize. Oh well, I guess that means it’s time for Super Tim to the rescue!
Oh gosh, that type of thing really upsets me. I’m really sorry to hear about it. I discovered your #1 a while back when I left polish remover-soaked cotton balls on a nightstand and it ate the top layer off. Ew. I wonder if a Shout wipe or Tide pen would take the color out at all?
Oh I’d have FLIPPED.
UGH! I am so sorry this happened. I had a similar experience once and I know it’s no fun cleaning up that mess! I hope your week goes better! Stacie
It will be funny later on…..and a good memory/story too!
One more thing to try….. “OOPS”. That is the number one cleaner that will get rid of almost any type of stain….
Bummer! I know what you mean though–everytime you look in the bathroom you are going to see it. No one else will thought. ((hugs))
Kathy M.
Yikes! A terrible incident in itself, let alone the grief you are giving yourself over it. Have you tried KABOOM or OXYCLEAN?
Thanks for all the comments, everyone, and suggestions. I am going to check out some of these products on my next trip to the big WM, and see what I can find. Thanks so much! 🙂
ya know what? i would so do something like that. i won’t do my toes anywhere but out on the lanai where any spills can be quickly painted over. *sigh*
Oh, I feel your pain. My 2-year-old recently dumped a bottle of pink nail polish out on my carpet & wooden coffee table. Here’s a link to the entry where I blogged about it, and some of the (many) things I tried:
http://itsmsunderstood.blogspot.com/2006/04/would-you-like-that-carpet-in-pink.html
I know you’re dealing with different surfaces, but on the grout, I’d still try some ammonia, peroxide, or even bleach. Good luck! I really enjoy your blog!
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