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So, I don't have kids… as you may well know… but I've heard it said "when kids are really quiet you have to wonder what they are up to". Annmarie sent me this photo over the weekend.
Can we all take a moment to "gasp" for Annmarie (who is also in the middle of a kitchen renovation)? I almost threw up my coffee on Saturday morning when I opened her email with that photo.
It reminds me of when poor Carolina's son got into a permanent marker and drew on her sofa… here.
Anyone else have a horror-story?
Oh dear.
I can top that…
When my son was 2, he somehow managed to get his toothbrush and run into the living room and stab it into a painting above the couch, an 18th century family heirloom which we had on the list to have restored, children keep us on our toes, don’t they! funny, it was an eery quiet. I should have suspected all that quiet.
My middle (who else?) scratched his name into a leather chair. His own name. After the drama was over I had to confide to Mr. B that I wished he’d at least been smart enough to pin it on one of his brothers.
You have to be careful about curling edges – they can’t resist the picking. My heart breaks for her. Though, he is adorable.
At least he chose a section of wallpaper that seems relatively easy to repair – in between 2 walls, a tiny section. thinking of you AM!
oh my goodness – these stories are crazy! THE TOOTHBRUSH!!!
My son washed the inside of his Dad’s Audi with the hose!!!!!!! He was 3 years old, I aged a lot that day! LOL He’s grown now and still talks about it!
Ah. I just grasped out loud at work. I don’t have kids, but dogs and they have shocked at times by putting paw marks all over my white sofa, but nothing like this.
Oh my. I hope that will be easy to fix. I love his grin. He looks very proud of his work.
Woops. Meant to write gasp not grasp. Soory.
i have plenty of pics of what my oldest did. i put a border up in his room (and i am typically NOT a fan of border, but found a really cute one). and basically he treated it like a sticker. he peeled it i don’t know how many times. and it was one i had to find online and order…couldn’t even find it in a store. (and of COURSE not near the tragedy of your friend!!) i finally gave up and just painted the whole darn room. i also have pics of where he drew on our counters with a sharpie. never turn ya back! and i’m thinking the lesson we are learning is that little ones and wallpaper do NOT mix!
Oh my goodness that is horrible – how is that even possible?! I don’t have kids either, but I can imagine the GASP!
OH NO!! My heart just broke in 2. I had toile wallpaper in my old bedroom and was so afraid of nicks because it had been discontinued. I only hope she can get more and she has a sense of humor about it. I am not sure I would!?! xo, MB
Those are adorable stories now, but some of you should have t-shirts that say “I survived…….” My husband would loose it if our child washed his Audi out with a hose. LOOSE it. Our daughter once carved her brother’s name into our dining room table (a wedding gift) and accused him of doing it. He was about 16 months old.
oh my god, I was that horror story. thinking back on my childhood, i can’t believe some of the things i did to ruin my mother’s home – i just thought it was a great idea to carve my initials into my door frame with a nail file, peel off the wood detailing on my parent’s antique sofas, leave the tea on the stove until it melted the pot onto the BRAND NEW (1 WEEK OLD) glass range, and leave crayons of the radiator to melt all over onto the carpet.
ok, actually, i’m surprised my mother let me live.
It’s the Mommy. I am TRYING to hold it together. Sadly, that wallpaper is vintage 1940′s and NOT replaceable. Thinking about starting my own blog so you can witness what that little devil is up to on a daily basis. All kinds o’ trouble with the kitchen reno: open cabinets for climbing, displaced boxes of pantry items. You would not believe what the kid covered with a half box of constarch! God help us.
Annmarie, I feel your pain! I’m so sorry about your beautiful wallpaper. My dad is a tailor and my mum a seamstress. In their world, there is such a thing as “invisible mending”. I wonder if a similar technique exists for wallpapering? Perhaps you can carefully glue the pieces back in place and then “fill in the gaps” with some type of colored pencil or pen and recreate the missing pattern. All the best with the kitchen reno. Your cornstarch story reminded me of the time my ferret got into our pantry and covered himself in a bottle of olive oil and cornflakes. Funny but horrific to clean up!
NO!!!!
my brother and his friend once ‘waxed’ with furniture wax, my dad’s new porsche. ruined the paint.
in our mountain home, we stupidly covered many walls in cream linen fabrics. simple, beautiful and serene… until, after two years of nothing but well behaved children and off white mountain bliss the entire family caught a bad tummy bug and well, it ends with projectile vomit on said linen walls. not really anyones fault but my own for choosing that fabric with young kids. oddly enough the same weekend my daughter drew two HUGE crosses on the same fabric wall with electric blue nail polish… tried to clean it herself in secret and 2 crosses became 2 crosses floating in a big smudgy blue cloud.
Oh no! I’m so sorry for those poor homeowners.
Our two year old daughter snatched an ink pen from the office and drew on the brand new entertainment center and fireplace surround that we’d just built and painted. She also colored the grout in the breakfast room tile with black crayon. Last week she stuck a bunch of stickers on the top of a table in our office and then said that she made it pretty – and we owed her “three dollars, please” for it. ~sigh~
I guess I shouldn’t complain – apparently when I was quite a bit older than she is now, I poured red nail polish in my parents’ porcelain bathroom sink.
can’t blame this one on my kids- but I was taking the cheap route and refilling printer ink catridges with one of those syringes – tipped a full bottle of black printer ink over on my new countertops which then splattered onto my new cabinets and then ending in a big black splash on my new runner – called a friend and she said use GOJO hand cleaner mixed with dawn soap and water- you have to pour this mixture into a glass covered with a paper towel to strain the pumice out of the GoJo and then use the mixture- Pour it on and keep blotting – DONT RUB -Darn if every drop didnt come out !!
Could you please send him to my house? Please! Sooner than later would be appreciated!
My 2 or 3 year old (not sure who I should thank) drew an intricate piece of artwork on the carpet in their bedroom with a red sharpie. I do my very best to keep all of our pens/markers/pencils in the cabinet out of their reach but somehow – one became available to them. Even though it is in the middle of the floor, I was able to cover it with a rug. Of course, when I sell this house the carpet will have to be replaced.
I also have drawings on my new bed (which oddly enough rubbed off with a rag?!?!?)
There’s no way to keep a toddler down. It’s impossible. Especially if they are boys.
OH MY GOSH! I don’t have children yet and am horrified by these stories!
I am horrified! HORRIFIED! I know how kids can be, but some of these stories made me cringe! I would cry if these things happened to me or my favorite possessions!
So sad… I don’t have kids, I know all the hard stuff is worth it… but wow, how does a girl handle something like this graciously? By the way: The Wood Floors are Amazing! Plank, obviously original, So beautiful!
That little face w/ the blue smile, says it all! I certainly do know what it feels like…I don’t even post most of the things that go on around my house.
oh, what heartache.
Oh… How tragic. Your retelling (irresistible blue smiley face plus beautiful staircase/wallpaper) made me laugh, but the story is heartbreaking (vintage paper-ah!) Oh, Annmarie.
When I was two, I “painted” myself and my Nana’s new white sheets (which I am pretty positive had been purchased in France) with her mascara when I was suppose to be napping. Not vintage wallpaper, but she was apparently torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to vomit when she came in to “wake me up.”
Oh my – I so hope you are able to do something to fix that up– I’d be attaching it back in any way at all possible- it’s gorgeous paper!
My little lady threw a handful of crayons into the clothes dryer without my knowing – until the wonderful finished & set-in reveal. It’s funny now, but now she is also 21!
omg! how sad!!! poor thing.
but still, I’ve always questioned why one with little children would put wallpaper on a stairwell, even though it looks fabulous. Have you ever seen a stairwell where children live? the fingerprints on the walls require touch up painting twice a year!!! I wonder how he even started the peelling of the paper? Boys!!! haha!!
Joni
I dunno. It’s all just stuff. A little watered down elmers glue and you can stick the paper back on (trust me…I’ve done it before myself). Carvings in tables…horrible at the time, but you may love it when they are all grown and gone. Adds character. Isn’t a home made of lots and lots of(sticky fingered) character??
He IS an adorable little blue eyed character!
ok – anyway what is the name of the toile? i love it !!!! I”d love to get a sample to show a client.
My kids came into the room where their dad and I were working on a project. They wanted to know if they could draw some doors and windows. I said, “well, sure, of course.” Except they wanted to draw these items ON OUR WALLS. Where they remain…
Those Mr. Clean “Magic Erasers” are no match for my little muralists.
A career in demolition or contracting is in his future,
Oh my gosh! Three kids, luckily no horror stories here (so far!) Thank goodness for washable crayons and markers. Oh, and that Mister Clean Magic Eraser really IS magic!
Now if this were about kids saying embarrassing things….
uh….. yes Jackson has just this week colored all over the rocking chair in his room and I daily find marker and crayon markers on the wall. I think you might have witnessed chocolate being smeared on my slipcovers. Thank goodness they are white-clorox is my friend.
I think if you have children you will be in the same boat! Toddler poured coffee on the laptop, permanent marker on the antique side table, humm…should I go on?