Caught out by a dirty room or appliance? Tell Kärcher for the chance to win a £250 John Lewis voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Kärcher would like to find out about moments where you've been caught out by a dirty appliance or room.

Here’s what Kärcher say, “We’ve all been caught out when visitors drop by unannounced and cringed when they pop in to find the house in disarray, what we would like to know is what has been you most embarrassing moment?”

So, have you ever been caught out with a dirty room? Maybe you noticed a hideous cobweb just as you had visitors over? Or maybe someone caught sight of your dirty oven? Perhaps you noticed something floating in your kettle, just as you were making a cup of tea for a guest?

Whatever way you've been caught out, Kärcher would love to hear about it!

Everyone who adds their thoughts to the thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 John Lewis voucher.

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may be used by Kärcher in further marketing material (anonymously, of course).

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

I've just generally found the kitchen being the worst offending room in the house. DH stores the lawnmower in there as he tends to mow the grass 2-3 time a week when the weather is good; plates everywhere, recycling piling up next to the tumble dryer which is in the middle of nowhere and stuff generally cluttering up the windowsill and work surfaces.

It was like this a few months ago when we were having our roof done - there was no real way to hide the mess as the roofers had to access the back garden to get water from the outside tap which is under the massive kitchen window.

The microwave oven is a horror at times as it's in an awkward place.

Have to place myself strategically between it & guests who may have sauntered into the kitchen

Cringed last night as mil had to go in my bedroom last night (dh was unwell) and its a complete state with all the laundry dumped on the floor ready for me to sort that eve and multiple cups on the side. It's the room that gets neglected as dh works nights so dont get a chance to sort it in the day time.

I had an old friend from high school over to re-plaster my ceiling. I had moved all the furniture out but couldnt manage the 4 seater sofa myself, he text to say it was no problem him and his workmate would get it. I pushed it out and vacuumed behind it, to save any embarrassment.

I gave them the keys and left for work. An hour later I get a text saying they found a pizza box with half a fossilised pizza inside it oooops! I have no recollection of when or where this pizza originated but it still haunts me!

During a dinner party DH suddenly became very talkative, telling one anecdote after another, holding the guests' attention. Later he explained he'd seen a mouse passing and didn't want the guests to notice!

when i guest comes round and i have forgotten to clean the toilet after my 3 year old has used it....

With me it's always the stairs - the most unexpected people just want to 'see round upstairs' (why??) and our stairs are, erm, a work in progress

Milkpudding!!!

Descaling the kettle (admittedly this chore was overdue) only to discover the scale was holding it together and once it was cleaned, it leaked. I had to buy a new one.

I had my chopping board leaning up against a wall in my kitchen. (let me preface by saying my house is old and we've had a lot go wrong with it, including damp!) I hadn't used it for a week or so until we had my SIL and BIL over for dinner one night. I was just going to make a salad and so took the chopping board from where it was...only to see the beginnings of green mould spreading on the wall behind it. I was mortified! I was trying to make light of it whilst getting the bleach spray out and spraying the wall frantically . Not my finest moment of entertaining!

I had some girlfriends over for a dvd night. I stuck some pizzas in the oven and then went back to watch TV. About ten minutes later we started really coughing so I went to check the pizza. The whole kitchen was filled with smoke (turns out the oven seal isn't the best) aside from the weeks of Sunday roast fat collected at the bottom of my oven I had left a whole ciabatta from lunchtime which was now near incinerated.

So not only was I an idiot for not checking the oven was empty (as a favourite habit of mine is to hide leftovers things in the oven) but everyone got to see just had awful my oven was!

Shoved all the mess into the a big cupboard next to the bathroom. Guess which door my mother opened when going up to the toilet?

She talked about he mess for the rest of her visit...

Am I the only one who is a bit about encouraging us to be ashamed if we don't have a show home?

Children make a mess, right? My nieces and i were having our usual eating sweets and watching movies, while my nephew was playing on the floor, dragging all his toys out, climbing around etc. The mess wasn't actually that bad. Anyhow around 5 minutes later my friend popped round to help me 'babysit'.. I opened the door to her and started walking back into the living room. She laughed and said 'Laura, what is that on your bum?!' i felt around, and found a huge lump of chocolate caked all over my leggings! We then walked back into the room to find the toy box completely turned upside down, the curtain pole hanging down slightly.. We tidied up, and sat on the sofa where the chocolate stain on the cream fabric leapt out like a sore thumb.. My brother and his partner weren't happy to find their curtain pole hanging to the wall with bluetac. I now have to babysit in my own home ?? really awkward when i got the phone call 'Laura, the chocolate wont come off the sofa. Oh and why is there bluetac attached to my curtain pole?' guessing i should have told the truth instead of trying some failed DIY!!!

While in the throes of hyperemesis MIL came over to help with housework and stuff; very kind of her. Months later she copied me in on a email to my husband, and in the replies trail there was a message from her to FIL around the time of said help describing my kitchen floor as 'unspeakable'...

I've just about forgiven her. Just. (to be fair, she wasn't far wrong)

"Caught out??"

When was a man ever described as 'caught out' by an unclean house?!

Caught out implies a crime.

So sexist.

The best is normally when I have brought a friend in, knowing the house is clean and tidy and there is a foul smell emanating through the hallway to discover one of the dogs has vomited. Generally somewhere difficult to clean like halfway under the fridge or in the doorway so you scrape through it when you open the door.

I do have a karcher window cleaner and I admit its fab for last minute cleaning of what I call snotty snitch from dogs noses pressed against the glass of the French doors or my DD's handprints on the kitchen doors!

There is also a vaselined small handprint outside the loo on the wall that won't come off courtesy of my DD that is regularly commented upon...

I had a viewing on my flat which is for sale. I caught the potential buyer eying up a cobweb hanging from the wires of the smoke alarm which I'd told them I had been changing that week...clearly I hadn't if Mr spider had been up there spinning his stuff!!!!

Before we had children dp was out and toilet sprung a leak, it was going everywhere and I was on my own so I ran downstairs to get help from the flat below. My bathroom was disgusting, dirty washing everywhere. I quickly shut the living room door so they wouldn't see our christmas tree, it was mid feb! Argh we were filth bags!

Before I invested in my Karcher Window Vac, I used to always get caught out when the window cleaners turned up and I was getting out of the shower...

Our window cleaners would always turn up un- announced so now I never have that problem, and my windows are always clean because I don't have to wait for the monthly (terrifying) visit from the window cleaners.

Are these Karcher Window Vacs worth having? Saw a neighbour using one this morningand wondered.

I always find that when my hairdresser comes round and I'm sitting in the kitchen I notice the spot around the cooker that has been missed. It's always in a different place!

My house is pretty much unclean a lot of the time. With 2 cats, a dog and 3 kids (oh, and a hamster with an aversion to wood shavings) - the house is (by some standards) a bit of a mess. My motto is 'Take as you find it and good luck - hope you don't have a problem with that!'

Kidding -it's hoovered twice a week, and dusted at least once a month. Kitchen surfaces cleaned daily.

It's not quite a dirty room or appliance but when my mum was straining some cabbage she had cooked she found out that when she picked it up after chopping it she had also picked up a dish scourer (one of the small thing green ones). Me and my mum didn't have any cabbage with that meal but we served it to my dad and brothers !

House generally looks ok but only because my bedroom is crap dumping central. No problem, only DH and I go in there! Except of course when SIL was looking after plants etc when we were on holiday and sent her (relatively new) BF to fix our curtain pole which had fallen down just before we left. I have no idea how he managed to get to the window in the first place but I was MORTIFIED that he had gone in there. He never mentioned the heaving piles of crap to us.

I have invested in house clearing/storage since then. Don't think anyone has been in the bedroom since it got tidied though.