Whether you are preparing your property for sale or rent, or simply giving the place a really good spring clean, you’ll be amazed what you can achieve with the application of a little elbow grease and some basic household products. It’s the fastest form of home makeover and, at the same time, you can save yourself thousands of pounds worth of material and labour costs when compared to redecorating or replacing items.
Below are some brilliant and sometimes unexpected ideas on how to handle some of those household chores that normally give us so much heartache. I’m not one of life’s great cleaners, but even I found the videos inspiring!
1) Wash front door and porch:
The front door is the first thing any visitor will see, so if it looks clean and fresh, it will set the tone for the rest of the house.
Expert tips –
Give your front door and porch area a wash with soap and water and watch the paintwork come back to life. Once you’ve done that, polish up your knobs and knockers, Brasso for brass and, surprisingly, tin foil and flat Coke for chrome (see video link below), which is an old automotive trick and works a treat.
Cleaning brass door furniture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-cSrK_o25A
Cleaning chrome door furniture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijvg8abpVzA
2) Cleaning windows and mirrors:
Dirty windows let in less light and are very noticeable, so if they sparkle, the whole house looks brighter and cleaner.
Expert tips –
There’s not much mystery to cleaning windows, but here’s a fantastic tip – if it’s a sunny day, put on some sunglasses while you clean and then you’ll be able to see the streaks. And if you rub the window with old newspapers afterwards, hopefully there won’t be any streaks to worry about. Mirrors can be cleaned with a mixture of water and vinegar, but the best tip we found was how to stop your bathroom mirror from steaming up. It’s not strictly a cleaning job, but it is so clever, we just had to include it –just take a look at the video
Steam free mirrors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irE5i7wQ1QY
3) Kitchens:
Kitchens are home to a horrifying array of dirt collecting apparatus, but help is at hand. Just check out some of these videos.
Hobs: Get rid of burn marks and stains with just ammonia and a plastic bag.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1aMrHGAFK8
Metal sinks: Shine your stainless steel sink with a mixture of lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda, vinegar and water and olive oil!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdS4kF2TUc0
Ovens: A simple and professional approach to oven cleaning using ordinary household products.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIWocKricJs
4) Bathrooms:
Like kitchens, bathrooms have a hard life and can soon look tired and dirty. The biggest problems are limescale and mildew, but there are lots of things you can do before you need to start replacing your old fittings and fixtures.
Taps and sinks: The power of white wine vinegar is astonishing, especially when it comes to limescale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rSyXc06KX8
Shower heads: Good old white vinegar to the rescue, once again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K14b2DyEz3c
Toilets with limescale stains: Yet another use for that magic vinegar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd6pV5lyvG8
Plastic baths and showers: Gel Gloss
Tile grout: Dirty grout looks really unsightly, but there are lots of simple things you can do to clean it up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj_USSnHQKM
Bathroom silicone sealant: Mouldy silicone looks terrible and is notoriously difficult to clean, but there is a solution – the brilliantly named Domestos Grot Buster. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7nS5_21Z-4
5) Floors:
Dirty carpets, dented wooden floors and grubby old tiles – how to bring them back to life.
Carpets: Make a really effective all-purpose cleaning solution from basic household items.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HueaYf5DDHY
Tiles: A simple, step-by-step guide to reviving old floor tiles, especially any original Victorian ones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T-Tf0_q9w8
Wood floors: A very clever trick to remove small dents in wooden flooring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snYlLmBZ60g
*Before you try any of these methods, make sure they are suitable for the materials you are going to use them on and, if in doubt, always test it out on a small patch first.
So, if you’re thinking of selling a property in one of our areas of operation (see below) and you want to make your place look tip-top – you know what to do!