Mumsnet users share their child’s messiest moments with Farrow & Ball

[LucyBMumsnet]

This sponsored discussion is now closed

We may have gradually adapted to spending more time at home this year, but that doesn’t mean it’s been easy. With children around, more time indoors can often mean more opportunity for mess-making, whether over-adventurous colouring, teatime catastrophes, or grubby mitts. Farrow & Ball’s durable Modern Emulsion paint is washable and wipeable, so to celebrate all eventualities, they would like to hear the story of the biggest mess your child has ever made.

Here’s what Farrow & Ball has to say: “Our homes have become office, crèche, and schoolroom as well as space for your family. Couple that with the fact that most of us have been looking at the same walls for months on end, noticing every mark, or wanting to introduce a change, and you have a great opportunity for a fresh lick of paint.

Modern Emulsion is a great choice for any space because it’s washable, wipeable, and tough enough to withstand those everyday scuffs and scrapes from things like scooters and shoes. It’s also eco-friendly, child-safe, and available in any Farrow & Ball colour you choose.”

What has been your child’s messiest moment? Do you have a budding Picasso who simply can’t resist the allure of a blank wall? Perhaps your children weren’t even the culprits: are your four-legged friends responsible for muddy marks and wet splodges along the wall? How do you tackle the clean-up?

No matter what kind of creative punishments your home has been subject to, we’d like to hear your stories. All who share on the thread below will be entered into a prize draw. The winner of the prize draw will receive a £100 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list), a virtual Farrow & Ball colour consultancy, and 10L of Modern Emulsion paint in a colour of their choice. Two runners-up will each win 5L of Modern Emulsion paint in a colour of their choice.

Thanks, and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

[puglife]

Baking always ends up in chaos. I always imagine we will have a lovely time, mixing the ingredients, licking the spoon and then decorating the cakes/biscuits.
In reality it always ends up with flour and sugar everywhere. Sticky hands touching anything they can find. My daughter sitting on the floor licking the bowl whilst I frantically try to salvage something (anything!) out of the ingredients!

[EmanResu7]

As a toddler, my son glued leaves to his wall "to make a forest". When we pulled them off, the glue took flakes of paint off. The wall was green so I did a temporary touch up job with a green marker pen, which gave my son the bright idea to colour in the hallway just like he saw mummy do. Entirely my fault. First child obviously.

[Sleeplessnights1234]

Paella! Literally smeared it all over himself and then put the bowl on his head lol

[Zirmbach]

@AntiSocialDistancer

Spaghetti bolognese!! Fortunately we have a dog so cleaning the floor was done for me but by god - i used to find more food than I had given him under his vest, which was under a bib? How is that possible when I had seen him eat so much?!

Miss those baby days!!!

How much is a virtual consultation? I need one!

£130 per hour for the virtual ones - www.farrow-ball.com/colour-consultancy

[AntiSocialDistancer]

Thanks so much @zirmbach ! Better than doing the wrong colour and repainting (especially on the hall stairs landing!)

[ConfusedcomMum]

My eldest two loved flicking their yoghurt on to the opposite wall whilst sat in their high chair at meal times. Their 'art work' wasn't that bad actually lol, I was secretly impressed with their technique!

[Motherof2Dragons]

Spaghetti bolognaise and a one year old with an impressive two metre shot range. Turned my back for no time at all and suddenly it's all over the walls, floor, ceiling, table, his brother....Plus the not quite empty bowl is now on his head and he looks like some kind of demonic cardinal. Unfortunately the kitchen was decorated by the previous owners and NOT in wipeable modern emulsion....

[endlesscraziness]

We once had a rescue dog nicknamed Houdini. He escaped one night and cut his ear on brambles. The vet dressed it well, I took off the dressing when advised to & went to work. I came back and it was like a massacre had happened in the house! Blood everywhere and I mean everywhere. On the ceilings, walls, floors. I was finding spots of blood for months on things like door frames. Absolute nightmare

[Lariflete]

Coming to the end of a home renovation, DS helped to paint the walls. However, he got bored a short while into the task and headed downstairs. Which was when we found out that he had both sat down in the paint tray AND stood in it so there were bottom prints and foot prints through the (luckily) non carpeted new room and stairs but also down the (unluckily) carpeted landing and stairs into the hall. This was mixed in with the delightful orange dust that covered everything. We had to replace all the carpets in the house and DS wasn't fully clean again for about two weeks!

[DisgruntledGuineaPig]

New waterproof mascara. My mum being hard work on the phone so I wasn't supervising 3 year old. Walls wardrobe doors, carpet, all with a lovely pattern.

Its is very hard to remove waterproof mascara without also lifting the colour underneath...

[MILdesperandum]

My two discovered an unattended tub of sudocrem in the bathroom and happily painted each other with it! Turns out sudocrem is really hard to wash out of hair

[TheoneandObi]

My make up. All over themselves and the bathroom and the landing carpet. They actually looked like they'd been in an horrific car crash and suffered burns and wounds, so bad were the smears of lipstick and mascara and foundation. couldn't be mad at them tho. They were just playing

[MakiB]

My son when he was 2 went to the toilet with his uncle in a restaurant. When they were coming back as it was a bathroom upstairs, my son rid on his uncles back all happy. I asked him if he did anything and my he said no. He apparently just stood in the corner very quietly. 5 minutes later a member of staff asks me if my son did number 2 all over the restaurant. I was mortified and said he had just been to the toilet and he wouldn't do such thing. I then asked my son in front of the waitress, and he proudly said yes that was me. Well you can imagine the horror on my face 😳. Apparently when he was all quiet that's when he actually did number 2 in his pants, and unfortunately all the droppings that looked like rabbits droppings dropped out of his trousers as he rode on his uncles back, and it led all the way to our table, 🙈. What can I say, it was time to pick it up with wipes leading up to the stairs. Need I say we never went back to that restaurant 😂. Kids....

[Soletsgotothepubearlierthen]

Toddler holding dog lead. Dog saw rabbit. Dog went through cowpat. With toddler holding onto the lead sliding full body through it. Both covered

[Strangeways19]

My oldest child decided to cover the whole light blue carpet in his bedroom with purple paint, I was literally speechless. I didn't have much money in so decided that the best thing to do was to cut the carpet in half and throw out the damaged half, because I couldn't rescue it I just got a rug to replace it. That was a memorable day!

[gillyweed]

My kids have taken to colouring themselves in during lockdown, they seem to really enjoy it and it keeps them busy. they laugh hysterically while doing it too so hard to make to gem stop! My youngest is off school at the moment (bubble burst) and spent 2 days last week with pink pen all over her face, it wasn't shower night and it's not like we were going anywhere...

[PickledChicory]

The baby who painted her cot and the wall with the contents of her nappy full of poo or the child that found charcoal and decorated her room
There is also the big puddle near our house aka the gift that keeps giving...the DC play in it approx 2x a week ....gee thanks peppa lets all jump up and down in muddy puddles like we dont have to clean up afterwards

[Belo]

I once went into check on my 2.5 year old sleeping daughter just before I went to bed - only to find all the felt pens on the bedroom door and she had coloured her face, arms and legs blue!!! The ink had gone all over the bedding and there were blue finger prints on the walls.

[Thelongdarkteatime]

Dc age 3 writing his name on the newly painted wall behind a curtain in the living room. When asked about it claimed ‘Granadad did it.’ Grandad who hadn’t been to the House that week wrote ds name complete with backward ‘s’. To this day ds is adamant he didn’t do it.

[bikerclaire]

When our daughter was two I left her with premixed paint, happily painting on paper, sitting at her little table. I was washing up I think and next time I came in the room, I was in and out so could only have been five minutes or so and she's taken the (nearly full) blue and spread it out all over the front room carpet. It's a mottled brown/tan and I have to say it did actually go a lovely aquamarine shade. As it was water based I used hot water and a sponge and it took me two days of kneeling, soaking, wringing but I stuck on some music and it did pretty much all come off. Really surprised that it did to be honest!

[Enigma222]

My 3 and 5 year decided to stick play dough on a newly painted room. Which hasn’t even fully dried because they said it was not colourful. Needed repainting 🙈

[1moreRep]

Nothing in my house can compare to the "slime making" - I literally had to cut it out of my cats fur

[gemmie797]

My sons got hold of the sudocrem when I dared to leave the room. It was everywhere. Up the walls, on the settee and all over both of them

[Halmo]

Permanent marker pen on the newly wallpapered bedroom wall. Bless them they were very pleased with their art!

[Serin]

We were having a bonfire party and I made a huge vat of chilli in the morning and left it on the floor of the utility room to cool down before reheating later in the day. All covered of course.
I carried on preparing food in the kitchen and realised I hadnt seen the boys (2 and 3years) for a while. Went through to the utility room to find them both stripped naked and sat in the warm chilli.
I didnt serve it.