Countertop Damage

I love sharing HouseLogic with you.  At HouseLogic, we love to find and share inexpensive solutions to household problems. Our five solutions this week—one a day—don’t even require a trip to your big-box home improvement store—not that we don’t love stocking up at Lowe’s or Home Depot. Instead, pay a call to your 99-cent store. Its aisles are crammed with the inexpensive (and multipurpose) wares to fix what’s ailing.

At HouseLogic, we love to find and share inexpensive solutions to household problems. Our five solutions this week—one a day—don’t even require a trip to your big-box home improvement store—not that we don’t love stocking up at Lowe’s or Home Depot. Instead, pay a call to your 99-cent store. Its aisles are crammed with the inexpensive (and multipurpose) wares to fix what’s ailing.
Just watch out for the impulse to buy more than you intended at the 99-cent store. In all honesty, we couldn’t.

First up on the home repair list: Scuff marks on countertops.

If you’ve ever had a scuff mark on a colored countertop, you know that it sadly becomes the room’s focal point. But we found the right supplies to save you any embarrassment.

Supplies:

• Crayons, 99 cents

• Spatula knife, 99 cents

• A microwave-safe bowl, 99 cents (If you have one you’re willing to sacrifice to melt crayons, you just saved another 99 cents.)

Total: $2.97. $3.96 if you throw in a weak lemonade-type drink.

What you do:

• Pick the Crayon whose color comes closest to matching your countertop. Peel off the paper and place it in the bowl.

• Pop the crayon and bowl in the microwave.

• Pour the hot, melted crayon onto the scuff mark and work it into the indentation with the spatula knife.

• Scrape off the excess with the spatula knife.

The Crayon mixture will harden and dry quickly, erasing your countertop flaw.

Tomorrow’s 99-cent store solution: Fix a torn screen.

What other inexpensive home fixes have you found or tried? What minor home repair job have you neglected because of lack of time?

Published: May 9, 2011