Quick Paint Clean Up Tip

What do you do when someone you think is coming over to your house to do you a favor (“hey do you still need some help…”) , make a mess, request money and leave all while living with someone who is very detail oriented and who does not take any crap? I do not know what you would have done, but I called my resourceful father.

The main problem (besides having to rip down the existing crown molding to replace it, and having to repaint the trim and baseboards – was that sloppy edging work left paint all over our nice stained window molding/casing. Amy was extremely disgusted with the sloppy paint all over the stained wood so I called my dad to see what he would recommend. If anyone knew how I might be able to get the paint off (no it would not pick off) my father wood. He recommended – since the paint had only been on for a few days – to use some Mr. Clean and some hot water on the abrasive side of our dish sponge (one side is sponge, one side is rough to get off tough grease or paint apparently. I scrubbed the wood around the windows for about 5-10 minutes and then was able to then pick and peel off the paint.

I am having a carpenter come over in the next two days to look at our options with the baseboards and crown molding disaster. The way it looks now – it will be easier to buy new. (the paint color is a dark blue and we do not have the paint that was used for the white on the crown molding and base boards.)

Take home lesson…as I well know and am really upset this one got past me…if you want it done right, do it yourself or hire a well known professional.
[tags]home improvement, painting[/tags]