Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Several Questions

I have several problems that I need help with. Please respond to any or all of them that you have a suggestion for! I'd really appreciate any input.

1) I bought this cute pot, but the tag was attached with hot glue. Does anyone have an idea how to get hot glue off ceramic?



2) My son's rubber ducky has a green tinge to him. No, he hasn't got the flu, he's got mildew (ew!) I was thinking he needs a vinegar soak. Any other ideas?

3) We picked up this coffee table (for free, can't complain), but it needs some work. Those aren't stains - it's the wood underneath the cracked paint. I think we should strip the (poor) paint job and enjoy the natural wood. Does anyone have experience stripping paint? Do you have any suggestions for me? (best products, methods, etc.) Or if you have a different suggestion, I'm open for ideas!

4) My son played a little roughly with a vertical blind and ripped it right off. Any idea how to repair it? Or do you know if I can buy just ONE slat?

Thanks in advance for any help! If you're feeling particularly helpful, click here for more dilemmas that need solving!



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8 comments:

Jodi said...

My dd's duck did the same thing. You can try vinegar, but it didn't work for me. :( Sorry. We ended up tossing the duck, which was traumatic to dd, but our Dollar General has them cheap if you need a replacement duck.

Jodi said...

Oh, the vertical blind! Your son must be taking lessons from my dd, because she totally ruined our vertical blinds. What I did was move a slant from the end, where it wasn't as noticeable over to the one that needed replacing. This will work if you remove it very carefully at the top. You might be able to turn the blind over, if the clip is still attached to the top, and clip the other bottom side to the top. Make sense? So it's upside down and you have the the broken top piece at the bottom.
Yeah. It's a pain. If he does it often (dd totally destroyed ours), you might want to just take them all down and get a cheap curtain and curtain rod.

Buffie said...

You can buy individual slats. We had to do this with a set of blinds that broke. Just check with a local blind store. It should be fairly cheap to get a new slat although the color probably won't be a perfect match. I would suggest moving the new slat to the end and taking the end slat and using that to replace the broken one. It's just less obvious that the colors aren't a perfect match when the odd one is on the end.

Kristin - The Goat said...

I used clear packing tape for the vertical blind and taped the top a few times so it was strong again and clipped a little hole for the clip to go through. It was temporary, but worked for a year until I got new blinds.

I'd try the Magic Eraser for your rubber ducky - or Bar Keepers Friend and give it a good paste rubbing. (Mix the bar keepers friend with a little water to make a paste)

Hot glue - Heat up some water to boiling and pour it over the glue. That should soften it up a bit to take off the pottery.

Kim said...

1. Try scrapping it off or ignore it, once you put a plant in it you won't see the glue.

2. I used to put all baby toys in tub with a mild bleach solution (it will kill the mildew) soak, for a few hours or overnight, then run through the dishwasher (or another tub soaking in plain water and soap.

3. There are tons of product on the market for this - my one tip, do it outside or in an open garage - fumes are bad!

4. Have you tried a small bit of clear tape? It probably isn't that noticeable. Even glue on a small bit of cardboard on the least seen side.

Julie/mom said...

1. There is a product called Glue Off", or Goof Off. Home Depot. Ask the attendant in the aisle. ha ha
2. Throw out the duck. Get another.
3. Strip it! It is fun. Home Depot. Look at those products, that aisle attendant can help with that also. Wear GLOVES! Use a tarp or newspapers underneath. You will be so proud at what you accomplished!
4. I got several sets of my mini blinds fixed for free! I bought them from 3 day blinds. Maybe yours can be fixed for free too.

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Jennifer said...

Thank you!

Suzanne - I switched the end slat to the front as soon as I read your comment (Now why didn't I think of that?!)

Buffie - I'm glad to know I can buy individual ones. I like the idea of taking the broken one to match the color.

Kirby - I'm going to try the boiling water tomorrow. (Oh, the ducky's mildew is on the inside, but thanks anyway)

Kim - I should wash all the toys in bleach once in a while, thanks for encouraging me :) The cardboard idea on the blind slat intrigues me too. As for the hot glue, I don't think I can ignore it!

Julie - I have GooGone, but the hot glue is more stubborn than that. Yeah, I probably should throw out the duck (thanks for the Dollar General tip Suzanne), but I don't want to! lol.

mub said...

Get a hair dryer and point it at the hotglue and scrape at it until it budges! It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes =)

If the table has been painted with latex paint, Goof Off 2 works wonderfully to remove paint and it's fairly non-toxic compared to some other options. If it's been painted with oil based paint, I think the other tips above are good ones =)