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

[Notsandwiches]

My two daughters decided to take a very large water melon upstairs...they struggled, it was really heavy. They decided that it was way too heavy to carry it downstairs, so took the quicker option. It did not go well! It exploded and pieces of melon and seed were splattered from floor to ceiling!

[FloreanFortescue]

Oh definitely when I was sitting next to my daughter on the sofa (age 2) and I didn't realise that she had taken a Sudocrem pot from the changing bag and was casually smearing it over the sofa. She made not a single sound so I didn't notice!! How??

[Someaddedsugar]

DS was 'helping' to renovate his Ikea kitchen. His idea of renovating was to take the paint and paint the actual wall behind the kitchen - the original colour was a very pale grey, it's now pale grey with a strategically placed foot-stool to cover the dark blue paint that's now a constant reminder that toddlers shouldn't be given a paintbrush!!

[helcrai]

When my daughter was a toddler she discovered the changing bag left in the living room. Unfortunately she also discovered the pot of Sudocrem in there and decided to "paint" herself and the walls and carpet with it while I was in the kitchen. I didn't know such a small pot could spread so far! Was an absolute nightmare to clean up.

[1969angep]

Our walls mostly get covered with food - our son still insists on using his hands to eat waaaaaay more than he should. Although he washes his hands after every meal there is always plenty of wall touching between the dining room and bathroom!

[elcoucho]

Seven year old was having a tantrum about homework at the same time as changing the refill cartridge of his inkpen; cue a whole new cartridge of dark blue ink splattered, not just across the freshly painted matte white wall, but also across a piece of modern artwork hanging in the middle of it. Amazingly, the ink washed off the wall, however the abstract art became a little more abstract with dark blobs of blue forever ingrained in it!

[TrollTheRespawnJeremy]

My dd took my expensive new eyeliner- draw all over herself a'la Alice Cooper and then did a series of interesting scrawls all over the wall and on the underside of the dining table.

She looked so funny that it was hard to be angry about it.

[SlipperyLizard]

I managed to dodge out of the way of a particularly explosive poo while DD was on the change table, before realising that washing my clothes might have been preferable to a poo splattered wall!

[Winecheesesleep]

This was during lockdown on one of the many days we were trying to work while the kids were in the house. My daughter got hold of a pritt stick and rubbed it on the walls, the TV screen, my computer screen, her wardrobe. It's a real bugger to get off too!

[flowersanam]

My kids spilled their food on the carpet

[Sid98]

My daughter used my lipstick and used it against the wall

[caravandreamer]

With 5 kids where do I start I have a endless list here's just a few

• Sudocrem smeared all over them (5+7)+ the bathroom
  
• Tomato sauce, washing up liquid, sugar and salt mixed in pans to make witches brew.
  
• Washing powder + milk mixed to make slime.
  
• Eldest (12) tripped with spaghetti Bolognese onto the new white wallpaper that had only been finished 6 hours before.
  
• Youngest (5) pencilled all over hallway that had only been decorated the day before.
  
• Chocolate gateaux finger prints up the stair wall as he couldn't reach hand rail so held the wall to climb the stairs (5 yr old)
  
  Honestly my list goes on and on. Two of my lads have ADHD/Autism so they love to mess with anything sensory eg wet, slimy, gritty, smooth, crispy so food and household items are the main problems

[ineedbanoffee]

Alien drawing competition on a freshly-painted wall. I think they genuinely thought we'd painted it so it would look just like a blank sheet of paper :o

[poolofdev]

Thankfully my daughter isn't overly messy (yet!! She's only 2!) however one thing she doesn't give 2 hoots about is mud! She will happily splash in an extremely muddy puddly outside our house and then come in in her wellies and run riot, refusing to take them off! And yes, sometimes its on the wall too

[Baldwin1973]

Our messiest times were definitely during weaning when my oldest daughter used to throw peas and carrots (pureed) all over the cream carpets. We moved house not long after that but never managed to get the stains out.

[Sugarhouse]

My son has scribbled pencil and crayon all over my living room walls 😩

[welshmardymum]

When my daughter pulled the plug out of her sisters baby bath and the water poured out through the bathroom floor and down through the kitchen ceiling!

[Weirdfisher]

When my DD was a baby and coated herself and a friend in Sudocream. That stuff is hard to remove!

[nerysw]

My daughter was so good when her little brother was born, chuck her a Peppa Pig magazine and she'd happily colour in quietly. She was 2 and after I went for a shower with him asleep in his cot she was so pleased to tell me about what she'd done 'to make the carpet better'. Nearly the whole living room carpet had blue crayon spirals drawn on it. Neat, pretty and creative but a nightmare to remove. I couldn't even shout at her as it was very artistic - did have a little cry when I was ironing it all off though.

[purplepandas]

Hmm, the sudacream incident when it was applied everywhere. That stuff is good but evil when it comes to getting it off. It does not wash off easily!

[HobNobAddict]

A packet of Oreos covertly taken upstairs and eaten under the bed covers by DS2 - the chocolatey crumbs melted on both him and the bed clothes.

[willitbetonight]

When is the draw @LucyBMumsnet?

I've also had a son decide to paint his new bedroom carpet with a selection of my nail varnish and a crawling baby literally cover themselves and the floor with metanium nappy cream.

And my husband thought it was a good idea to paint our three year old blue once. From head to toe. Like a smurf. And then not supervise her before she sat on the sofa.

[Wildidle]

My DS4 discovered our brand new tube of toothpaste yesterday, I found out when he walked past me smelling rather minty. No toothpaste left in the tube.

[Kweenxo]

We're actually teaching the kids to clean up after themselves. DS always ends up putting his toys in other toys. So we'd find a sylvannian family figure in his toy kettle. It makes us laugh though.

[Unsurechicken]

We had just had the hall stairs and landing decorated with new wallpaper, glossing and carpet after living in the house for 4 years and making do with what was already down.

My son was put in time out which is on the landing and he very helpful decided to peal off the new wallpaper on the wall with the long drops - absolutely gutted as we’d saved for so long to have it all done nicely.

Or how about the time the same son decided there was a spider on the dining table and swatted it away except he hit his bowl of coco pops and they ended up everywhere - the walls (very pale blue, the blind white fabric and the pale grey carpet) as well as over the toys and the toy box. Unfortunately the blind was thrown out as it wasn’t saveable and the walls repainted.

Top tip: if you want a nice house and children cover everything in plastic wrap!