There are even more annoying stains that could tarnish the surface of your carpets, furniture, and floors and so we continue from where we stopped in our last post on how to remove stubborn stains yourself.

Nail Polish

• As soon as the spill occurs, grab a cloth or paper towel and blot the stain, do not rub. Rubbing is likely to just push the nail polish into the fibers of the carpet or upholstery.
• Work from the outside in to prevent spreading the stain. Remove as much as you can without cleaning products before continuing.
• Be aware of how specific cleaning products will affect your carpet. Some cleaners can cause discoloration or texture change. Test products on areas unseen before testing it on the nail polish stain.
• Try non-acetone nail polish remover. Avoid acetone based removers since the chemical can damage the carpet or upholstery. With dark carpets and fibers, try rubbing alcohol or hair spray. Apply to a rag and blot. Carpet cleaners and Windex are safe options as well if other methods do not work.
• If there is a strong smell of nail polish, remover, or cleaner, using a mix of dishwashing detergent and warm water can prove effective. Rinse with clean water and dab dry.

If none of these work, contact us at Accents In Cleaning.

Ice Cream

I scream, you scream, we all scream when ice cream spills in our home. The faster the spill can be cleaned, the better. Melting is the enemy.

• Remove the frozen portions without pressing the ice cream into the fibers.
• Use a clean towel and roll it in a reverse motion, moving forward into the spill to pull the substance out of the carpet.
• Combine dish soap and water and spray/apply to the spill, dab at it with a clean towel. Repeat as needed. Rinse with water.

Paint

These are one of the worst substances to accidentally spill onto any surface. They are made to stick to surfaces and stay there for a long time. Knowing what to do before a spill occurs is very smart.

• Remove as much paint as possible using a white absorbent cloth, as quickly as possible.
• Blot the area. If possible, use a wet/dry vacuum as this should extract a lot of the paint without rubbing it into the carpet.
• Nail polish remover can remove nearly anything. Avoid acetone-based removers for colored carpets.
• Rinse well and use a towel or wet/dry vac.
• If stains persist, repeat the above methods or call a professional cleaning company.

With any spill, time is key. The sooner something can be removed, the less likely it is to stain and ruin furniture or carpets. Keeping a wet/dry vacuum can be helpful, but so is knowing of a good carpet cleaning company. We are more than happy to give you these tips so you can save your money for your full home or room cleaning instead of renting carpet cleaning machines from the grocery store at insane prices. Nail polish remover, hair spray, dish detergent, and wet-dry vacs are amazingly useful to keep around and we highly recommend it.

Don’t wait for these stains to overwhelm the appearance of your carpet, furniture, and floors, do something about them. The earlier the better. If you want to engage the services of professionals, call us. We’re always ready.