How to create an interior that is easy to clean? There are several strategic sites that require special attention. Our consultant, Svetlana Yurkova, an interior designer, shares useful tips.
August 16 2016
Clean floor – clean house. Each floor covering reacts differently to dirt. And we choose it depending on the room. For example, in the hallway it is convenient to place a rubber-based rug that will not slip, and the short nap will retain moisture and dirt. It is convenient to machine wash such a rug. Do not forget about the rug in front of the front door on the street side: more rigid, with a nap of coconut or PVC. For floors in living rooms, parquet and laminate are best suited. Both are easy to care for and have their own characteristics. For example, on laminate flooring, dust collects in lumps. For some, it hurts the eye, while others, on the contrary, see this as simplicity in cleaning. Parquet without a pronounced texture and grooves will be easier to clean than a complex textured material.
Linoleum Is one of the most practical flooring materials, but the word itself evokes associations with an ugly brown floor with a welded seam in the middle. Of course, modern linoleum has little in common with those Soviet coatings and today can compete with laminate or even parquet. Linoleum is perfect for rooms where high wear resistance is required, for example, for offices.
Tile – classic for the bathroom and kitchen area. Convenience and practicality are undeniable, but keep in mind that the smaller the tiles, the more grouting joints and, accordingly, the more dirt that accumulates in them.
Carpet – the most impractical cover, the so-called dust collector, on which dirt is easily retained. It is better to choose carpets with low pile or small rugs and runners that can be machine washed.
The kitchen needs constant cleaning, especially after cooking. If applied right away, dried dirt and stubborn stains will disappear without a trace. It is better to order the work surface from acrylic stone, agglomerate, glass or concrete. A disaster for the hostess is laminated chipboard, especially of a dark color: even after cleaning, traces of dishes and stains remain. A glass and tile apron between the work surface and the upper cabinets protects the wall from stains and cooking marks. But the grouting joints between the tiles require special care and renewal over time.
Glossy surfaces are more difficult to maintain than matte surfaces. Glossy headsets with a depressing mechanism need to be polished constantly. It is better if the headset comes with handles or matte finish.
The most practical tables and other furniture are made of ordinary wood. The color and texture hide minor imperfections and dust, and cleaning does not take much time, does not require polishing.
For sofas and armchairs, it is better to choose removable covers that are easy to freshen up in a typewriter, or buy leather ones that can be wiped with a damp cloth.
Many small figurines decorate a room like this, but dusting on and under them is a laborious and painstaking task. The fewer things you have, the easier it is to clean up. But if you cannot give up precious jewelry, try to simplify your task. In stores, a special spray is sold that can be applied to objects, and the dust will not stick to them, but by itself it will not disappear and will settle, for example, on the floor.