The June 2011 issue of Elle Decor includes a charming- if slightly surreal- article about butlers. Though I will probably never use the advice on how to become a butler (too clumsy) or what to look for when hiring a butler (too broke: butlers make $75,000-$300,000!), there were some good down-and-dirty cleaning tips...
"Making A Modern Butler" features an interview with Chris Ely, founder of Estate Management Studies. In his long career- including a stint at Buckingham Palace- Ely has learned a few things, and started teaching classes because "he says he wants to share what he’s learned from '30 years of my mistakes'." You have to admit, that's a pretty cute thing for a butler to say.
The full list of tips he gave Elle Decor is here, and here are a few of my favorites:
- Microfiber cloths for dusting They're great for washing windows & mirrors as well.
- Mr. Clean Magic Erasers for removing marks from walls I love those, too, but find them a bit scary and mystifying. Right?
- Avoid chemical cleaners (other than the Magic Eraser, but that's magic) I occasionally, guiltily, wonder if my all-natural cleaning products are really getting the job done, so this is nice to hear. If vinegar is good enough for Buckingham Palace, it's good enough for me.
- A good butler has “'a healthy amount' of obsessive-compulsive disorder" This one hit me hard. At work, I spend my days doing my best to make things perfect. Minute, delicate adjustments, constant vigilance. It's very satisfying to make things nice and neat and even beautiful- but then I come home and just drop things everywhere and make a big mess. It's time to put that even-a-bit-more-than-a healthy amount of obsessive-compulsive disorder to use at home.
Finally, I leave you with this bit of weekend fantasy from Dorothy Cann Hamilton, owner of The French Culinary Institute, where Ely teaches: “The minute you come in to your country house on a Friday, he [your butler] doesn’t come to you with all the problems because really what he should be coming to you with is a martini.” Teach yourself how to make your favorite cocktail perfectly, break out the Magic Eraser, and live the dream.
Image: From the PBS Series Downton Abbey, photograph by Itv/Rex/Rex Usa, via Elle Decor
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How wonderful! Thank you for sharing. I was just watching "The Young Philadelphians" with Paul Newman the other day, wondering to myself where one would find a good butler these days...
Downton Abbey is the best show that has been on PBS in, like, ever. LOVE IT.
Okay, I'm done.
A butler! THAT's What's missing from my life! (Along with the wherewithal to pay him!)
"Mr Clean Magic Erasers ... I love those, too, but find them a bit scary and mystifying. Right?"
What's so mystifying?
Get it wet, rub, stain gone, rinse: Easy!
I think the "scary and mystifying" feeling was in reference to how the Magic Eraser actually works to remove stains, not how to use it.
If anyone would like to be demystified, the Magic Eraser is made from a melamine foam. On one hand, it acts as a very fine sand paper (so yes, you can actually scrub away paint from a surface if you scrub hard enough). On the other hand, the dirt gets sucked into the open spaces in the foam. Add those two together, and you get magic. :)
The Butler did it!
I want Carson to take care of my (non-palatial) house. His presence would be very calming after a rough day.
im so obsessed with downton abbey! i cant wait for the next season!
what i wouldn't give for a butler to greet me at my door with an ice-cold martini. i wouldn't even care if he dusts.
It's interesting that people automatically trust chemical cleaners, but something that is more natural causes skepticism.
Totally agree, cleaning the house on Thursday evening so that on a Friday evening upon arriving home the only thing to do is pour a glass of something cold is the way to go.
Vinegar is a chemical. It's acetic acid.
So is water: H2O. I enjoy telling that to people trying to sell me cosmetics as well.
Downton Abbey!!!!! Love it.
Dang. This whole time I've been in grad school, I shoulda been in butler (or butler-ette?) school. That's quite a salary (at the high end of the range, it's almost 6 times what someone starting out in my field makes)!
I was going to say that I don't know how I feel about butlers and then I saw what they make... On the other hand, I hate to sound cynical, but what with the worldwide financial crisis, an article about butlers sounds a bit "let them eat cake."
I love Downton Abbey, too. If I may engage in a bit of self-promotion, I was also writing recaps of DA for Lippsisters.com: http://www.lippsisters.com/category/downton-abbey/ .
Hmm. I frequently say it would be nice to have a butler, but then am annoyed informed by the historical-fiction-reading-spousal-unit that the butler does not cook, garden, or do whatever it is I'm suggesting we have a butler for.
"annoyedly"
Researchbabe- thanks for the Magic Eraser info! I always thought it was so weird that without any scrubbing, the dirt was just gone, but there was also no dirt on the Eraser. My theory was that Magic Erasers worked with the space-time continuum so that the dirt never actually existed... Nope, just holes in the sponge.
LOVE Downton Abbey!!!!
Hah! "Teach yourself how to make your favorite cocktail perfectly, break out the Magic Eraser, and live the dream." I am one of those sick people who really does think this sounds like a good time.
I spent a summer working as the office coordinator of a butler academy and placement agency. The training manuals were wild. At least one class devoted to "how to properly iron a newspaper", hours of learning how to make an attractice fire and a laundry list of other skills IU didn't even know existed.
I just spent three solid days oiling all the wood in my grandmother's library.
It gave me a whole new appreciation for why people in the old big houses needed so much help. By the time you're done with the whole house, it's time to start all over again at the beginning.
I consider myself fairly well versed in the butler arts (yes, a tidy house fanatic), but I am mystified on how to get hard water and soap scum stains off the glass shower surround. Help!
Downton Abbey... second series coming out in the UK on 12 October 2011... YES!!!
Speaking of green cleaning and Mr. Clean magic erasers, there really aren't chemicals in those. I did some research once [because I figured what made them so magical and was also toxic] only to find out they are made of fiberglass! They are literally sanding the dirt/stain away. However, the fiberglass is so fine, it generally does not remove the color as well. Now I like them even more.
Butlers and Downton Abbey - perfect match. Someone earlier in this post says that they can't imagine the expenditure of having a butler. In Downton Abbey there is a segment in the second episode where your Matthew Crawley, asks Robert Earl of Grantham if he would mind terribly if he declined the services of the butler... The Earl doesn't mind, but asks Crawley amid other things, why would he deny the livelyhood to a person such as the butler (dont recall his name) who is proud of being a butler and his job is to make the life of the master easier - It struck me as a very socialistic thing to say, coming from an Earl, and on the other hand it makes me think that that is the difference between new money and old money - they value different things in the services... Only if corporations would feel the same way about the unions...as the Earl feels about his butler :-)
Aren't butlers just called personal assistants nowadays? They don't really clean anything, just order the maid(s) around and worry about getting all the client's needs met. (eew)
Love the Magic Erasers
I don't want a butler, I want a valet, more specificly, I want Jeeves.
I owe all of you (and Elle Decor) a HUGE thank you for introducing me to Downton Abbey. I just watched the entire series (4 episodes the first night, and was tempted to call in sick the next day). Now I want a butler so, so badly! God I love Carson, and Anna & Bates & Mrs. Hughes, and I hate O'Brian, and I want Daisy's outfit but without the scullery maid duties... Thank you!!!
If your American and watched it on PBS apparently they cut bits out of Dowton Abbey to shorten it- grab the DVD to experience it all Its amazing!