And I ran out of carpet cleaner....

So the hall mat that I carried upstairs to rinse because it had coffee spilled on it left a trail of dirt and coffee drips all the way up. I pulled out the bottle of Bissel Carpet Foam Cleaner and scrubbed my way down 8 stairs... and then I ran out.

What next? Some DIY websites suggested vinegar and water, ammonia and water, clear dish soap and water on a cloth or a paste of baking soda and vinegar. I tried a spray bottle of vinegar and water and a Rubber Bush I got at a Norwex party. I sprayed lightly, brushed and blotted with paper towel. Neither the Bissel, nor the vinegar entirely removed coffee/dirt drips and the stairs looked dingy as well.  I tried making a foam of dish soap and water -- no real improvement.

So I decided to make my own Resolve style Deep Clean Powder. I had bought the Resolve once, but returned it after reading that I had to brush it on with a special applicator. I put some baking soda in a shallow pan, sprayed lightly once or twice with the vinegar spray to make it damp and then sprinkled on and brushed it in with my rubber Norwex brush.

I am still waiting for the stairs to dry so I can vacuum and see the results. I think this will require some further testing. (I have a small set of stairs going to the basement.) But I am hopeful that this will improve the look of the carpet.

A side note about the Norwex Rubber Brush. I LOVE THIS PRODUCT! It's particularly good at removing pet hair from the stairs that the vacuum did not remove. I used it last week to clean out the car. It requires a little elbow grease, but still easier in my opinion than dragging the vacuum outside.

Update: I went back and stain treated the coffee stains that didn't come out with the Bissel spray. I used a solution of a small amount of liquid laundry detergent and water and rubbed it in with a cloth. I rinsed with a small amount of water and blotted dry -- stains are gone!

The homemade Deep Clean powder didn't appear to make much difference. Can you guess which side I treated?

Before....

After...

I treated the right side!  Here is what the baking powder looked like after I spritzed lightly with a solution of vinegar and water

Here it is sprinkled on the right side .... 

Here it is brushed in ...

I let it dry for an hour and then vacuumed. 

I found a recipe online that uses baking soda, corn starch and baking soda which I may try. 

"New" Shoes for Hannah (Update: FAIL)

Having three daughters, the youngest often only gets something new if the hand-me-downs are completely worn out. This pair of shoes are on girl #3 or #4. They came from my niece, but may have belonged to my eldest daughter before that. Since then, they have gone to my middle daughter and now to my youngest. They actually looked worse, however I already cleaned them with a Magic Eraser before taking this photo.

I

 gave them a fresh base coat of white acrylic craft paint to brighten them up and hide the scuff on the toe. In this photo the shoe on the right  has already been  done and looks much better than the one on the left. I even brushed lightly over the sparkly butterfly to hide some of the dirt. 

I let the paint dry 20 minutes or so and taped off the areas I didn't want to get glitter on. I used green painter's tape, but it's not sticking as well as I would like. I would use regular masking tape in the future. 

I applied the glitter glue with a paintbrush. I bought this crystal coloured glue at DeSerres (http://www.deserres.ca/en-ca/search/glitter-glue/S548/). Some blogs recommend using Modge Podge and mixing in your own glitter. I also wondered about using the Tulip Sparkle paint (especially for canvas shoes). Even after only one coat this is looking pretty, but I'm glad I used the acrylic paint first. I plan to add more coats and an accent colour for the eyelets and butterflies.

I have been letting the shoes dry for an hour between coats of glitter. I have been using a toothpick to open up all the little holes. At this point there are four coats of crystal glitter on the body of the shoes and one coat of pink glitter on the butterflies. I used the bottle to squirt the pink glitter directly into the large eyelets and for the body of the butterflies. 

I used the tip of a sharp along  the edge of the shoe to break the seal that the glue made before removing the tape. I touched up the crystal glitter where necessary and did a second coat of pink glitter on the butterfly wings. 

I am really pleased with the results. They look like new pair of shoes! The crystal glitter did not give complete coverage, but it is hard to tell on white shoes. 

FAIL Update: She wore these on Saturday morning for about an hour and the glue began peeling where the shoes creased. I'm going to see if there is a way I can fix this. 

2013/03/07 -- Ok, i didn't get these fixed up, and she's probably outgrown them.  Here is a link to the original instructions I looked at. This seems to be the way to go. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-glitterize-a-pair-of-shoes/#