Decorating With White

!±8± Decorating With White

If you love the idea of a cleaner than clean living environment, consider decorating in shades of white. Many people immediately think, "It will never stay clean!", but that does not have to be the case. There are many ways to decorate in white that are easy to maintain. Following are a couple tips to help you create a white wonderland.

Stain Protection

There are fantastic products on the market that really keep materials from staining easily. Scotch-Guard and other brands make great products to pre-treat carpeting and other upholstery. It helps to repeal stains and makes for easier clean-up. Make sure to treat any fabric surface or carpeting whether broadloom or an area rug. If you are going to use tile, make sure and use an epoxy grout. Epoxy grout is almost completely stain proof as well as incredibly resistant to mold and mildew.

Specialty Appliances

If you choose to go with a all-white design, you should always have specialty small appliances handy to take care of inevitable spills and dirt. Bissell makes a couple great small products. One is called the Spot Bot. This is a small stationary deep cleaner for upholstery and carpeting. Another product is called The Little Green Clean Machine. Every household should own one of these products! It is like a tiny carpet/upholstery cleaner. Should a spill or soiling occur, just plug in this tiny beauty and clean it up. You will probably also want to invest in a large steam cleaner. A good full sized model works about as well as professional tools, and by owning one yourself, you can deep clean everything on a regular basis for little cost. There are other cleaning accessories you will want to purchase to keep your space as clean as the first day. There are many different specialty tools intended to get the dirt and grime from crevices and hard to reach places.

Cleaning Supplies

One great thing about white is well...it is white! That means that you can use really great cleaning products like bleach without fear. Also you can really scrub without any concern that the color will fade. It is already white! Do be careful when you get into creams and other colors that aren't actually white. They are still much less likely to fade than brighter colors, but they may discolor slightly. Always be wary of any cleaning product that is not white or clear out of the bottle. This may yellow your white surfaces. Always be sure to rinse extremely thoroughly because residue is much more likely to show when on white. Be certain that all your cleaning rags and sponges are white. You should purchase a bunch of inexpensive white towels for clean up. Wash them separately with lots of bleach to get out all the dirt and stains before using them again.

Start on the Outside

One of the simplest ways to maintain beautiful white is to make sure the dirt from the outside never gets in. Make sure and place plenty things outside your entry/exit doors to help keep the grim out. Buy small area rugs to place both inside and outside each doorway leading to the outside or other "dirty" locations such as garages and basements. You may also want to consider having a storage area for shoes beside the doors so that you can request guests remove their shoes before entering. Don't forget to allow for clean hands too! Many people don't realize how much dirt comes in the house from people's hands, so leave hand towels and/or hand sanitizers by the entries. No matter how careful you are, high traffic areas will eventually look dingy. For these spots, consider using area rugs and runners. These removable carpets can be more easily and thoroughly cleaned and will protect your more expensive floor beneath.