Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

I think it was Aidan who first opened up our minivan and yelled out in disgust. "WHAT is that SMELL?" My mind immediately started flipping through it's files, searching for the last time I went grocery shopping. We've probably all let a tub of sour cream or something slide under the bench seats and sit there unnoticed until the odor overtakes us a few days later. While gagging at the stench, I began my search, until I found the source...a half-empty gallon of curdled milk, turned sideways in my trunk, hidden behind the stroller. I noticed the carpet was quite wet in that side of the trunk, so that was definitely the source of the smell. And, boy, was it BAD!

At first I made an attempt to sop up the carpet in the trunk, and I borrowed a steam cleaner for a deeper clean. The next morning the awful smell in the garage gave us a clue that my attempt to remedy the situation had apparently failed. My next step was to actually pull up the carpet in the trunk, trying to air it out completely. I realized there is thick padding under the carpet, all of which is ALSO saturated with sour milk. I applied vinegar from top to bottom and steamed it all again. The smell remained. It was about mid-day the second day that I finally noticed (with horror) that the carpet in the very front-right passenger side was also wet with sour milk! The milk had travelled through the metal ridges under the carpet from the back of the car all the way up to the front! And, there were pools of milk in the little cups in the floor that anchor the bench seats in place. I had only touched the surface of what was turning out to be a major ordeal.

It was bad.

I tried to rip up as much of the carpet I could around the edges, scrubbing it all with vinegar, steaming it, and then spreading baking soda all over it. We let that mostly dry. The smell remained. Thursday evening, Roy and I decided we had no choice but to go ahead and take all the seats out of the car and rip the entire carpet out. So, a couple hours later, we had a completely cleared out van! With the carpet splayed out on the driveway, we then made up a big solution of oxy-clean and drenched the whole thing, with Roy dancing all over it with his feet, trying to press it all in. You can only imagine the looks we have gotten from passersby as Roy is dancing a jig all over a sour carpet beside an opened-doored van, cleared of everything, including the driver's seat! It was quite a sight!

Here's a picture of the van, as clean on the inside as it will ever get. Unfortunately, I failed to get a picture of Roy's dance moves.







Well, with a blank slate to work with, we started thinking about maybe upgrading the flooring in the van - maybe trying to match it to our house. We may as well travel around in style! Let us know what you think. We are still playing with colors.




To finish the story - well, the true ending has yet to be written - we have doused pet odor cleaner with enzymes all over the carpet, but the smell still remains in the jute padding. We need to go get another bottle of the cleaner to douse the padding. We may end up having to replace the padding, but we are still hoping to salvage the carpet. If anyone has any ideas, let us know!
At the very least, we are hoping to reinstall the driver's seat in the next day or two, because, if you've ever tried to move a car without being able to sit down you'll know that you might as well not even know how to drive!