Remove Crayon from Just About Any House Hold Surface!

In my experience with toddlers one of the most common stains would be crayon. It seems that even if I take the crayons away after my child is done using them she still manages to have one or two stashed away, and that leads to crayon on walls, doors, floors, upholstery and just about anything else that she can manage to mark on. I have tried just about everything to remove crayon and I have found a few methods that work the best. Most of the methods that I have used in the past have required a little elbow grease but I recently stumbled upon a method that is fast and EXTREMELY easy. I stumbled upon this method when my daughter created a “beautiful” mural on the outside of my white front door.

In the past I have used the easy erasers to remove crayon from doors and windows but I didn’t happen to have any on hand so I tried scrubbing it off with a microfiber cloth and some all purpose cleaner. This method took a little off but really didn’t make a significant difference, it was late so I gave up and decided to try again the next day. The next day was a sunny day and there was allot of sun beating down onto my front door so it heated the door and I was able to wipe the crayon off without much effort. That’s when I thought duh, crayon is made of wax. So I decided to try this method in other areas of the house that she had decorated by using a hair dryer.

I started with one area on the wall that she had decorated a few months ago that, despite my best efforts, I had not been able to remove. I heated the area for about 5 seconds and rubbed with a cloth dampened with vinegar and Viola, the crayon was gone! I found that this method works on painted walls, glass, metal and nearly any other hard surface. I also like to heat crayon on upholstery and then use hot soapy water to scrub the crayon away.

My walls are painted with a satin finish and it will work on semi or gloss as well. I don’t imagine that this method would work well on a wall with a flat finish. The main tip to remember is to not over heat your painted walls or upholstery. Only heat the crayon with the hair dryer for about 5-6 seconds, remove the heat and rub with cloth dampened with vinegar on hard surfaces or hot soapy water for upholstery, repeat as necessary until crayon is removed.