Remove candle wax from your carpet with incredible expert-approved hack

Lighting candles in your home is one way to get through the long, cold evenings this . From scented pillar candles and delicate tealights, or finding an excuse to buy that pair of fancy candle sticks you have had your eye on at the , whatever kind you choose will enhance the ambience in your home and help create a cosy atmosphere as you sit back and relax after a long hard day.

However, if you have ever split candle wax on your carpet, you will know just how difficult it can seem to remove it. Despite our best efforts to keep the candle wax contained, spilling it is easily done: all you need to do is accidentally knock into the surface your candle is placed on, and before you know it, the melted wax has gone everywhere over your previously pristine carpets. Before you throw your hands up in despair and declare the carpet ruined, try out this expert-approved , that should get any candle wax stains out of your carpet - or other upholstery - in just a few simple steps.

The experts from explain that the very first thing you should do after spilling on your carpet is nothing - even if that may seem counterintuitive. You'd be forgiven for assuming you should try and get the wax up whilst it's still in liquid form, but the experts explain that is actually the worst thing you can do. Instead, you need to have some patience and wait until it is completely dry before you try and remove the stain.

"It might be tempting to whip out a stain remover spray and clean the wax up while it's still hot, but it’s actually much easier to remove the wax once it hardens," the experts explain, adding that if you cannot bear to wait to try and clean up the mess, you can speed up this hardening process: "grab some ice from the fridge and place it in a zip-lock bag. If you don’t have any ice in the freezer, pretty much anything frozen will do the trick - whether it’s a bag of frozen peas or a frozen microwave curry!"

Once it has completely hardened the wax will turn a lighter colour, and this is when you need to get to work scraping that wax as much as possible. You don't want to damage your carpet further during this step, so you want to use something that isn't too sharp, like a bank card or butter knife, they explain, and be careful not to snag any loops in the fabric of your carpet with the serrated edge of the butter knife.

After you have scraped off as much as you can, dispose of the bigger chunks of wax in the bin and then vacuum up the rest. Hopefully, this should have got rid of pretty much the entire top layer of the wax, but there will still be some in the lower layers of the fabric, which you will now need to absorb, the experts say.

"You'll need to heat and transfer the wax onto something else," the experts explain. "To do this, cover the wax with a paper towel and then a slightly damp fabric towel that you're not too attached to and don’t mind ruining. Then, grab your iron and steam the spot through the damp fabric towel for around 10 to 15 seconds. The wax will begin to lift through and transfer onto your towels. You may need to do this several times.

"Just be careful not to have the iron up too hot or keep it on the spot for too long, as this could potentially damage the upholstery or carpet - especially if it's a synthetic material." If your carpets are pretty delicate then you may want to try using a hair dryer for this step, the experts note, because it will be less intense on the fabric.

Once you have removed the wax onto your towel, you should give the entire area a thorough clean using a white vinegar and water solution, or with a little bit of unscented dish soap that you have diluted. The experts advise that you may need to repeat these four steps more than once to get the entirety of the stain out of your carpet, but it's best not to overtreat the fabric and spread out these cleans if it is a really deep candle wax stain.

Do you have a story to tell? Email: emma.mackenzie@reachplc.com

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