Learn Something New Everyday
Right after work today I ran to the local Sherwin-Williams to pick up some paint samples for the craft room. (Since it is the 30th and that was on the goal list I thought that today was good day to start thinking about it). The store was packed which was weird because it was 1:15 on a Tuesday. The employees also must have been surprised because there was only two of them working and about 15 people in line. I thought about leaving but again since I procrastinated until the 30th, I needed to stick it out. So I put in my order and browsed around.
While I was browsing a woman who looked to be about 8 months pregnant came in with her cute son who looked to be about two and started looking at paint colors. A couple of minutes later, I heard her gasp and looked over. Her son had somehow gotten a paint can open that was sitting right at his level below the display, dumped it all over himself and all over the carpet. A pool of white crept across the dark carpet. Mom had a look of horror on her face and I have never have felt so sorry for a person. It was like a perfect southwest commercial....wanna get away? I searched through my bag and pulled up some napkins to start wiping him off. She kept saying "I don't even know what to do, I guess we need to stand in line and tell them we spilled paint all over the carpet". The everyone else started to notice what had happened.
A professional painter (at least I think he was based on the fact that he knew what to do and had all the materials in his truck) immediately told us to get some hot water. He went to the back and got a bucket and another lady in a nice black dress somehow figured out to get lots of hot water out of the coffee machine. We then sopped up as much paint as possible with paper towels. He told us to dump the water on the paint. Then he got his shop vac and sucked it all up. Then the process of dumping water of vacuuming it up was repeated a couple more times.
I really wish I had a picture of this because it must have been hilarious to watch. But a) my phone is not that technologically advanced and b) If I started snapping photos it would have made mom feel worse...especially if I told her I was going to post them online:). But here the scene- women in nice black dress on her hands and knees scrubbing paint, a guy in khaki's waltzing into the store with his shop vac while other people in line are moving shelves to find an outlet, a half dressed two year old because mom is trying to clean him off and me covering part of the shop vac with a rag so that the drywall dust does not shoot everywhere. An organizational psychologist would have loved to be a fly on the wall observing this group behavior. During this whole fiasco the employees never came over which I thought was slightly strange but then again they were incredibly busy.
After the third time of adding water and vacuuming the carpet looked unbelievably awesome. So file this tidbit of knowledge away in case you ever spill paint on carpet.
So why I am so enthralled with knowing how to do this? Well let's just say that we had a slight accident last summer in the dining room which now needs new carpet......
Before you think I am a total klutz or dumb enough not to use dropclothes let me explain-
I was painting the kitchen cabinets black. The doors were off and the cabinets were empty. All the floors in that room were properly covered. I had a cup of paint that I was using and sat it on the pantry shelf while I started to paint the front. The the clip that was holding the shelf broke. You know the shelf that had been supporting 25 can goods for months but decided that one cup of paint was too much for it. I can still picture that cup of paint flying through the air in slow motion, sending paint into the dining room. I immediately screamed for Derek and of course the dog answered first. He walked in and almost stepped in the giant pool of black paint. I then had visions of him getting it all over his paws and then running away from me tracking it all over the house. Luckily I caught him in time because that would have been disastrous. I immediately went to the computer and googled how to get paint out of carpet. We tried everything mentioned there (but did not find the hot water/ shop vac method) but unfortunately after many hours of scrubbing the gray spots were still there. Because of the spot in the room I cannot put an area rug over it so now it is just a story to share until we get new carpet. So I wish I would have learned this method a little sooner.
Oh and another thing I learned today-
When I am at a paint store with my future child make sure he/she is not touching paint can even if they do not know how to open them:)
While I was browsing a woman who looked to be about 8 months pregnant came in with her cute son who looked to be about two and started looking at paint colors. A couple of minutes later, I heard her gasp and looked over. Her son had somehow gotten a paint can open that was sitting right at his level below the display, dumped it all over himself and all over the carpet. A pool of white crept across the dark carpet. Mom had a look of horror on her face and I have never have felt so sorry for a person. It was like a perfect southwest commercial....wanna get away? I searched through my bag and pulled up some napkins to start wiping him off. She kept saying "I don't even know what to do, I guess we need to stand in line and tell them we spilled paint all over the carpet". The everyone else started to notice what had happened.
A professional painter (at least I think he was based on the fact that he knew what to do and had all the materials in his truck) immediately told us to get some hot water. He went to the back and got a bucket and another lady in a nice black dress somehow figured out to get lots of hot water out of the coffee machine. We then sopped up as much paint as possible with paper towels. He told us to dump the water on the paint. Then he got his shop vac and sucked it all up. Then the process of dumping water of vacuuming it up was repeated a couple more times.
I really wish I had a picture of this because it must have been hilarious to watch. But a) my phone is not that technologically advanced and b) If I started snapping photos it would have made mom feel worse...especially if I told her I was going to post them online:). But here the scene- women in nice black dress on her hands and knees scrubbing paint, a guy in khaki's waltzing into the store with his shop vac while other people in line are moving shelves to find an outlet, a half dressed two year old because mom is trying to clean him off and me covering part of the shop vac with a rag so that the drywall dust does not shoot everywhere. An organizational psychologist would have loved to be a fly on the wall observing this group behavior. During this whole fiasco the employees never came over which I thought was slightly strange but then again they were incredibly busy.
After the third time of adding water and vacuuming the carpet looked unbelievably awesome. So file this tidbit of knowledge away in case you ever spill paint on carpet.
So why I am so enthralled with knowing how to do this? Well let's just say that we had a slight accident last summer in the dining room which now needs new carpet......
Before you think I am a total klutz or dumb enough not to use dropclothes let me explain-
I was painting the kitchen cabinets black. The doors were off and the cabinets were empty. All the floors in that room were properly covered. I had a cup of paint that I was using and sat it on the pantry shelf while I started to paint the front. The the clip that was holding the shelf broke. You know the shelf that had been supporting 25 can goods for months but decided that one cup of paint was too much for it. I can still picture that cup of paint flying through the air in slow motion, sending paint into the dining room. I immediately screamed for Derek and of course the dog answered first. He walked in and almost stepped in the giant pool of black paint. I then had visions of him getting it all over his paws and then running away from me tracking it all over the house. Luckily I caught him in time because that would have been disastrous. I immediately went to the computer and googled how to get paint out of carpet. We tried everything mentioned there (but did not find the hot water/ shop vac method) but unfortunately after many hours of scrubbing the gray spots were still there. Because of the spot in the room I cannot put an area rug over it so now it is just a story to share until we get new carpet. So I wish I would have learned this method a little sooner.
Oh and another thing I learned today-
When I am at a paint store with my future child make sure he/she is not touching paint can even if they do not know how to open them:)