How to clean a wall that’s so gross it’s turned a different colour 

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Did your best friend catapult cocktails up the wall trying out a wild new dance? Did your housemate’s sweet n’ sticky smoothie not include ‘lid’ as an ingredient before they whacked on the blender? Licking the walls might sound too bad when it’s covered in sweet smoothie goodness, but what about when your baby cousin repaints your living room with not-so-yummy regurgitated yoghurt? 

Well, fortunately, there's an easy way you can de-yoghurt those walls, without having to use your tongue… Here’s how to clean walls easily, and how to wash a wall – we’ve even got advice on how to clean a white wall or get that look of clean wallpaper back again. 

Cleaning walls easily: Know your stains 

You’ll find washing a wall a lot easier if you can identify the stains you’re cleaning. If it’s a water-based stain – like a cooking sauces or a drink – a damp piece of kitchen paper should be enough to remove them. Then there are oil-based stains. These include things like grubby fingerprints, cooking grease, mayonnaise that’s shot out of a sandwich, and shoe polish when you’ve been nervous about a big event. You’ll need something a little stronger than water to get rid of these. So how do you clean a wall with an oil-based stain? Try using a mix of water and mild dish soap, or a homemade mix with white vinegar.  

How to clean white walls (or any other colour for that matter)

Whether it’s for a sparkling home or for the sake of your security deposit, here’s how to clean painted walls.

1. Prepare your cleaning mix – A bit of warm soapy water will do the job.
2. Brush away any dry surface dust with a dry piece of kitchen paper – this will stop the dust from being rubbed into the wall and making a grey, splotchy mess.  
3. Dip your kitchen paper into the mixture, squeezing out the excess grubby wall juice. Gently wipe in circles to keep your wall or wallpaper looking good. Repeat this process with a new piece of kitchen paper if the old one gets murky and brown to help stop the spread of the mess.
4. Work your way from top to bottom, so that any drips will only touch the section you’re about to clean. Cleaning for your loved ones isn’t necessarily fun. We do it because we love them – but that doesn’t mean we can’t work efficiently to get it done as quick as possible!
5. Once you’ve finished wiping, wet a fresh piece of kitchen paper with clean water, wring it out and wipe the area to remove any soapy residue. Then, dap the area with a dry piece of kitchen paper.
6. Move onto the next area of wall that's covered in the greasy Chicken Kiev juice that somehow spurted five feet from the dinner plate (but still smells so good, even on the wall...) and repeat steps 1-5.

Life happens in our homes. And chances are, when the mess hits the fan, it’s going to end up covering your walls.  

But it doesn’t matter in the end because no matter how many times your friend squeezes their sauce bottle at the wall instead of their plate, you love them; and love is thicker than ketchup stains.