To be gutted about my nursery

[Pippa12]

My little boy is 15 wks old. I have been putting finishing touches to his nursery before he sleeps in there permanently.

I purchased a pair of decorative shelves from a popular high street store. One blue and one grey at the cost of £25.

The instructions on hanging the shelves were incorrect (difficult to explain) which resulted in 2 holes being incorrectly drilled into wall but no big problem as once DH amended hanging holes are covered.

However, on standing back admiring lovely new shelves I realised blue paint has transfered off the shelves all over the wall (wasn't sure exactly were I wanted them at first so DH held them in different positions while I decided) The paint has also transfered onto my changing mat and changing table.

I contacted customer complaints who have offered a refund, but am I being unreasonable to think that my financial loss is much greater than £25 for shelves, the damage is so bad the wall needs redecorating! The shelves have gone back to the store for 'investigation'. What would be a reasonable request? Picture shows type of marking but imagine a large amount of wall with similar markings.

The wall doesn't need redecorating! I really doubt your baby will notice.

I know it's not exactly what you're asking, but have you tried a magic eraser to get the marks off?

I think I would buy a magic eraser, they are amazing, and take the refund. Paint transfers from all sorts of things and hindsight is a great thing of course. I'm sure it'll come off, it doesn't look too bad on the photo though sorry.

Ha X post Mrs reacher

Some cream cleaner and a damp sponge?

Otherwise just paint over the smudges, don't repaint the whole wall!

Buy a tester pot of the wall colour and touch it up?

You'll laugh about how precious you were about the nursery in a few years, when your DS has bunk beds covered in stickers and playdoh ground into the carpet.

Yabu.

It's wallpaper not paint and the mark on the picture is in a small corner as an example, think that all over wall. We've tried eraser, warm water sponge etc but it won't come off and I'm concerned about wetting the paper

Get some paint and just paint over it

Sorry pressed send to soon 🙈 a small area wouldn't bother me at all (I have a 4 year old) but it's over quite a big area. I'm honestly not being precious, it's noticeable as soon as you go in and I'm gutted 😕

Does the high street store do wallpaper? You might be able to get some free rolls. I doubt they'll be giving you cash beyond your refund... maybe vouchers as a goodwill kind of thing.

But it isn't paint??? It's wallpaper??? I can't paint over the top of wallpaper???

I would then expect the company to pay for the cost of enough wallpaper to redo the wall.

I think paying for the paper would be fair. That's sort of what I was thinking. However it's not from that store, nothing is ever that easy!

TBF I'm really surprised this wouldn't annoy people, a freshly decorated room being ruined by colour transfer from a simple shelf has driven me (and DH!) to distraction. It didnt say colour may transfer etc. I never thought of myself as being precious

Course you can put a small bit of paint over some wall paper

Have you tried a magic eraser?

It reminds me of the marks that you sometimes get on the floor from dark soled trainers.

Were the shelves painted before you bought them or did you paint them?

I would be upset I like to look at a beautiful finish. I would tell the company and show them pictures they will probably reimburse you.

Sorry, took me a minute to get it clear what happened, But I think you're right, as the paint transferred off the shelves that is an issue with their product beyond just getting the instructions wrong, they should not mark your walls.

No they were bought that colour, we didn't paint them. One is blue and one grey, the grey shelf has left no marks.

Thanks for the suggestion of painting over wallpaper but I'd rather not do that, I think it would look horrendous and very obvious, I'm taking about a fairly large area.

I've tried the eraser but I'm also worried about rubbing the wallpaper to hard, I don't want to make it look any worse than it already does.

If you moan to them about the marking they may give you more as a good will. You will have to sound unhappy and pissed.

Have you got any spare wallpaper?

Try marking a bit of it with the shelf, then leaving it to 'set' then wetting, scrubbing etc. to see how much force you can apply to what's on the wall and see which detergents may work.

Yes, you can paint over wallpaper. and marks on wallpaper. BUT. The chances of getting an exact match to your white background would be very small, it could end up looking as though you had grey marks or paler blue marks depending on the white you used and if any of the blue bled through.
It would also be more noticeable in either daylight or electric light, depending on the factors above.

Yanbu and painting over every blue mark would look ridiculous...there would a complete difference in colour and sheen level. I would expect a refund for the paper (and I'd try to get money towards decorating costs too but I doubt they'd go for that)

Whilst I feel sorry for you and I think that you can probably get the company to pay up to save their reputation I don't necessarily think that they are liable.

The reason that I say this is because I think that they may say that you aren't supposed to rest the shelves at all different positions on a light coloured wall whilst you were deciding where to put them.

What I think you should do is go onto their Facebook page and post about it politely and at the same time contact customer services. If I were you I wouldn't go in there all guns blazing as such because they may resort to placing the blame on you.

If you ask rather than demand their help they may be more likely to pay up to maintain their reputation.

Try the eraser, it's just like a sponge. I've used on wallpaper all over my house