My kids got baby-bell wax all over my mother in laws new sofa.

[jennan]

Hey,
I'm not really sure how to use this website so apologies if wrong.
So I'm at my mother in laws house for Xmas and she had just brought herself this VERY expensive sofa for herself as a self gift.
she has just had it delivered today and its a brand new white sofa, as I have two boys (6 and 7) I told them not to go on it but my mother in law INSISTED they could go on it.
they had just finished watching TV and were getting ready for bed when my husband alerted me to the fact that someone had obviously eaten a baby-bell and than somehow sat on the wax, there is now a VERY noticeable red patch on the sofa.
I have removed the excess wax but there is still a stain.
my boys and mother in law are in bed now but I dont know how to remove it.
me and my husband dont have the money to replace this sofa and my mother in law doesn't really like me as it is.
Does anyone know how to remove cheese wax from a sofa?
Thanks.

Hehe yes.

Im starting to suspect op got up in the night and smeared red wax all over the new white sofa as some sort of frenzied dirty protest- revenge at last for mil not coming to the wedding.

She then spent the night laughing like a maniac watching her husband looking for an iron and trying to locate ice.

I have an amazing carpet snd furniture cleaner, from Robert Dyas. Has a brush on top. So far has never let me down, on any surface. I will take a photo when home.

White sofa + fingerfood + young boys is bound to end in disaster. You could say that you tried to warn her. I wouldn't do anything amateur that might make matters worse, but google the numbers of specialist cleaning services for her and beat a hasty retreat. I wouldn't have a pale fabric sofa within a million miles of kids that age without some kind of throw or cover, they can be sick without warning too.

... and if it doesn't, you can use the rest of the lighter fuel to set fire to the fucker!

Imo this is on MIL, for ignoring the OP's cautionary advice re the throw. And it will surely be covered by her contents insurance.

Can you update as to how it went?

Please don't have this conversation with your MIL.. this should be your DH's job.

Mum... there is a babybel stain on your sofa.. DW told the boys not to sit on the sofa and not to have any food near it.. you told them to sit on the sofa and then gave them food.. I am sorry this happened and will do my best to fix it.. but this is not our fault.

I agree the adult thing to do is to let MIL know.
Following it with speculations about whose fault it is though and accusing MIL? That’s pretty childish- as is making your dh have the conversation and what? hiding upstairs giggling about it on mumsnet?

The grown up approach is to apologise profusely, both accept your dc are your responsibility when staying as guests and offer to pay for it to be cleaned.

Mil isn’t a monster if she’s hosting you and has made an effort to buy snacks her grandchildren will like. She seemed pretty relaxed about the sofa being used.

So what if she made the error of letting the kids eat snacks near the sofa? It’s petty to point that out, almost asking for an argument.

Of course it's not 'totally on your mil of course'

Husband has to deal with it, he noticed it same as you did and it's his mother. You did your part by saying the boys weren't to sit on it. If she insisted then anything that happens with kids is to be taken as given. They can't be expected to sit and be clean on a white sofa. There shouldn't be any payment, you just do what you can to get the stain out. Maybe at most buy some good cleaning product to help.

I have no sympathy for anyone who buys a white sofa.

BEFORE you iron it, as others have said, scrape off as much as you can. You don't need an icecube unless your room is very warm. if you have your heating off overnight, then do it first thing in the morning. Think of it like candle wax.
Don't iron it if there is a lot of visible wax that can be picked off otherwise you will end up with a spreading bigger mess.

Then when you've scraped it off, use an iron and absorbant kitchen towels.
Go slowly and just keep repeating it. Hotest iron setting with steam but you must make sure the whole area the iron contacts the sofa is protected with paper so you dont damage the fabric if it cant take heat.

It takes a while and repeated blotting with fresh kitchen towel but it comes out eventually. don't expect it to be a one iron and its done job.

If its a deep pile after your first few goes or when you are ready to give up, "fluff" the pile on the area with a few rubs with a nail brush while its still warm from the iron. let it cool down overnight, rub it again cold with a nail brush and then go again with the iron.

It really is very effective to get wax out but you do need patience and persistence.

There shouldn’t be any payment, you just do what you can to get the stain out

I’d offer. Sofa cushion covers are removable. It costs around £9 for a cover to be cleaned at a dry cleaners, less for spot cleaning. It shows you’re willing to be the bigger person and rectify the damage responsibly even if you don’t think it was your “fault”.

Dicking about in the middle of the night with an iron and wetting it when you have no clue what you’re doing sounds like terrible advice.

Why weren't the boys supervised with the snacks?

Just STOP! You are just going to make it worse. Tell her what's happened. She can sort it on her house insurance if she has to...

Yeah, I'd offer to pay for professional cleaning, OP.

Also agree with whoever said earlier that buying an expensive light coloured sofa is a recipe for disaster.

Anyone else reckon OP is going to be on her at some point soon telling us she's made a massive scorch mark on her MIL's sofa with an iron.

I thought this. There was a hilarious post on FB the other day (DIY on a budget) where a person was asking for help as they had accidentally dropped an iron on the carpet. On the photo you could see 3 distinct separate iron scorch prints! Turned out they had got gum or something on there and had tried the iron and grease proof paper ‘hack’. Unsuccessfully.

Yes 🤣

It probably would have been a wiser use of time to get up early and help the boys make a model of granny’s head with the remaining Babybels.

Who’s going to be cross about a stain when their sweet grandsons have just presented them with a model of their face made of cheese wax.

Blot with rubbing alcohol to remove last remnants, I'm told.

OP. You need to update us. Please put us out of our misery.

It needs a professional clean. I'd be livid if you try to get wax off a sofa with an iron!

I think it’s on her not you if she went against you to allow them on to it and provided snacks nearby for them, without carefully supervising hand washing etc

Our school banned Babybels in lunch boxes after they spent a small fortune on a lovely solid wood floor - on the first day some kid trod babybel cases into the floor and they left big red blotches everywhere. Dangerous stuff!

I wouldn’t have tried all these stupid DIY methods on an item that’s wasn’t mine

Is it just me worried that MIL laid a new patio this morning, which is why OP hasn't come back?!

Just get a steam cleaner to melt the wax and then blot and then get upholstery cleaner for the stain. Your mother in law is an idiot for giving snacks to kids in this situation.