1) Plan your flooring
When it comes to kids carpet can be a big no-no, some stains are impossible to get out even with a decent carpet cleaner. If possible get a wood floor throughout, I love the look of solid wood flooring but you might decide to go for the cheaper option of laminate instead. If you really need to opt for carpet then use carpet tiles and have some spare so if any of them get ruined you can take it up and replace it easily.
2) Choose your soft furnishings wisely
When it comes to sticky fingers you need to make sure your soft furnishings can be easily cleaned. This means either Leather Furniture, furniture covers that can be removed and washed or ensuring your sofa has a stain guard applied to it. We have soft fabric sofas in a dark chocolate brown colour with stain guard applied and despite being nearly five years old they still look great.
3) Lots of Storage
Ensuring that you have lots of storage to tidy everything away will help to keep your house tidy and make it easier to clean. Shelves are extra surfaces to dust so look for storage that you can close to keep everything out of view. Ensure you have ample storage in every room to really optimise this tip.
4) What colour are your walls
Planning the colour of your walls can really help to keep them looking clean. We have a dark colour at the bottom of each wall which is dark enough not to see sticky fingerprints. We didn’t want the whole house dark though so we put a border up and kept the top half of the wall a light colour.
5) Wipeable surfaces
When designing your house and furnishings try to make sure that any wood is treated to make it waterproof and wipeable. This goes for any surface really, the easier it is to wipe down the more it can withstand the challenges of a house full of kids.
There are obviously other things that you can do to make your house easier to clean such as ensuring that all paint that is used is wipeable paint like that advertised for Kitchens and Bathrooms. However if you really want a clean house just don’t have pets or kids, you will be amazed at how much easier it is to clean without them living there!
