Stain removal of fabrics.

My family like any family has spills and messes. Almost daily I'm left trying to get various stains out of clothes, furniture and carpet.

How to clean fabrics:
These chairs are from World Market. They have a rough fabric that stains easily and is subject to daily cleanings. They are not scotch guarded though I highly recommend doing so if you have chairs like these. I'm getting to the point I swear. 

Here's what I use:
Regular Heinz white vinegar, Lemon essential oil, you don't have to. I just think it smells better. dish soap, Dawn and Gain have worked best. Use one to two drops of soap and oil, one part vinegar, three parts warm water. Using an old rag drip the solution over the stains. Scrub hard. Once clean I use a dry towel and press into the chair to soak up any excess water. And leave to dry.

So far the list of stains this solution has removed:
Red wine, sweet tea/cool aid when done immediately, spaghetti sauce, cake icing, water color, ranch dressing, chocolate, hair dye and Cheetos.

The list it hasn't removed:
Tea and cool aid once it had been left for a couple of days, some sort of oil based product, school paints, and nail polish.

I have also used this product on brown microfiber couches with much success.

My husband was a medic. While in training he would come home on weekends and I would wash his uniforms. I found a few tricks to getting all of the stains of you can guess what being a medic out.

Normal spray and wash doesn't really work on these uniforms. For what ever reason the ACU (army combat uniform) retains stains like nothing else. I have found that this solution works amazingly well. So much so I've used it on everything from carpet, clothes to bloody sheets. (cat had just had surgery and slept with us that night. So not pretty in the morning) 

These are simple everyday house hold products that do an amazing job.
Dawn Dish Soap (the blue bottle) Hydrogen Peroxide and baking soda.
I've made a paste out of the baking soda and dawn before then put the HP over it for really tough stains like dried blood.

However turning it into a solution works amazingly well. Add to a bowl two parts HP and one part Dawn and Baking Soda. Stir together and rub/scrub into the garment. I used a regular bristle brush from the dollar store. Let sit for an hour and wash the item as you normally would.

For use in stain removal in carpet. Always test a spot first! 
We have beige color carpet and two dogs, two kids and three cats. It equals a never ending source of stains! Add same solution over the stain, let sit for an hour and use a steam cleaner or rug doctor to remove the paste.

Both vinegar and baking soda help with oder control. I highly recommend the use of either on stinky stains such as vomit or fecal matter. TMI if you have to clean vomit/poo out of carpet I recommend first putting baking soda over it and scraping the "matter" up with an old spatula. Helps with the smell and the removal. We have used vinegar to clean vomit out of the car and it did help the smell. But I recommend leaving the windows down as much as possible for the next couple of days. Then use a machine carpet cleaner when possible to remove any excess.




(I removed some of the pictures for the safety of my family. I will try to have more up ASAP)

Scentsy/Candle wax hack.

Ever tried changing out a Scentsy warmer while the wax was still hot and got it all over the wall? I'm a klutz. Seriously I trip over flat surfaces and walls just seem to come out of no where. So it's no surprise that I would get wax somewhere.

A while back I had spilled wax on the white wall in our kitchen. I scraped the best I could to no avail. The red wax was there to stay. Till I thought about heat. I tried a hot wet cloth and that did a little but didn't take it all off. Next I though about a iron. There's no way I could fit it where I needed it to go. Next I thought about the hair dryer that just about caught my head on fire it was so hot. Got it out and went to work on the wax. Literally within mere seconds the wax started to melt and come off the wall. On the down side every time I'd wipe it it would freeze again and smudge down the wall. So I took a wet rag with some vinegar on it and followed the wax with the hair dryer. Slowly but surely it all came off. BAM! Back to new!

The next one was harder. I have two kids and two cats. One knocked a warmer over on the the floor and carpet. I had experience once before with dun, dun, dun, a candle! I know I'm so old fashioned. 

I don't have a picture with me but this worked pretty well. Take a paper bag, and an iron. Put the bag over the spot of wax on the floor and put the iron on it's highest setting. Once hot, iron over the spot under the bag on the floor. The Iron melts the wax and the paper bag soaks it up. Keep moving around and repeat as necessary till all the wax is gone. It's worked twice for me. Be careful to do it as quick as possible if it's a dark color wax or a soft stain will remain.

Ikea head board turned dog gate.

Well Hello there!
 I am starting this new blog as way to keep family and friends updated with my upcycles and life in general. Anyhoo back to the point right?

                This is an Ikea twin size FJELLSE headboard. It came with the rest of the bed but my kids like anyone else's I hope, have a habit of jumping on the bed. Which led to the screws being ripped from the wood and then a loud crashing noise from the opposite side of the house followed by chorus of "UH OH." After a "This is why we can't have nice things!" moment. I dealt with the situation much like a kid myself throwing the remaining parts of the bed in a closet to be dealt with at a later time. So it sat there ...... for..... months.....

 

**Hold on rewind back up** Insight.
I'm living with my mother while we save for a home. So we have three rooms at the back part of the house to ourselves. plus a bathroom. It's lovely, I'm grateful. I really and truly am! blah, blah, blah.  Anyway "TO THE POINT!" you say?... Separating said rooms from the rest of the house was a white metal swinging baby gate of doom. To my ears... It would hardly latch and led to a lot of banging in attempts to shut it. My kids are 6 and 8 so why not get rid of the gate you ask? Well because we also have a menagerie of animals between our two families. My mom has two dogs and a cat. And we have two hamsters and two cats and one more cat on the way. With the smaller part of the food chain on our side of the house, there needed to be some separation and sanctuary for the animals.... And a reason for a gate.

So I happen to be cleaning the closet and I'm wondering if I should toss, trash or keep this bed. And as I look at it, I think its about the exact size of the hallway that the current gate resided in. I pull it out and get and odd look from my husband as he sees the gears in my brain turning. I put the head board into place of where it would be and realize it would be a perfect fit and replacement for the big white eye sore currently there. He likes the idea, Mom likes the idea. Alright lets do this!

So I take the headboard out onto the patio and wipe it down. This model in particular is unfinished. So it was an easy redo. I used my favorite stain I had on hand Minwax in the color Jacobean.  No sanding or anything, just straight on to the wood. And it turned out great!

 Sorry for the way I'm dressed and the quality of these pictures. I had no idea what I would be starting at the time. Above I am testing out the stain to see how well the wood would hold it. And it soaked it right up. One coat was all it needed. Side note ** from experience when staining always go back and give it a good wipe down to take off any residual stain or it will be sticky.

Ah... Ain't it beautiful? For what ever reason I'm not a huge fan of blonde wood. Because I'm a child of the late 80's early 90's maybe? We were going to stain these later down the line anyway but hadn't gotten to it. I highly recommend these beds if you want to be able to make it your own quick. (my kids aren't easy on furniture so I think it was a fluke) And Ikea also sells other unfinished dressers and more so you can complete the set. 

I liked the way it looked just the way it was but it had two obvious issues. The two GIANT holes the dogs hadn't figured out they could go through yet. The solution was actually my moms idea. It's a grill thingy... you know the part of the grill you cook on? Yeah that thingy. You can buy it at Home Depot for $20.00. It's called Expanded Metal. Who knew it had a name? I know, I get easily distracted bare with me it will be worth it. We used an angle grinder saw and cut the metal square in half. The headboard itself has a half in grove in the top rail so we inserted the metal into it. For the bottom we let it drape over the back and screwed it in. (I will get pictures of this tomorrow I swear) Then we added a double swinging gate hinges so the gate can swing both ways. I believe this also came from Home Depot but the name of the brand escapes me. I'll look into it.


So this is the finished product. And here is a rough estimate of prices.

The bed itself sells at Ikea for $79.00 
(we got it from a friend. It lasted a lot longer then I thought with my boys so I take off depreciation cost.)
The rest was bought at the Home Depot
The stain was 1 qt. Wood finish oil based interior stain in the color Jacobean for $7.77 (I had it on hand so free)
The hinges are 3 in. x 3 in Oil-Rubbed Bronze double-action spring door hinges for $17.98 time 2.
only come in 1 hinge packs..Why I don't know.
And last but not least the Expanded metal sheet in the size 3/4" x 24" for $19.97

Making a grand total of $124.72 if I had bought all separate. I still have left over pieces of the bed that are going to be used for later projects. Could I have bought a new gate? Yes. But I'm all about reusing things as much as possible. And I honestly couldn't have found a awesome looking gate such as this one in stores. So there you go Ikea Hack 1938729837298 head board turned dog gate. 

PS. If you noticed the light saber without me mentioning it you deserve a cookie!