Adhesive Removal

Pre-adhesive backed decor items can be a game changer for the do-it-yourselfer. We had this mirror that sat in the garage for months. We weren’t kind to her and when I finally decided I wanted to hang it in the nursery I noticed a few dings on the top of the frame! So instead of repairing and painting it, I decided I was gonna make it girly and cute while covering those ugly scuffs. I used adhesive backed moss and hot glued flowers to the top of it! It made a super cute girly frame for a mirror that never got hung!

Super cute right?! Well just over a year (and one hectic move) later, here I am staring at the same mirror. The flowers are now missing, there are some new gouges on the frame, and I have my sights set on a new location for this mirror! The guest room. I’ve come to the conclusion that the floral motif(now just moss) is not going to work for my adult farmhousey guest room so the moss has to go. So I rip it off. And half of it is left behind in adhesive.

What. A. Mess. I started scratching at it with my nail and about 10 minutes in I realized this isn’t working. So I began search the internet and found 2 methods I’d try out and see what works the best! For the first method, you simply rub a rubber eraser over the adhesive and it should essentially erase the adhesive away. Easy! I can do that! I grabbed the eraser and got to work!

Rubber Eraser Method

And here are the results after I brushed away the mess.

If you compare to the first photo a large chunk of the adhesive was removed relatively quickly. However, there was some sticky residue left behind. I continued to erase, but it did not seem to make much of a difference. I decided it was time to move on to the next method. Vegetable oil. You simply rub the oil over the adhesive and scrub it away.

Vegetable Oil Method

This method was definitely the winner in my book! A little bit of elbow grease and the vegetable oil worked like a charm and removed all of the old adhesive.

In summary, both of these methods (both the rubber eraser and the vegetable oil) will remove sticky adhesive. The vegetable oil did a better job, in my opinion. It removed more of the adhesive, faster, and left the surface tack free. Next time you’re looking to remove a sticker or any sticky adhesive grab the veggie oil and use some elbow grease!