"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast"
-Oscar Wilde		 Brilliant at Breakfast title banner "The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself."
-- Proverbs 11:25
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"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." -- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1954-2015), They Live
Thursday, November 24, 2011

Two more things for which I'm thankful
Posted by Jill | 4:34 PM








Here at Casa la Brilliant, we have very, very hard water. This fact, combined with the unfortunate reality that our downstairs bathtub is American Standard Ming Green and our upstairs is avocado green, means that our tubs tend to look like crap, because who wants to scrub something that hideous?

That's not to say I haven't tried, because I have. I tried every product known to man -- I tried CLR. I tried steam. I tried lemon juice-soaked paper towels. I tried vinegar-soaked paper towels. I tried baking soda paste. I tried Kaboom and Bam Lime-Away and all kinds of other highly nasty cleaners -- all to no avail.

I read on a messageboard a few weeks ago that some people people have had success with Bon Ami Cleanser, and others with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. So since I had a few days off, and walking past the upstairs bathroom in broad daylight made me realize just what a horrorshow it was, I decided to try both. First I put the Bon Ami on one of those scrubby sponges and scrubbed, then rinsed. Then I went over it with the Magic Eraser. And damn if that old ugly olive green tub didn't start to shine! I'm not going to say it looks new, but it looks like a clean bathrub is supposed to.

So then today I decided to try it on the Ming Green tub downstairs -- the one with the curved bottom that's going to kill me if I have to keep it into my old age. Now Old Ming hasn't looked quite as bad as Groovy 70's Show upstairs, but that's only because it's a lighter color. So I went to work. And damn it if Old Ming didn't start to shine too. Well, all except the giant rusting chip that I have to sand, then paint rust stopper on, then apply Porc-a-Filler and then many layers of Porc-a-Fix (which the nice man at World of Tile told me had to be done in multiple thin layers, and the fact that I didn't do that last time is why it rusted from underneath). But when Old Ming is smiling like he is today, it makes me much more inclined to fix that old war wound from probably an incident with a glass shampoo bottle in the early 1960's.

I don't know if it was the Bon Ami or the Magic Eraser (though I scrubbed both sinks with nothing but the Magic Eraser and they started to shine too), but this Product Skeptic is sold. If you have an old tub that you hate that is rotten with lime stains, try these products. You may yet rekindle the magic of your old romance with your own Mamie Pink tub.

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4 Comments:
Blogger Oldfool said...
I'll try them as we have a problem. The tub is clean but looks dirty. It does not bother me because I feel fortunate to even have a tub. ...And running hot water.
It makes me happy when Mrs Old Fool is happy. She is "the cleaning lady" and having been paid to do that at one time is a professional. So far she has not been pleased.
11/24/11, 6:15 PM  
Blogger Bob said...
Thanks. I have a crummy old apt white bathtub & I have tried kaboom & other "guaranteed" items & I will try these.
11/24/11, 7:08 PM  
Blogger Jill said...
Old fool: Let me know how it works. Mr. B. Doesn't care about having a clean bathroom either, but even he was impressed. Especially when I told him how easy it was. Now if I can only figure out how to make caulk not curl and detach...
11/24/11, 8:04 PM  
Anonymous BNJ said...
Magic Erasers is one of those rare products that lives up to its name, particularly if you have a 3-year-old with crayons. Bon Ami always makes me think of Don Knotts in "The Ghost and Mister Chicken."
11/26/11, 8:32 PM  
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