Please note: this is a contributed post.
There are certain things in life that seem relatively impossible to achieve. Keeping a large country home clean and tidy is one of them. Now, it’s extremely rare that any home stays in pristine condition in the first place. Sure, Pinterest boards and glossy home design magazines would suggest otherwise – their pages are filled with beautiful rural properties that have perfect interior design – kind of makes you think if anyone is actually living in them.
Maintaining a neat and tidy home is easy to achieve if there’s no one living in these spaces. These decorator showcase homes are specially curated, prepped, and kept pristine for the photo shoots. But when people actually live in a property, everything quickly changes. There are suddenly personal belongings left, right and center. There are pets running about and there’s a constant supply of plates, bowls, cups, and utensils to wash up. It’s easy for any home to become relatively messy.
When it comes to country homes, there are a host of other factors that can bring muck and grime into your property. From muddy shoes and boots to cats and dogs looking for a place to rest their dusty and dirty paws. When it comes to country living, there’s always bound to be a few extra factors that can add an extra touch of disarray to your home. But not to worry, you can achieve the impossible and keep your country home clean and tidy. You just have to be a little more vigilant with your housekeeping routine.
Here are just a few different steps that you can take to get started on your journey towards keeping your home as neat and tidy as possible.
Install an Outdoor Tap
One of the biggest favors that you can DIY (do it yourself) when living in a country home is to install an outdoor tap. Sure, it may seem like an unnecessary fuss – you’re likely to want to call in and pay a professional plumber or landscaper to do the work for you. But it will be more than worth the time and investment in the end if you do it yourself. Why? Well for starters, an outdoor water tap has so many more uses than simply plugging your hose into it to water the garden.
You can use this hose to wash down any pets who have been on long walks and gotten muddy paws and mucky coats in the process. Five minutes spent washing your fur babies outside before they enter your home will be a lot more convenient than trying to mop paw prints up from your wooden floors, linoleum, and tiles. This one simple trick will also save you countless hours scrubbing mud out of the carpets. It will also save you time from cleaning mud from sofas, beds, and any other area of your property that your pooch might decide to jump on when they actually get inside.
An outdoor water tap can also be used to rinse off muddy boots, wash hands, and reduce the general amount of dirt that would otherwise make its way through your front door. As you can see, installing one or more water taps around the outside of your home is definitely an investment worth making.
Purchase a Doormat
The next step in conquering mud and dirt from entering your home is to buy a doormat. The purpose of a doormat is for guests and family members to brush dry dirt and mud from their shoes before stepping foot inside your home. They are inexpensive and widely available online or at specialty stores such as Big Lots or Bed, Bath and Beyond. Also, doormats are available in a variety of patterns and colors and add another decorative, yet practical, element to your home. So, there’s no excuse to avoid getting one!
No Shoes in the House
The last step we’re going to focus on when it comes to reducing the amount of mud and dirt working its way onto your floors and into your carpets is to impose a strict policy against wearing shoes in the house. Sure, you may have washed mud off with the outdoor tap, or brushed your shoes off on your doormat, but no matter how well you clean your shoes, they’re always bound to be a lingering amount of dirt on the soles.
Taking an extra step of removing your shoes before stepping foot inside will protect your interior flooring in the long run. If your home has a mudroom – try to direct everyone entering your home to go through the mudroom. Everyone living at your home should invest in some slippers to stay comfortable and keep their feet warm while inside. Consider cozy footwear options from farm to feet. They make a variety of felt shoes and boots which are cosy, stylish and have a hard rubber sole, which means they feel more like you’re wearing shoes, rather than slippers.
Hire a Professional Window Cleaner
Now, the windows of any property are bound to get dirty at some point. After all, exterior windows are exposed to the elements on a daily basis. However; in suburban and city environments, properties tend to be closer together, reducing the amount of wind that hits each property and providing the windows with a relative degree of protection. City townhomes, apartments and condos also tend to be surrounded by a lot of concrete, rather than natural elements such as grass, mud and trees.
In the country, homes tend to be detached and spaced further apart, completely open and exposed to the elements. Country homes also tend to be surrounded by a lot more natural debris, which is bound to come into contact with the windows to some degree at some point. So, you’re probably going to find that your windows get a dirtier faster when living in the boondocks.
This is why you should bring in the help of a professional window cleaner. These specialists will be able to give your property’s windows a thorough clean on a regular basis for a relatively small sum of money. Sure, you may think that you could do this job yourself and save a bit of cash, but you are highly unlikely to effectively clean the windows above the ground floor without a lot of time and effort. Window cleaners have specialist equipment and plenty of experience that allows them to get even the highest of windows sparkling and shining.
Wash Up Immediately After Every Meal
Country homes tend to have larger kitchens, compared to city dwellings. A large kitchen often results in more elaborate meals being cooked. This isn’t all too surprising – you’re going to want to make use of all the extra space that you have. Extra space also often means extra appliances, equipment and utensils, as you don’t have to be quite so stringent when it comes to storage and can buy any and every kitchen gadget from Williams Sonoma.
But a large home, with a larger kitchen, usually means a larger mess. That is why it becomes so important that you wash up absolutely everything after every meal. Sure, you may want to just sit back and relax for a little while after finishing your food, but this just gives the sauces and other elements of your cooking an opportunity to turn into a dried on mess. This often results in people making further excuses to avoid cleaning by “soaking” everything before actually cleaning it. Instead, you can make life easier for yourself by avoiding procrastination and just getting the cleaning out-of-the-way as soon as possible.
Focus on Your Land
Country homes, and farmhouses in particular, tend to have a fair amount of land that comes with them. An acre or two of land is a rare privilege for many home owners. For some, it’s just extra space that gives you added privacy from the neighbors. For others, it provides you with land through which we can maintain our way of life by growing vegetables to sell at your local farmer’s market, to raising alpaca and starting your own cottage weaving industry. Either way, your home should be as presentable as possible.
Sure, you’re probably going to have to dedicate a lot more time to maintaining your property’s exterior than the average person living in the city. But it’ll be more than worth the effort. So, where to start? Well, the first step, of course, would be to maintain your lawns. Yards can quickly become overgrown and even the most pristine property will look and feel a mess with overgrown grass. Keep an eye out for any weeds and make sure to pull them up straight away – this will prevent them from establishing themselves and taking over your entire property.
Next, trim bushes, prune trees, and maintain any hedges. If you are struggling to keep on top of this part of the work, you can always bring in the help of a specialist like a landscaping firm or arboriculturist. They will be able to achieve completely straight lines on the tops of hedges, can shape bushes to perfection, and will know exactly how to prune, thin, and crown your trees. Once your land is freshly cut you can start adding extra aesthetic touches, such as planting flowers, creating hanging baskets, and potting window boxes.
So there you have it, just a few home maintenance tips and tricks that can help you to significantly improve upon the cleanliness and presentation of your country home. Sure, you may have a lot more work on your hands than the average person living in a condo without any land, but your efforts will be more than worth the time invested when the result is a stunning country home to show off to friends and neighbors.
+ There are no comments
Add yours