Houzz Call: Tell Us Your Family Cleaning Secret
Please share your family’s tricks for polishing floors, cleaning grout and keeping windows sparkling
Erin Carlyle
September 28, 2017
Former Houzz Editorial Staff. Writing about the cost of renovation and what it takes to remodel. Former Forbes real estate reporter. Fascinated by cool homes, watching the bottom line.
Former Houzz Editorial Staff. Writing about the cost of renovation and what it takes... More
Cleaning is something you typically learn about at home. If you grew up in a family like mine, you might have had weekly chores — perhaps even an allowance for doing them on time. Or maybe your grandparents knew the secret for effectively scouring an oven and passed it on to you. Perhaps your aunt taught you how to keep the bathroom mirror from streaking. Then again, maybe you learned how to clean after you left your childhood house, while living on your own — thanks perhaps to a chosen family composed of your friends.
Whatever your family cleaning secret — and your definition of “family” — we’d love to hear your stories in the Comments below. Please also upload a sharp, clean picture of your sparkling home and tell us how it got that way!
Whatever your family cleaning secret — and your definition of “family” — we’d love to hear your stories in the Comments below. Please also upload a sharp, clean picture of your sparkling home and tell us how it got that way!
Do you have sparkling glass? If you know the best way to get your windows clean — or for that matter, your mirror glass — we’d like to hear all about it. Perhaps you use newspaper to wipe the liquid away, or maybe a solution of vinegar and water works best for you.
Your turn: If you swear by a recipe or method passed down to you, please share it with us! We’d love to see your photos and hear your stories in the Comments below.
Find dining tables
Your turn: If you swear by a recipe or method passed down to you, please share it with us! We’d love to see your photos and hear your stories in the Comments below.
Find dining tables
Do your wood floors gleam? When I moved into a new (to me) home this year, I loved most of it instantly — but definitely not the beat-up looking unsealed wood floors, pictured here. So I scoured Houzz and the rest of the internet for the best way to perk them up. The best recommendation I found was in this GardenWeb discussion: rubbing them with a mix of olive oil, lemon essential oil and beeswax — highly effective, in my experience.
Please share: How about you? Do you have a secret family recipe for keeping your wood floors luminous? Tell us in the Comments below!
Please share: How about you? Do you have a secret family recipe for keeping your wood floors luminous? Tell us in the Comments below!
Photo by Simon Berry
Do you know how to get grout stains out? Cleaning grout is one of those tedious tasks that, without the right cleaning products and techniques, can seem to take ages. We’re hoping you have a better way.
Tell us: If a family member has passed along some amazing tips for getting that grout clean again, please share them. Houzz users’ bathrooms will thank you!
Search for tile
Do you know how to get grout stains out? Cleaning grout is one of those tedious tasks that, without the right cleaning products and techniques, can seem to take ages. We’re hoping you have a better way.
Tell us: If a family member has passed along some amazing tips for getting that grout clean again, please share them. Houzz users’ bathrooms will thank you!
Search for tile
Your turn: Please upload your best photos and tips — passed down from family or your family of friends — for keeping your home sparkling clean. Your story and photos could be featured in an upcoming article on Houzz.
More
How to Clean Your Kitchen Cabinets
Don’t Touch Another Stain Before You Read This
More
How to Clean Your Kitchen Cabinets
Don’t Touch Another Stain Before You Read This
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Not entirely sure if this fits with the current topic, but to renew a Farberware coffee pot.......fill water to the highest capacity for a full pot, and place some powdered dishwasher detergent in the brewing basket.....perk as usual and allow it to sit over night.....it will look brand new in the morning.
Stainless steel coffee pots and regular pots that have calcium spots on the bottom can be cleaned by adding vinegar to cover the bottom. Swirl it around and rinse. For the coffee pot, boil a full pot of fresh water to remove vinegar smell.