The Family Room

This is one room in the house that gets the most use – a place we go to relax and gather with family or friends and a place where we can unwind after a long day of work. When we have guests over, this will be the room where we congregate, so we want it to be clean and looking it best.

The tools needed to clean this room will be:

1. Vacuum

2. Carry all-bag

3. Ceiling fan brush and extension pole

4. Cleaning clothes

5. VERY IMPORTANT - Music. I find music always make cleaning a room a little more enjoyable. Let’s face it, people don’t like to clean, so why not make it fun with some of your favorite jams.  Blast that radio until the neighbors think a night club opened up next door (well maybe not that loud, because you don’t want the cops called on you…we are just cleaning a room.)  Maybe even put together a little cleaning mix! Tunes to help you tidy up!

As I have said in previous posts, at the beginning of cleaning any room, we are going to work from left to right, top to bottom.  All wall fixtures, pictures, and shelves will be cleaned with your duster and for your mirrors or other glass items you will use your glass cleaner. 

Use your ceiling fan brush and extension pole to clean the ceiling fan and move on.

As we move to your entertainment center (including your TV, CD player, DVD player, or game console) use your duster to do the back of your TV and your glass cleaner for the body and screen.  Be careful as to not spray directly onto the screen, but instead spray your cloth and lightly wipe down marks, such as fingerprints.  Use your duster to wipe down your DVD player, CD player, or game console and spray some all purpose cleaner on a cloth to remove any fingerprints or other dirt. To clean the entertainment center itself use your duster. If you need to remove fingerprints from surfaces, apply duster spray to your cloth and wipe away. Using your duster spray will protect the surface from scratching.

Next you need to clean your couch. Use your vacuum to clean fabric couches and wipe down your leather furniture with your all purpose cleaner. Spray your cleaning cloth and lightly wipe.

But wait, the fun doesn’t stop there because I have saved the best part for last…vacuuming the room!! I told you this would be fun.  Vacuuming the floor is pretty self-explanatory, but area rugs, throw rugs, scatter rugs, etc. need a little extra care.  Large area room rugs usually have enough weight to them that you would be able to use your upright vacuum as is, but scatter rugs are a different story. I have found that the beater brush on your vacuum can chew up your rug, so my advice would be to not use the beater brush.  So what do you do then? Standing on one end of the throw rug to help keep it in place, use your wand and hard floor vacuum brush to vacuum. Always vacuum away from where you are standing,  lift up the brush at the end of the stroke and start again, moving from left to right (remember we start everything from left to right.) Don’t use a back and forth motion. Now, come back to your starting point and start the process all over again going in the opposite direction.

You are finished!!! I don’t think so…well with this room anyways because we still have the elephants in the house – the kitchen and the bathroom. So get ready!

Until next time, today, and everyday put comfort in your life. Ciao!