apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

My nephew did this!!!

What she doesn't talk about is how severe is the punishment for such behavior!!!

My daughter did this with a ball-point pen on our (at the time) 2 week old, brand new ultra-suade sofa. I was totally bummed! Especially because I had never owned anything in that type of fabric and had no idea how to clean it. Imagine my surprise when.....WATER got it out. No soap, no cleaning agents. Just water and some scrubbing. Cool.

Red sharpie on the couch...ouch. I can imagine that'd be a pain. Ours did black sharpie on the TV (not that hard to get off, actually)...and then signed her art work but tried to deny doing it. ;)

My daughter did this with an orange highlighter on our velvet couch. My mom suggested to spray it with hairspray and then gently blot and rub it out. Worked like a charm! Supposedly it works with ink pens as well.

is it a lil far fetched to say the marker patterns actually look nice to me? but oh my gosh, had this happened in my house id die..

What about pillows and a throw in red to tie it all in?!

I got black sharpie all over my white blouse once.

I used hairspray and rubbing alcohol. I patted it out using a towel. It all was removed.

At least she had a shot at getting the marker out. Unlike our friend, whose 3 y.o. scratched his name in the new stainless fridge with a coat hanger, then tried to blame it on the 9-month-old. Now that's permanent!

What she doesn't talk about is how severe is the punishment for such behavior!!!

If you don't want it to happen, then you have to keep Sharpies out of reach.

Doesn't that go without saying? I think that even the most conscientious mother could have something like this happen. Children get a hold of things; I found out that my toddler was able to reach nearly a foot in from the kitchen counter's edge when she handed me a paring knife. I thought that I was being careful:(

How about we say to the mother "I'm sorry that happened to you" or help to find the humor in the situation rather than judge her. I think we can all agree that we are constantly judging ourselves as mothers, do we really need to judge others?

Yikes. That is painful just to look at...

"If you don't want it to happen, then you have to keep Sharpies out of reach."

Seriously, do you have kids? You can live in an empty apartment and never buy them and/or lock up the sharpies but you could still have this happy. It just happens.

i would not have even thought it would come out. i would have done the rest and scribbled all over the couch and called it a pattern!!! good thing you have ways to wash it out.

My jaw literally dropped on this one. In the scheme of what my children can ruin this is at the top of our fear list. I'm going to print out and file the "get clean" recipe. Thank you for finding a cure. If it happens to us I won't freak out... I'll just clean...clean...clean....

kids can and will and do find any and everything no hiding place is safe!!!

My jaw dropped too nectar!!

my two year old some how got ahold of my brand new DS aaannd a screwdriver... the bottom screen is now dimpled and partially broken. :( what made it worse was that it was a christmas gift from my husband.

Wow, what a nice surprise! A little disconcerting to see your messy living room on Ohdeedoh, but I'll take it. :)

There was no real punishment for Nicholas, other than my loud gasp and look of horror. (Which made him cry and repeat "I sorry, Mama" over and over.) He's only two, and it was my fault for thinking he wasn't curious enough to rummage through my desk and find my pencil bag. Lesson learned.

And I agree with previous posters regarding kids. They are curious; they can and will get into things you didn't even imagine could cause trouble.

Unfortunately my 5 year old is not as conscientious as I am and he didn't keep the ballpoint pen out of his sister's reach! Anyway, if anyone has any pointers on getting ballpooint pen ink off white leather, I'm open to suggestions. For now we're calling it "art."

Also, I got black sharpie (which my son applied when he was younger and-shame on me, I left on the kitchen counter) off of a cotton slipcover with Sunlight bar soap and a lot of scrubbing with a scrubbrush.

becbec--Try the Lift Off brand of ink removers. I bought it at Home Depot, and there is on specifically for ink and upholstery. Whether it's safe for leather, that I can't say. I'm sure the packaging says something.

Holy Cow! I read the process...and 900 gallons of water later! I would've given up on the 2nd try, but you persevered and it paid off. I am truly amazed.

OK this advice is not helpful to anyone who already has a Sharpied couch so don't read it if you are in that position because you'll just want to punch me: professional Scotchguard has saved my new couches from a Sharpie attack AND a football to the side of the head while drinking red wine (child kicking, me drinking). Both wiped off with water. Paying the extra at the time of purchase was so worth it. JudyAU you're right, kids will always find a way.

Oh and becbec, I think eucalyptus oil might work well on that.

It's just a couch.

Alcohol breaks down Sharpie ink best since it is alcohol based. Though of course on fabric, everything becomes more difficult. My go-to detergent in cases of stains not being able to come out is a bar of Ivory soap and a nail brush. It can work magic. Think of stains in terms of what they are composed of because two likes attract: oil bonds with oil, alcohol with alcohol, even white wine to clean up red wine totally works (at least when fresh.)

In fairness to stickyricemama, I think she was trying to say that there oughtn't be any real punishment, because at this age, it's all about prevention. It is true: if I don't want my 1-year-old takes his crayon to something other than paper, I should keep it out of reach. That's not a criticism of the parent, just a justification for not being "severe" in punishing the child.

oh, that photo made my stomach sink. i have been there! i also decided to just take a shot at throwing the cushion covers in the washer. i reasoned that the alternative was a slipcover anyway, i might as well try to get them clean first. it worked so well, i now wash the cushion covers (on the gentle cycle of a front-load machine, which is gentler than a top-loader) on a biannual basis. i usually air dry, but once when i had company coming and no time to spare, i dried them on low heat until they were just damp. so far, so good!

WOW. I feel your pain.

It's funny... if you're not a parent, you'd probably freak out in a serious way w/a photo like that. I just laughed and said to myself, "well, THERE'S a reason for keeping Sharpies locked up if I've ever seen one!" (Also insert any of these words for "Sharpie": Desitin, paint, mustard, glue, etc. etc. etc...)

Kids are curious. It makes a mess sometimes, but now you have a signed original! (pretend it's an art installation)

Wow, she did an excellent job!!

my heart fell at the sight of that sharpie attack. My 5 yr old took his scissors to my curtains when I was in the bathroom. 2 minutes later and we had shredded white curtains. Stunning what they can get into. He paid for my curtains out of his piggy bank money. He learned a lesson that day. Everything is a teachable moment.

I agree with the scotchguard. Works like a champ.

ps. I didn't use the money to buy new curtains- the boy doesn't know it- but I started a bank account for him with the money.

When we were kids, all sharpies were labeled "do not use" very clearly. We actually called them "do not use" pens, and I thought that's what they were called for quite some time. That was enough to dissuade us even when they were within reach because the expectations were so clearly outlined, but I think we were not a mischievous pair of kids.

Kiddo Katsu, my son is 2.5 years old and can barely speak, let alone read. :)

But, yes, I agree that it is normally enough to dissuade many kids as they get older. My older son is 5, and wouldn't dream of coloring on anything other than paper.

WOW. Just... WOW.

I missed the part where she talks about who's kid it was. From the comments it sounds like she was babysitting. In that case, what on earth *could* you do?

And really, you don't have a choice but to look at this with a jawdropped sense of humor.

My mom's friend was visiting with her mother one day who had stopped by to show off her new Cadillac. After a while, the friend's twin sons came in wanting the two ladies to come "see what we did!" --Then proudly displayed the ABC's they had scrawled on the hood of the new car with a screwdriver.

How about Sharpie on paint? Anyone?

sharpie on paint? I would guess rubbing alcohol and a scrubbie sponge.

This post scares me. My son just started "exploring"... he's 1. While we all try our best to keep everything out of reach, it's virtually impossible... especially for me.

I have these unconcious moments where I simply place an item on the counter... I could totally see labeling a freezer ziplock and forgetting to lock-up the sharpie! It's also scary becuase pens are total choking hazards :-(

I'm glad that this "incident" has a happy ending and the couch was saved... Great work Mom!

oh, another idea for the paint/sharpie.

as a last resort, you might want to try nail polish remover/acetone. (carefully, with a very lightly damp cottonball... not soaking wet) It likely will remove a little of the surface of the paint, but that would be the inked up part of the paint anyway.

I keep staring at this post ... I really can't believe it ... and I'm not even a parent! Maybe BECAUSE I'm not a parent!