I confess: I have no picture, so you'll just have to trust me. Sunday morning, as my husband and I were cleaning up brunch dishes, we looked up to see our toddler scribbling all over our Tulip table with a black ballpoint pen. Large, exuberant, inky swirls. Luckily we got it out with one unexpected product…
…all-natural laundry stain remover. Laminate Saarinen tables — and most other laminate furniture — are fairly delicate. You can't just go after them with gritty cleaners or scrub brushes. When we bought the table years ago, the store recommended we clean it only with glass cleaner. In the past few years, I've been cleaning it with my homemade cleaning solution.
Neither of these were any use against the pen ink. So I thought about what else was in the house and decided to give enzymatic stain remover a try. Luckily my hunch was right. It took about 4 applications and I had to let it sit for almost 10 minutes the last time but it worked. I just applied it and wiped it off with a microfiber cloth. No more ballpoint and no scratches (from this incident, anyhow)!
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plain old alcohol (rubbing or vodka) will typically take ink off any surface.. its worked on walls, doors, couches, tables, clothes, and just about every other surface in our house
Congratulations on your good luck. I've had good results with ink spots using rubbing alcohol.
Wouldn't a magic eraser have worked?
But alcohol can leave a dull mark behind.
Works great on wipe-boards --- but for this table that's a bit scary.
Magic eraser might have harsh chemicals that could damage it.
I use enzyme cleaner for pet pee on a lot of things, maybe this is similar - I always have some nature's miracle on hand. Didn't work of course on the gold latex paint all over the cream colored carpet...but Dawn dish soap and a cheap electric toothbrush did...
That's a good idea about the electric toothbrush. I have too little patience for working things up gradually, and a lot of old brush tops.
Thanks for the tip - two of our white tables are ruined from our kids doing artwork on them. Must try this!
Magic eraser can take the gloss off a laminated surface.
I don't know about hard surfaces, but hairspray works for getting ballpoint pen out of fabric. But maybe it's the alchohol in the hairspray that's actually getting it out?
alphabear is right - magic eraser doesn't have chemicals (if you get the regular one) but it will dull the shine for sure. Hairspray was what I was going to suggest too - it works on clothes!
i got ink off of mine with rubbing alcohol. my toddler chipped mine a few days ago banging measuring spoons on it. any tips for that?
Rubbing alcohol takes ballpoint off of any non-porous surface.
I have the tulip side table. I cleaned scuff marks off the base with Magic Eraser. It looks brand new. I have an Eames kitchen table w/laminate top, so I'll try the alcohol or enzyme cleaner for the top. Great suggestions.
Magic eraser is an abrasive - it's melamine particles break down into sharp edges that scrub off grime, but will also leave micro scratches. Use advisedly.
Hairspray removes ink from fabric, is it the alcohol content that does the trick?
A degreaser works as well for marks on laminate. I have used Bug Off, which gets dead bugs off cars, and Arm & Hammer Degreaser works very well.
BTW The way to protect laminate surfaces is with furniture paste wax. It will restore a laminate to look new, like magic. Beware, if you use the amber paste on light laminate it will take the color of the wax.
Acetone (in nail polish remover) also removes many kinds of marker ink. Not sure if it will de-gloss the surface though, so test inconspicuously. (On the other hand, which is worse -- a little matte or a lot of black Sharpie?? You might be able to re-buff or shine-coat an abraded surface...)
Worst case scenario: Give the kids Sharpies and let them decorate the entire table, so it looks intentional.
I love those dining chairs, where are they from?