My Sister-in-law just moved into a new house and in her words, there was a little tyrant that reigned with glitter! Here is what she needs help with:
Dan's office - this little snot had glitter paint, and put it on EVERYTHING, the walls, blinds, wood frames around the doors, closet doors (all wood). I have taken this green cleaner that we use (much like 409 but better for the environment) and sprayed it on the stuff in his office about ever two weeks and wipe it down with a paper towel and glitter comes off but not all of it, not at once ya know...so I'm hoping that someone has a suggestion (I will try anything) that will not take me the next three years of spraying and wipping to get the evil out of his office.
Upstairs Bathroom - This thing had also painted in there....with the help of many, we were able to sand the glitter off the walls so that we could paint over the bright purple that was in there. The problem now is that it is in the grout around the tub and on the tile floors (mini tiles). I have gone in many times like my Gran used to, on my hands and knees to clean with soap and water, I've gone in with mops and soap and water (hot water) and still no luck. my next thought is to either razor blade/sand the grout if possible and try and get it up that way...this I'm hoping would be my last resort...I don't have energy for that task right now.
Downstairs bedroom - this room is covered in wood panelling....the girl went nuts in there with the powdered form of glitter...carpets, roman blinds nooks and cranys of the panelling all of it. Once again, I take a damp warm rag and go over it when I can. The shade I will take down next spring and either replace or if I can throw it in the washer, chances are I will replace it. But my major thing is the carpet and the panlling. The vacuum only takes up so much and same with the rag, like in Dan's office. Once again it will take me years that I don't have.
Any advice or websites with info would be appreciated!
From my SIL:
these are all awesome!!!! I tried the magi eraser - it did the same as spraying and whiping with the green stuff. I like the nail polish remover and I'm going to try the shampoo in the down stairs bedroom on the wood paneling. I was also looking at it this morning and I'm going to try first a wall sander in the bathroom and see what all that does...hopefully doing some kind of 'flaking' work to at least see if I can get it powdery and throw it up in a dust pan.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate the info you have found for me...one of these days now when Dan is out of town and i have little homework I will have something to do aside from look at it and get annoyed!!!!
Again, THANKS SOOOOO MUCH!!!!!
I have never had the issue with glitter but for the grout in the bathroom i would try a strong grout cleaner and if that doesn't work you will have to use sand paper and then re-seal the grout with grout sealer. For carpet try a foam vacuum spray it may cling to that and come up.
Now you knwo why the parents sold the house! LOL
Seriously though, I would call a cleaning company and ask them what they recommend. Most people will try to help you out. As for the carpet, I would just call someone and explain the problem and have them do the floors.
Magic eraser may work as well. I never had that problem as I don't like glitter anything because of the mess!
Good luck.
I'm not sure how to help with a lot of it but I do have a suggestion for the grout and tiles. Use strips of duct tape. Make a big tape donut with the sticky part on the outside and roll it over the tiles. Don't stick it on and leave it on. You don't want to be trying to remove the duct tape as well. The glitter should stick to the tape. The problem with using a rag is that while some of it wipes off, some of what gets wiped off just redeposits.
Maybe try cleaning the carpet with a carpet cleaner. It may suck up more of the glitter than a vacuum would because of how it sucks the wet back out of it.
Depending on the type of paneling you could try the duct tape trick on there. Or if you are afraid it might be too sticky, try some of the blue masking tape used for marking off areas to be painted. It is made to stick but not as well and is made to come off easy. It might take off more at a time. Also, if the paint part of it is still on there, you might want to try some of a product called Goo Gone. It is made to take off glue from tape and such.
Anyhow, I hope this helps. Best of luck.
Have you tried the magic eraser, it usually does wonders! I have been lucky for most messes...nailpolish took diluted remover....maybe that would work? I just had to smile, man have i been there and still am with the four kids!
Ask any pre-school teacher or nanny (of which I used to be one) about glitter and watch the contorted face appear. : )It's fun and pretty for the kids but an eternity of clean up for the adults. I haven't seen glitter paint but there's lots of glitter glue. If that's the case she might try Goof Off. It removes sticky residue really well. For the regular glitter just resolve she'll be seeing glitter sucked up in the vacuum for many months to come.
Boy oh boy, makes you wonder where the parents were when all this glittering was going on!
I can tell you that Home Depot/Lowes sells a tool that pretty easily scrapes up grout, almost like a file that fits perfectly in the grout space. For now though, I'd recommend some nice throw rugs or area rugs to cover some of these sparkly spots.
I wish you luck!
I probably should have reread your post because i'm not sure i'm totally understanding it other than you have glitter everywhere. The first thing that came to mind was flylady.net she sells a "rubba scrubba" for under $10 it has soft bristles so it wouldn't hurt the walls but would be abrasive enough to brush off glitter, unless maybe it's in the paint then i don't know, it the kid just squeezed glitter glue the rubba scrubba might help.
goo gone is very good for getting sticky things off surfaces, if you need something to disolve paint or glue.
I like the idea of the lint rollers for picking up the loose pieces, you could also buy contact paper and peel and stick large pieces of it, to pick up the loose glitter.
could you use a hair dryer to blow the glitter out of the nooks and crannies in the downstairs bedroom???
I'm also wondering why your SIL didn't adress this with the previous owners before buying, if this is something that happened after the paper work was signed and SIL did't know about it, you might be able to get them or the real estate agent to pay for the carpet cleaning.
I hope you have some luck. I couldn't imagine living in someone elses sparkly mess. LOL can you imagine visitors coming over and leaving with sparkles head to toe!!!
this may sound silly but 100% acetone nail polish remover might do the job i have a 3 year old and she gets into everything and likes to help decorate it i can't get something off with regular cleaner i always try that first. it should be safe on the tile and wood but always test a small patch in an out of the way place first! hope this helps!
Just a thought--how about those roller lint brushes? Might work on the carpet--maybe on the walls/panelling too. I also second the Magic Eraser idea.
Also, for a few bucks each--buy some new blinds. That's O. glitter-y thing that CAN be removed from the house--unlike the walls/carpets!
Not sure what kind of vacuum you have but Dyson vacs are awesome! Even if you have to borrow O. from a friend for a few days worth of vacuuming.
For the stuff on the walls and woodwork, try plain old shampoo...i usually squirt some in a bucket and get it nice and sudsy and that's what I use to clean my woodwork. It has taken everything off of my doors that "stuck" there. Maybe using that with the magic eraser would help?
As far as the carpet, maybe try and have someone come in and professionally clean them? It may be pricy, but i would rather have someone else do it than stress out about it!
