Where we live, we are surrounded by orchards. So much so that it is pretty much a right of passage for the teenagers in our town to work either in the orchards themselves or sorting the bad fruit from the good fruit on conveyor belts. I spent a couple of summers sorting cherries. Because of all the orchards, it is pretty easy to find old wooden crates. I have 8 of them and I am getting ready to put them all to good use as storage in my upstairs. These wooden crates combine my love of crates, with youthful memories of working for the fruit growers. The problem with them is that they sometimes come with labels on them that are in pretty bad shape. But with a few simple tips, they are easily removed!
The first thing you need to do is put a wet dish cloth on tip of the label. Let it soak for about 30 minutes.
Using a plastic (not metal!) putty knife, gently scrape the label off.
Next you will need to clean the crate really well. I have details instruction in my post about sanitizing reclaimed wood, but basically you scrub it with hot soapy water, and then steam it.
The steamer that I use is the HomeRight Steam Mop Plus. I adore it! I'm convinced it can clean anything. I've cleaned things like mattresses, rugs & carpet, ovens, toilets, tile grout, windows, etc. And it can steam the wrinkles out of clothes, curtains, tablecloths, and pillows. It is one of my favorite tools I own and I since I am a brand ambassador, I get to give one away!
*Must be 18 years or older and a resident of the USA at the time of the contest. Giveaway will run from July 24, 2015 until August 1, 2015. The winner will be chosen via random.org and notified by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. The prize will be shipped by HomeRight.
I am part of the HomeRight ambassador program. I am compensated for my time in reviewing/using the products and writing/promoting the posts. The thoughts, opinions, and project ideas are all mine!
I need to steam my floors, especially near the litter box. I always worry about the germs that must live in that area, and steaming daily would be much better than mopping with bleach like I do now!
Love it! This would be amazing in our house!
I would love to have this steamer. I would use it to clean the old painted metal on a few 60+ year old windows that we still have in our home. :/
I want to steam my kitchen and bath. And mattresses.
After reading what all you use it for, I think my whole house needs to be steam cleaned!
I have a hand-me-down couch and chair that could use some love ? I didn't know how much you could really do with a steamer, so now I am excited to have this opportunity! Those crates are super cute too!
i just bought a house and this would be perfect for cleaning it up and for the 100 projects I have planned!
I would love to clean everything in my house! Everything!
Everything!!! Especially the floors. I have pets and they make a mess..lol..i love them to death but boy are they ever dirty!! i need all the help i can get ..furniture too!!
I think the mattresses could use a steaming.....
Great tip about removing labels and I hadn't read your article about sanitizing reclaimed/salvaged things so thanks for that too!
I could use a steam mop for so many cleaning projects. (Don't ask! :) Thanks!!
I like that I can steam mattresses! I would also steam the windows, rugs and the oven. It really needs it!
My kitchen and bathroom floors need to be steamed.
We are converting our shed, which is quite large, into a work space. The previous owners used the shed as a play area for kids. Stickers are all over the widow panes. This should work way better than razor scraping them.
I would love to try this!
All of the floors in my home and the bathrooms could definitely use a good steam clean. Thanks for the give away!
I will start with my floors and go from there! Get to clean everything before the twin boys arrive.
I'd start with my bathroom floor. It's pink and white mosaic tile from the 1960's.
There are so many uses for this steam.cleaner in my new house!
Everything needs a good steam over here. I have floors that are in desperate need plus all kinds of projects that need labels removed and tons of things I can not even think of right now. Tools that need a good cleaning and things I do not want to think of in the basement!
The kitchen floor is old and it's difficult to get it to look nice. It would be a huge project to remove and replace it, but the steamer just might make it unnecessary. Thanks for the chance to win it!
Definitely floors! Nice products!
It's more like what couldn't run from me streaming it?!?! :) I love your ideas!
I want to steam our tile floors, specifically the grout! ...there are many other things I'd love to steam, your idea about sanitizing wood is something I needed to know because of inheriting some old wooden boxes, thank you!!!
My WHOLE bathroom needs to be steamed!
My tile!
I wish we could get some of those wooden crates around here! I'm not sure I'd want to remove the labels, though. They make the crate look older. Thanks for all the work you put into your blog. I really have enjoyed it!
Most definitely my bathroom and kitchen floors!
The curtains in my living room and the floor in the bathroom.
The bathroom floors and shower curtains co u 'd use a good steaming!
Thankyou
We are getting new bamboo flooring in our house and I would love to have this for cleaning up pet dander and dirty paw prints.
Stacy! What a great tip!! I can see this steamer being useful for 100s of uses!! My kids bathroom floors (boys with bad aim....eww) would be the perfect candidate! ;)
I need to steam my dirty grout. The dirty grout is driving me nuts!
My floors need to be steamed at my home
I would love to be able to steam my shower tiles and kitchen floor!
My daughter is a dancer and her costumes always come wrinkled. I would love to have this to take the wrinkles out of both of our clothes! :)
Woo-who! what a giveaway!! I have wanted just a steamer for so long! There isn't a place I can think of that I wouldn't use it in my home!
I would love to steam my bath and shower, my baseboards and my kitchen cabinets
Ohh! The things i could steam in my house are endless! I have 3 boys in this house. ..enough said!
I would use this to steam the floors and the mattresses.
This is perfect timing! I want a HomeRight Steam Cleaner! I have so much tile and laminate in my home. No carpet.
Thank you for the awesome giveaway!
Tile grout and shower floors
My husband and his Man Cave........
My couch could use a good steaming. Between the cats and the grandkids, there's a definite funk going on...
The real question is...What doesn't need to be steam cleaned?! I would probably do anything and everything. I have an 8 month old and he's a crawler still so a deep clean on surfaces he touches would be amazing.
Would love a steam cleaner to do the kitchen and bathroom floors---as I get older, getting on my hands and knees for some really good cleaning is more and more difficult.
Everything needs to be steamed! But mostly my plant shelves. They collect so much dust. I would LOVE to be able to get up there and clean them easily with that steam mop!
Our open-plan kitchen/den/entrance floor. Lots of dirt and food and mystery stains...
Well, we are in an apartment so I would say the carpet, but the couch cushions could use a steaming too.
Ooooooo!! Pick me!! Pick me!!!! I could really use this.
I would steam my floors.
EVERYTHING! I want to try to get my pergo looking amazing again!
Thanks!
I just found your blog after finding your new book! I'm excited to be here!!! Could really put some good use to the steAm mop. Cleaning!!
Your tips are always so helpful. Never thought about steaming reclaimed wood. I would love to have a steamer. Between grand kids who are always on the floor playing and two cats who bring in their "catches" so I can ooh and ahh (yep, that means scream and run like a crazy woman), I would use a steamer virtually daily. I mop and bleach constantly but worry field mice carry germs that I just can't tackle with just a mop and a generous supply of bleach. While bleach seems to work, the lingering smell of bleach gives my husband and daughter terrible headaches. The bleach fumes also really do no favors for my eyes.
Just started following you a month ago and can honestly say, I have learned so much from your helpful hints. Keep it up. I appreciate everything that makes life easier so that I have more time to spend with my adult daughter with disabilities and my grand babies.
I need to steam clean my bedroom carpet
I need to steam the floors on the camper. I would love to get some old crates like that. Thanks for the giveaway. Congratulations on the book.
My bathroom floors need to be steamed. Thanks for the chance to win this!
I would start with my bathroom grout and then move in to my windows!
I Want to steam clean the bathrooms and mattresses.
Thank you for the chance.
I'd love to try steaming our windows!
I want to get at the walls of my shower!
I would steam an inherited family dresser from the 50s.
I just got my hands on some amazing barn wood to use for a mantel. I was doing some pinterest research and came across your post about using your steamer to sanitize old wood. I love it and I really need one. I would love to try it on many other things in my home!! :) Thanks for the chance!
I need to steam my curtains and my bathroom floor.
I always feel the bathroom floors could use a good steam clean.
I am about to have my home visit to be licensed for foster children so I need to steam EVERYTHING!!! lol
My carpet can use a steam clean
My clothes need to be steamed the most - I hate ironing so I always have something that needs less wrinkles. This would also be perfect for my drapes.
I have tile floors in 90% of my house, and I am trying to paint them all, one room at a time. I would love to clean them with steam only, so I don't have to worry about cleaner residue messing up my paint job:)
Grungy tile kitchen floors and bathroom floors REALLY need a steamer!!
Kids costumes need steamed because they fade terribly when washed.
Thank you for sharing how to remove labels from wood. I have a few wooden crates and have not been able to remove the labels neatly... until now!
I want to steam the tile grout in my kitchen!
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First of all, where did you get your crates? I NEED some!
I have 6 sets of new curtains for my living room and dining room. I am the absolute worst at ironing. I can't get them to look right no matter what I do. Oh, if I could steam them where they hang and have nice, wrinkle-free curtains in my house!
Love the crates and need that steamer to clean my tile floors.
I would love to have a compact, multi functioning steamer like the HomeRight Steam Mop Plus. I have an ancient steel commercial type steamer that is a mess to set up and to clean, and lugging it around is no picnic either. I'm going to have to go to the website and get more info about it. Thank you for the giveaway.
Everyone needs a steamer
I need to steam my grout (getting a bit icky I think, even with the bleach scrub)
This would be amazing!!!
What a great tip and a really great giveaway!!
Everything! But especially the couches thanks to my dog and children!
The shower doors & the grout on the counter.
My kitchen and bathroom could definitely use this! Thank you so much for the giveaway.
the bathroom floor
The wooden floors.
WOW! What a great giveaway - thank you for the chance to win this steamer machine. Have looked at them and wondered what all it could do - sure would like to try it out on my bathroom grout and tile!
Thank you again 0
Barbara Brannon
saltillo3@yahoo.com
My oven would be first on the long list. Thanks to Home Right for making these wonderful products and to you and all the other great bloggers for sharing your tips and tricks, and for letting us all into your homes and lives.
The backroom tile floor
I SO wish I had this steamer a few years back - this is brilliant!!
My entry tiles needs to be steamed.
I have one and it works great. I would love to win one for my mother, she is always borrowing mine and she loves it just as much.
The kitchen tile needs some steam cleaning
Where do I begin.........I would have to say my living room, then then the girls bedrooms.
Your blog looks very interesting . I a looking forward to explorin it and of curse I would love to win:) I woould love to steam my floors!
My floors and windows!!
I want to know where you find the crates??? I would love to have some but can't seem to find them any where.
our windows! desparately !!
Love the versatility of this steam machine! I would really enjoy owning one!
I'd love to steam clean the kitchen floor!
I'd clean my floors! This machine would be a blessing :)
My floors, bathroom, van.
I need to steam my whole house and various art projects.
EVERYTHING BUT MAINLY MY KITCHEN BACKSPLASH
Our bathrooms would definitely benefit from a steamer.
I have an area rug that needs cleaning, the cat bed I made for my cat would probably do better with a steam clean than the washing machine and I have some costume wigs that need some work.
Our kitchen floors need to be steamed.
My patio cushions really need to be steam cleaned and my furbabies bed needs a little help because I can't put it in the wash machine :)
The question is what doesn't need to be cleaned at my house? LOL
My husband's suit needs refreshing and the new drapes in the living room could use a good steaming to get the wrinkles out!
name it it needs it
My oven needs to be steam cleaned the most but there's a list that might be more extensive than I care to record.
My laundry room needs to be steam cleaned - pretty desperately!!
I too LOVE wood crates! Great tips for sanitizing wood. This little steamer would help immensely!!
My bathroom shower doors need to be steam cleaned first, and then there are so many areas that need to be streamed after that.
My bathroom tiles need steamed.
I'd steam clean my area rug
Couch & Chairs would be first on the list. TY
My tile floors really need a steaming!
I'd be wanting to steam everything and with it being me and my 5 kids, it probably really needs it too. This is fantastic, thank you for the chance
I would love to use this steam machine to deep clean my kitchen. It would also be great for sanitizing the litter box and the dog crate.