Thursday, February 24, 2011

How To Get Candle Wax Out of Carpet

We threw a little party in our basement for New Years, and had a grand ole' time with a bunch of our close friends. Our basement is the perfect hangout spot, and we often find ourselves gravitating down there when guests come over. It also doesn't hurt that we have surround sound, a big comfy sectional, the tv, and, of course, the bar.

You might remember that we hung up some wall sconces on either side of our tv awhile back.


Um, they're pretty frickin' awesome, if I do say so myself.


We've spent many a night watching some sweet flicks and playing some intense video games down there, lounging on the sofa with the lights off and just the candles in the sconces lit. Like when we watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy? I totally felt like we were right there in the Mines of Moria with the fellowship.

{via}

We just love our sconces.

Until one drips wax onto the carpet.

Just ignore the hanging cords and the scuffs on the white wood, mmkay?

Let's just say that we were upset (which would be an understatement), thinking that we would never ever be able to get that wax out of our beautiful carpet!



Boy we were wrong!

Thank goodness that a little research revealed that alas, there IS a way to get candle wax out of carpet easily and completely! (and cheaply, too!)

How To Get Candle Wax Out of Carpet

1) Gather your supplies. I used:

- An iron
- Paper bags or paper towels (we've heard that paper bags work better, though)
- A butter knife

2) If there's alot of candle wax buildup on the carpet, try to get any large chunks out by carefully using the butter knife. Be very cautious when doing this, however, because you don't want to damage the carpet fibers!


3) Once any large buildups of wax have been gently pried off, use a vacuum to suck up the chunks.


4) Now comes the fun part! Plug in your iron and set it to the lowest setting, on no steam.

5) Gather up your paper bags (I used the ones that our groceries came in from Whole Foods) and cut them up into more manageable flat pieces. Place a flat paper bag piece over the wax area.



6) Take the iron and iron on the paper bag, being careful to keep it constantly moving to keep from burning your carpet - because that might even be worse than the wax! (Note: Certain types of carpet might be more prone to burning - and using a paper towel might also tend to result more in burning - so do this at your own risk!)


7) You will notice that as the iron heats the wax, the paper bag absorbs it - which results in it lifting it out of your carpet! If it's taking awhile to heat the wax, slowly increase the heat on the iron - but not too much, because remember - the goal is to get the wax out without burning a hole in the carpet! I ended up (with the paper bags being so thick) with the iron setting on "Synthetic Fibers", and that worked wonderfully.


The wax is going away! Hurray!

8) Switch out the paper bags as necessary - once the bag is mostly full of dark oil stains, just switch it out for a new one.


9) Once the wax is all gone, vacuum the spot and you're done! Totally easy, right?


Yup, you can't even tell that there was any wax there to begin with - and it feels just like normal carpet, too! It's as good as new.

And - you can also use this trick on the walls, as well!


Yup, I just LOVE a solution to a sticky problem such as this! Especially a solution that costs nothing, is super easy, and only takes an hour of my time! What a lifesaver!

Let me just say that Tom couldn't believe his eye when we came home and I showed him the floor!

What do you think? Have you ever had to deal with a candle wax + spill + carpet problem? How did you handle it? Have you ever used the iron method before - and if you did, what did you use with it (paper towel, paper bag, towel)? We've love to hear your thoughts!
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9 comments:

  1. What a cool tip! I'd never heard that one before.

    You might consider Dollar Tree cylinder vases for your scones too. That's what we use as inexpensive hurricanes, and from the looks of the sconces, they'd be a pretty good fit.

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  2. LifeinRehab - Yeah, I thought our carpet was a total goner... I'm so thankful that the iron thing actually worked!

    Thanks for the heads up on the dollar tree vases! That would definitely help keep any future wax spillage to a minimum!

    Thanks for stopping by!
    ~Chelsea

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  3. Wow, very interesting! This is one technique that I've never seen before. Good to know!

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  4. Think about using vanilla scented LED battery powered candles. I find they give off a wonderful scent, look amazingly real and the best part- no wax drippings! Perfect for just this type of decor. I found some at Costco over the holidays, 4 medium/large sized for 20 bucks. But I see them everywhere. Just be sure the scent is subtle, as some I have looked at are overpowering.
    Just a thought!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Forgot to tell you that the LED candles we bought from Costco flicker like a real flame,are made of real wax, and have a timer that you can set so they burn for 5 hours, then shut off, or you can have them burn continuously. Very cool.

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  6. Wow! What a great solution! I love finding out stuff like that works. We used baking soda and water (to make a paste) to get pencil marks off our walls. I was so skeptical but it worked! Woo-hoo! I love the suggestions people above gave you as well. Isn't blogland great? ;)

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  7. This is a great tip. The carpet looks great - looks like it was a lot of work though. Debbie's idea might be great for avoiding the problem. I wonder if they give off any heat.

    Janine
    The Carpet Goddess

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  8. My sister just did this bag trick with the iron and the candle wax came right off, you would never know it spilled. Be careful not to have the iron touch the carpet directly and don't let it get so hot it would burn the carpeting.

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