Home Cleaning

Not having a dishwasher certainly isn’t the worst problem you can have. But if you’re used to having one, switching to only hand-washing can seem like a major inconvenience. Following are some ways to make life without a dishwasher as painless as possible. Soak. To make hand-washing less of a scrub-fest, make every effort to keep food from drying on dishes and pots and pans. If you can’t wash something right away, at least submerge it in or fill it with warm soapy water.

It’s the weekend! Time to relax, maybe slow down a bit, maybe work on a renovation or DIY project. You can improve your home a little (and maybe even make your life a little better). We’ve rounded up some recent good ideas that would be perfect to try out this weekend while you’ve got this extra time. And don’t worry — none of these ideas will cost an arm or leg! In the mood to clean but not clean from top to bottom?

Living in a compact (read: tiny) one bedroom with my fiancé and our two dogs sometimes resembles a giant game of Tetris. When it comes to cramming our lives, complete with hobbies, home cooking and my photography business, into 450 square feet organization is key. Here are a few of the ways that we manage. 1. Build upwards.

If you live in a small space, you know that it’s tough to keep it clean from day to day. Smaller spaces just seem to collect more unwanted clutter, dirt and dust! Why is that? Well if you’re a clean freak like me, take a look at some of these tips to keep your small space sparkling every day… 1. Declutter. This is rule number one for a reason! If you don’t love or use an item—why do you still have it? Ditch the clutter and free up space.

Your walls are gleaming with new paint, but only three days later do you remember that you forgot to clean the brushes. Blame the chaos, the kids, the fact that you don’t have to be old to forget the obvious. Either way, that expensive paintbrush is trash for sure, right? Wrong! With a little patience — and minimal elbow grease — you can restore your brushes to their former glory. Paint tends to build up right near and inside the metal band, called the ferrule.

I can get a little ambitious when the weekend comes around sometimes (all the time). It’s easy to say yes to events and parties (or dream about hosting my own), create DIY project lists a mile long, think I’ll finally have time to deep clean every corner of my house and plan on organizing my closet to boot. What I do to avoid weekend burnout? Try and use my home, as it is, as a recharging retreat, so that when Monday rolls around I’m more energized than exhausted.

We’re always on the hunt for the latest and greatest (and easiest) cleaning tools, so when our Apartment Therapy Office Manager Nelly came into work the other day raving about a project that transformed her dingy, rental bathroom grout, our ears perked right up. No doubt it has to do with the fact that she’s expecting, but Nelly’s been doing all sorts of nesting lately.

I’m not usually one for New Year’s resolutions, but I am always interested in rejuvenating my space, work and life in the New Year. January is a great month for cleaning up problem areas, whether they are physical problem areas in your home, or work and financial issues. Here are a few of our top tips for simple tasks to help get your new year get off to a great start! 1. Declutter your desk or work area and go through important papers. Tax time is coming!

Is it completely germophobic to be cleaning your kids’ stuffed toys every month? Of course, I’m asking for a friend of mine (wink)! I completely understand that our kids need to grow their immune system by being exposed to various degrees of bacteria, still, I can’t look at these toys and remain calm. It makes me cringe. Just like that tiny chalk mark the teacher used to forget to erase on the board back in school. Ok, there goes my free-spirit reputation!

All it took was two episodes of “Hoarders” and I knew that the next morning I was going to…had to…go downstairs to clean out our apartment basement storage area. Hidden downstairs was a slowly expanding Jenga pile of boxes, the majority of them empty, but all kept under the presumption I’d need them later for moving or resale. It was time to get serious and clean house for 2012…The biggest source of empty boxes were for electronics and appliances.

Tackling the smallest projects in my home always seem to create the most happiness. Sure giving a room a new coat of paint is exciting, but most of us live with some silly repair need for far too long, so when it’s finally fixed, it’s like this marvelous miracle. So today, I’d like to talk about the area under your sink. Did you know it could make you happy? Oh it totally can.

Some of the expensive dishwashers have these great fronts that seem to blend into the rest of the cabinetry. While if you have the money, you can get yourself one of these, we found found that hacking your own dishwasher a lot cheaper, since the only things you need to buy are some cabinet fronts.You can use any kind of cabinet fronts that you like, but they need to match your current kitchen cabinets. Once you’ve chosen those, it’s time to start hacking!

White risers can do a lot to brighten a staircase, as evidenced in the entryway above. However, like white floors, pretty and bright doesn’t always equal maintenance-free…but it doesn’t have to equal nightmare either. Here’s how to make them work. I recently completed the risers in our entry hall, and I can tell you first hand that like most painting projects, preparation and the right paint is everything.

Q: Maybe someone can help me with this tragedy? This is my beloved Superflat exhibit print poster. Eight years ago I got it mounted, but when I moved to NY I didn’t ship it out and stored it in my parents’ basement. Now I’ve moved back and discovered they had a flood one year and this poor print got some water damage. Is there any way I can remove the stains without damaging the print? I was thinking of a Mr.

Q: We have TrafficMaster Dimensions Allure flooring installed in a bathroom. We have some scuff marks and some dulling in some areas. What do you recommend in caring for this type floor? Is there a particular cleaner? Can you use wax of any kind. We are happy with the flooring but need your advice on the questions above.Sent by RobertEditor – We’re going to first quote the Allure owner manual to advise you to never use a wax on the TrafficMaster surface.

Every well-run home is teeming with tricks and shortcuts to keep it humming along. We’re sharing our best quick tips — for cleaning, organizing and repairing stuff at home — to save you time and money. Click through for today’s helpful hint, and links to tons more… Use regular DISH SOAP!! It has the ability to be gentle on your paint brushes while removing the sticky, slick paint behind.

Cleaning Stainless Steel Sinks has always been a pet peeve. Once it was discovered how clean and shiny they REALLY could be, the OCD about keeping them that clean….hasn’t stopped. And why not when it’s so simple to do? Click through the jump to check out how to use common household items to clean even the dirtiest sink naturally and in under 5 minutes. Stainless Steel sinks always seem to deceive you.

It’s been a tough month around our household. A series of bad health incidents was capped off last night when we discovered our cat Eames had urinated on our bed. A small, but noticeable amount of blood was at the center of the large damp spot that soaked all the way down to the mattress itself. This is often the sign of a urinary infection (we think recent overnight guests stressed his system), so now the little fella is at the vet getting tested.

We were recently sent this bit of info by our father, who revelled at the opportunity to contribute to the blog. It’s a great little story about the invention of WD-40, which, it turns out, was never intended for lubrication at all and has, as its basic ingredient, nothing other than fish oil!“I had a neighbor who had bought a new pickup.