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The time of year for spring cleaning has arrived once again! You may dread the tasks before you begin, but once complete, you’ll love how open, fresh and clean your home feels. To make spring cleaning more bearable, tackle one room each week until you get the whole house done. The living room is a great place to start.
They don’t call it a “living room” for nothing. The whole family does quite a bit of living here, which makes this room a catch-all for a wide variety of clutter and messes. Tackle these chores with your favorite music blasting, and get the whole family involved in singing along as each person tackles one task or another. Here’s what needs to get done:
Deep Clean Upholstered Furniture
Start by vacuuming every surface, including under the cushions, with the brush attachment of your vacuum cleaner. Do a bit of scrubbing action to loosen and remove embedded dirt and hair. Next identify the furniture’s cleaning code so you know how to clean it. The tag on the underside of the furniture should tell you what you need to know.
- W means the fabric is compatible with water, so you can use ordinary water-based upholstery cleaner on it.
- S means the fabric should be dry cleaned with special solvents. You’ll want to hire a professional upholstery cleaning company to handle the job.
- S/W means you can spot clean the fabric with water-based cleaner, provided you don’t completely saturate the upholstery. For deep cleaning, you should still hire a professional to use dry cleaning solvents.
- X is a rarer cleaning code meaning you shouldn’t clean the furniture with either water-based or dry cleaning agents. Stick to just vacuuming this type of upholstery.
Polish Wood
From coffee and end tables to the entertainment center, give every bit of wood in your living room a good polish. Start by dusting with an electrostatically charged cloth to remove as much dust as possible. Then spray a clean cotton cloth with wood polish to bring out the luster of the wood. Finish by buffing the wood with a dry cloth to reveal shiny results.
Wash the Windows
Join up with a family member and tag team this one together. Assign one person to clean the inside of each window while the other person cleans the exterior. Each person sprays glass cleaner on the window and wipes it clean with a paper towel. If someone misses a spot, it’s easy to tell which side of the glass it’s on so the spot can be removed.
Clean Carpets and Rugs
From dust and dog hair accumulation to food and beverage spills, carpets and rugs take quite the beating. First vacuum the living room carpet and area rugs. Take smaller rugs outside and beat them with a broom or tennis racquet. This removes as much loose dirt and dust as possible. Next, spot clean residual stains with a handheld spray bottle of carpet stain remover. Keep up with spot cleaning throughout the year to keep your carpet in good condition for years to come.
For high-traffic areas, it’s wise to hire a professional carpet cleaner every spring. Plan to add low-traffic areas to the to-do list every other year. Thorough cleaning procedures and professional equipment ensures your carpet will be restored to the cleanest it’s been in years.
Organize and Clean the Entertainment Center
Polishing your wood entertainment center is a good start, but you should also take time to organize it. Go through your music and movie collection and decide what you no longer want to take up valuable space on your shelves. If you don’t want to get rid of anything but you’re tired of the cluttered look of having DVDs everywhere, compile your collection into a large DVD wallet. This frees up shelves to display other things, such as pictures of family members, books or keepsakes.
If you need help checking some items off your spring cleaning to-do list, please contact Rainbow Restoration ® today. We provide a variety of cleaning and deodorizing services to get your home ready for warmer weather.
For Further Reading:
The Dirty Dozen: Key Areas to Clean This Spring
Why Would You Dump Ice Water in Your Living Room?
