Permanent markers. The bane of every mother’s existence. Rarely do we need a marker to be permanent, but we all have them on hand for those times that we do. Somehow our kids sniff them out just like the secret mommy chocolate stash in the pantry! Now mind you, my boys have a craft table in our kitchen complete with jars neatly organized with crayons, colored pencils, and washable markers. They have a craft kitchen cabinet filled with craft supplies just for them that they are allowed to use without needing permission. They know they are allowed to work on their projects at the bar, their little Ikea craft table, or the kitchen table. I keep my sharpies in the back of an off-limits junk drawer in the kitchen. My guys are very good boys and mostly obedient and yet somehow we still ended up with permanent marker all over the kitchen table. Gah!
Fortunately, permanent marker can be removed from wood fairly easily with the following tips. Pin this tip for later in case you ever need it! You will be so glad that you did.
Supplies needed to remove permanent marker from wood:
1. Regular toothpaste. Not the gel kind. Just find some plain, basic, toothpaste.
2. Soft damp rag.
Liberally apply the toothpaste to the area that needs treatment and rub with damp rag.
Make sure you have enough toothpaste on your wood so that your cloth moves freely across your wood without a lot of friction. You don’t want to damage the finish on your furniture. This may take awhile to accomplish. I think I rubbed the toothpaste for a continuous five minutes before it all came off.
Rinse your rag and wipe off all of the excess toothpaste. Repeat the process if there are still areas of permanent marker needing removal. You can use a Magic Eraser lightly to remove tough areas but be warned that the Magic Eraser will take the finish off of your table. Try and remove as much as possible with the toothpaste. For this table, I did not need to use a Magic Eraser.
Here is our kitchen table now:
And here is the before and after once again!
Pretty impressive! Now I need to go fill in that scratch and some of those dings on the table with a Minwax paint pen :).
Kristie says
Thank you! Bought the Crest regular paste to get permanent marker out of our Ethan Allen kitchen table. I didn’t have high hopes. It came out almost immediately! A million thank yous! Only wish I had taken before and after photos.
Crystal says
Tried plain white Colgate and went and bought plain white Crest….neither worked. Ink didn’t even transfer at all to the clothes, paper towels and toothbrush we used to scrub it off. We even used alcohol, baby wipes, nail polish remover and still nothing. Looks like we are going to have to sand it down.
Janette Carpenter says
Hi Beth!!
This tip completely worked. No longer do I have 10 sharpie marks all over our dinning table from my niece! This took less than two minutes to clean up. Used Crest ( no gel, no whitening) as instructed !!
Thanks so so much!!
Beth says
I’m so glad it worked for you! Thanks for chiming in!
Julane says
So it didn’t work for me and now I have a shiny spot on my table that accentuates the marker. Thoughts?
Beth says
Sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. If you used plain Crest toothpaste without whitening, or gel, or any other additives it typically works on wood surfaces. If the table is laminate or a different material it may not work. Others have recommended magic eraser but I know that will take the finish off your table.
Jasmine says
Thank you so much. used Crest toothpaste which is sort of gel like, but it worked! Life saver you are..Indeed!
Beth says
Glad to hear it worked for you!
Brandon says
Thanks for the tip. I have a Chessboard that I labeled wrong a little while back. I just removed what I did with Permanent marker and re labeled the board now I have a properly functioning chess board thanks to this. Never would have thought about toothpaste before now. I can finally take my Chess Board to school and set it up during Lunch and people actually understand which squares are which. Lol just need a proper Chess Clock to go with rather than a phone app and an eXtra Queen for each side.
Beth says
Glad I was able to help!
Laura says
Worked like magic! Saved our Great Grandmother’s cherished dining room table!
Beth says
So glad to hear it!
Fiona says
Thank you so much for the expertise in texta removal. I just purchased a second hand guitar with a name written in texta on it…. Now it is just like new
Lexy says
Will the toothpaste remove the finish from a table?
Beth says
Yes, it most definitely can. To avoid this use old-school toothpaste and make sure it doesn’t have any whiteners or sparkles or extra things in it. Plain old crest paste (NOT gel) works best. Use a small amount on a microfiber cloth or soft rag and work at it. It took me a little over 5 minutes of rubbing to get it all off.
Andrea says
Works like a charm! My grandson drew a square along with the word TV on my brand new dining room table. I used regular Crest toothpaste and came up in than less than a minute. You saved us! Thank you for the post 🙂
Beth says
You’re so welcome Andrea! I’m glad it worked for you. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂
NS says
Just gave your tip a try on a cabinet door where my daughter had smeared a patch of permanent marker on it. I used Arm & Hammer whitening toothpaste and it magically came up in less than 30 seconds! Incredible! Thanks so much. I was afraid that the only way to correct that would involved professional refinishing.
Beth says
I’m so glad it worked for you!
Chrissy says
Hiya, just wanted to add my thanks, son drew on notebook paper with silver permanent marker, and it ended up on our dining table when he turned the page. Your tip worked so well!
Beth says
I am so glad it worked for you too! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. 🙂
Whitney Combs says
I just tried this on my new coffee table after my 5 YO colored all over it with purple sharpie. It didn’t work. 🙁 It also took the finish off the table. So, while it may work for some, don’t use ProNamel toothpaste!
Beth says
Oh no! 🙁 I recommend using plain old cheap Crest. The paste kind without any other whitening agents or additives.
Jim C says
Thanks so much Beth!
My daughter wrote on our fireplace and my wife would have been through the roof angry. With your tip, I was able to clean the writing 100% off and also have a nice conversation with my daughter. Thank you for sharing this valuable tip!
Beth says
You’re so welcome! I’m so glad it worked for you.
David says
The toothpaste did the trick, and the magic eraser, as warned, did remove a bit of finish from the table.
Joey says
An another answer is to use a nail polish remover.
Beth says
I wouldn’t recommend using nail polish remover on wood. It will damage the finish on your table.
Stephanie says
Just came across this – same story as the others … my little artist was not careful, and your “before” photo looked EXACTLY my table!! The toothpaste did the trick, just like you said it would. Thanks so much!!
Beth says
So glad it worked for you too! 🙂
Hayley says
What happens if it’s under the table and it’s been there for years?
Sarah says
THANK YOU!!!!!! You just saved my dining table, my sanity, and maybe my 7-year-old’s life (haha) with your toothpaste tip! It worked like a charm and didn’t scratch the table!
Beth says
Ha! I’m so glad I could help! Feel free to pin the tip for later, or to share with others. It’s a weird trick that most don’t know about and it’s saved my sanity and many a tabletop around here as well. 🙂
Olivia Dempsey says
Hey there! I am 12, and just last night I was drawing, and without thinking, I used permanent marker to outline the picture. The picture turned out great! But… I had forgotten to put something underneath it. So now there are drawings on the table! I really hope this works, my mom would kill me if she found out! D:
Olivia Dempsey says
It helped a little, although not all of it went away! Thanks, though!!
Beth says
Hi Olivia, tell your mom what happened and ask for her help in removing the marker. Plain toothpaste will work but it takes a soft cloth and a lot of rubbing. Please don’t do it yourself because you could damage the finish on the table.
Brian says
Thanks! Helped me get the Sharpie off of our table after our toddler went a little wild. FYI, Sensodyne Pronamel worked like a charm. I only had to wipe for 5-10 seconds each spot.
Abbie says
I’ve got permanent marker all over my white wood wardrobe. Let’s hope that this trick works
Linda says
It worked!! The toothpaste on wood to remove magic marker. My two 9 yr old grand daughters had marked on my new computer desk and did not tell me and I found it the next day. It does take a few minutes but it works wonderful!!!
william penhallow says
thanks, very helpful
as I’m getting old
and need to keep up with general home maintenance and leaning tips
Elane J says
OMG! I just put about 50 black Sharpie dots on my expensive table. Read this and grabbed toothpaste and old washcloth. Cannot believe how quickly and easily this worked! I finished with an application of polish and table looks like new. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Beth says
So glad it worked for you! 🙂
Alma says
I just used this to get black Sharpie off our round table. Usually hairspray is my go-to. I wasn;t worried about it and had left it for a few days. But then the hairspray didn’t work!
It took a good ten minutes of rubbing with the toothpaste and I got it off, but now there are a couple of white cloudy spots (I think it’s veneer, not real wood).
Hairspray works great on a lot of things like fabric and carpets. Method: Spray to saturate, then wait a bit as the spray draws the ink out of the fibres. Then dab with dry paper towel or cloth. Repeat until all ink is gone. This is how I got permanent marker off our white board.
Natalie says
Just yesterday I needed this tip. After searching online I found your website. One of the children had been using their dresser to draw pictures (a no-no in our house) and using a permanent marker and some of it got on their dresser. I didn’t think there would be anything you could do about it but took a chance and looked it up online. Thanks for the tip! It actually worked great, took all the permanent marker off and none of the finish. I’m so happy!
Beth says
Glad I could help! Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. 🙂
Shoaleh says
Thank you so much. The toothpaste totally worked. Now I don’t have to yell at my sweet artist. Who knew? Toothpaste.
John Carr says
I just tried it on my wooden drawing table. Sorry, it did not work for me but it sure made my craft room smell nice and minty !
Aandy says
Awesome! I thought my new cherry dining room table was totally ruined after my grandson got permanent marker all over it! This worked great! Thank you!
Janet Taylor says
My 4 year old grandson scribbled with a permanent markeron my diningroom table which my husband had just refinished recently. The toothpaste removed it eall, amazing.
Thanks so much for the really helpful solution.
Janet
ruby says
fantastic tip! will come in handy alot! thanks for sharing this tip!
Beth says
You’re welcome Ruby! It’s definitely saved a few pieces of my furniture over the years.
Sandra says
toothpaste saved my brand new wooden chair my son accident let marked up with permanent black marker. Thank you!
Beth says
I’m so glad it worked for you!
Dennis Dunaway says
IT WORKED!!!
My wife had spent a month refinishing our hanging double sided cabinet which is 28″ wide x 30″ high x 7′ long. All Oak. It hangs above the similar Breakfast Bar. I was taking ceiling measurement for some work and to my horror I had bumped my magic marker against the wood in a couple of places. OK A couple more than a couple. I just found this site and since I was poly finishing a couple of outlet plates grabbed my tube of Crest Anti cavity tooth paste (regular paste not gel ) said a quick I hope this works and started rubbing. I personally rubbed WITH the wood grain as it was imbedded between the wood grains. IT WORKED. It did not take away the Poly sheen either. We use Poly clear Coat NO stain as we Love the NATURAL wood colors. THIS WORKS
Beth says
So glad it worked for you too! 🙂
Porchia says
Thank you so much for this tip. I thought I was about to get killed after my three year old daughter drew on grandmothers table with a permanent marker . It was a huge drawing. If it wasn’t for this post I don’t know what would of happen thanks sooooo much again
Beth says
You are so welcome! Glad it worked for you.
frank mannhan says
great tip it really worked! yay=-)
Beth says
Glad to hear it!
Lori says
Works! Grandsons artistic side took a accidental wrong turn. Both the drawings and coffee table look great. Aw life with internet solutions…. Gramps won’t even know it was there. Thanks from grateful grandmother.
Beth says
Aw, I’m so glad to hear it. You’re welcome!
Diana says
This really and truly worked for me on a Oak Varnished chair, that my 5 year old for some odd reason to draw a huge happy face on in Blueberry Smelling Permanant marker. So unlike her, I was shocked!! Thank goodness for your tip, it is clean & minty fresh! LOL
Leah says
Thank you for this!!! I got permanent marker on my desk at work and found your blog on how to remove it. Tried it immediately (I used Crest Pro Health For Me) and it came out in less than 60 seconds!!! And my desk smells minty breezy 🙂
Beth says
You’re welcome Leah! Glad it worked for you :).
Lauren @momhomeguide says
I will have to try this! I’ve taken the finish off in a few spots on my kichen’s table by trying to get the kids markers out. 🙁
Danielle says
That is amazing! Such a good tip. Thanks, Beth!
Jen says
Any secrets for getting stains off butcher block kitchen counters?
Beth says
Hi Jen, Since I don’t have butcher block I can’t speak from personal experience, but I’ve heard that you can take table salt and pour it on the stain and then use a half of a lemon to vigorously scrub the stain. Leave overnight and wipe up in the morning. Once you get the stain out be sure to “seal” your wood with several coats of mineral oil.
Lauri says
I’ve luckily never had to experiment with heirloom pieces, but I’ve used rubbing alcohol (or hand sanitizer), goo gone, and hair spray all with limited success. Toothpaste is definitely my go-to artwork remover. Everyone RAVES about those magic erasers…I tried one on my wall that was just pained 6 months ago (in satin finish) – and it not only removed the marker, but all of the sheen! I now get to re-paint that wall – not happy with the erasers. On a side note – beware of toothpaste fumes when removing large pieces of artwork in enclosed spaces….apparently it IS possible to get high off that stuff! =) Great post by the way – I’m sure many people will thank you for this at some point down the road!
Lauri says
Toothpaste works great for getting magic marker, crayon, pen, etc off almost any surface with the exception of human skin and marker that has sat hidden on a wall under a desk for several months – (and doesn’t remove the sheen on paint like magic erasers do – what can I say, my daughter is an ARTIST – lol), but I would be VERY careful using it on wood. If the wood has a good thick varnish on it, then it would probably be ok, but I’ve used it on wood where the finish had thinned (an old kitchen table) and the toothpaste got into the grain of the wood and damaged it – not bad, but enough that if it were on an heirloom piece, I would have been upset. Just a tip from one who has used toothpaste to clean nearly every surface in her house.. =)
Beth says
Thanks for that Lauri! Do you have a tip for those who have marker on their heirloom furniture? What else might work?
rhiannon says
Goo Gone or similar oily product designed to remove sticky stuff is amazing for getting marker off wood. Magic erasers are way too abrasive, though they are amazing on painted surfaces.
Rachel says
How do people figure these things out? Haha – major props to whoever thought to rub toothpaste on their tables to get off permanent marker. That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Beth says
I think desperation! You’re willing to try anything that makes somewhat sense to get it out :). And now my table smells minty fresh.
Erin@Managing the Manor says
Awesome tip! Thanks so much for sharing!
Beth says
You’re welcome Erin! Thanks for stopping by.
Abby says
Really good tip to know! Thank you!