It’s your sanctuary, your escape, the place you come back to every day. But how do you protect the interior surfaces and furniture? Knowing how to keep your home looking great will put a smile on your face every time you walk in!
Carpets, Upholstery & Floors
Stains, pet accidents, shifting furniture around, movie night snacks—your furniture, carpets, and floors can all take a beating. First, pretreat with a stain protector like Scotchgard or a professionally applied finish, both are great options for upholstery and carpets. Secondly, felt pads on the bottoms of chairs are a must but don’t forget your table legs and bed frames too. They are an inexpensive purchase and will go a long way to keeping the floor looking new. Also, choosing flooring and furniture materials and finishes that work for your family’s lifestyle goes a long way to keeping your home’s interior looking its best. As your kids get older and pets are trained, and family life changes, so might your décor!
Walls
Keeping walls free of scuffs and scrapes doesn’t have to be an all-consuming chore. First, choosing a high-quality wall coating (aka paint) is the best defense. Latex paints have the longest-lasting finish, are easy to work with, dry quickly and are extremely durable but the finish options can be confusing for most homeowners. Check out this easy-to-use Guide to Paint Finishes from houselogic.com! A high-quality paint that is formulated for each room keeps walls looking great and makes clean-up easier. According to improovy.com, by and large, most professional painters use either Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin Moore paint products.
For areas that are more prone to daily dings, install rubber stoppers, felt or plastic bumpers behind doors, chairs, headboards, etc. A chair rail in the dining or living room is a more stylish option to protect your walls. Scuff marks are unavoidable but keeping an eye out for them and cleaning them up as soon as you can is key. Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser is an effective tool for touching up or cleaning walls and doors.
Pets
Fur is a constant struggle with cats and dogs. Even if you vacuum every day, sometimes not even the most powerful vacuum will remove pet hair from every inch of your home. Keeping pets well groomed is not only good for their health and behavior it also prevents shedding. With their dead hair removed and their short hair prepped up by the groomer, your pets will shed less hair and contribute to making your home a cleaner place. Other options for creating a pet-friendly home include large, washable throw blankets decoratively tossed over a couch or chair to gather pet hair. Creating a cozy space just for your pet might be a fun idea to try. Safe, comfortable, loved pets tend to stay off the furniture if they’ve been taught that nor are they apt to destroy anything.
Scratches and claw marks can be a struggle. With several states now banning declawing, cat owners may be wondering how they can keep their home free of claw marks. Invest in scratching posts, unobtrusive corner protectors, or anti-scratch tape for couches and chairs to keep cats from scratching furniture. Again, grooming will help by regularly trimming the nails of both cats and dogs. Of course, choosing furniture and flooring that works best for your pets is another thing to consider.
Windows
Oh, that beautiful natural light. While most crave it and want natural light in our homes, the sun can also damage wood floors, fabrics and furniture. Curtains are one option, but also consider tinted windows, sun-filtering blinds, or UV film coatings. An awning might be a clever idea or if you’re remodeling or building, consider deeper overhangs for the windows that get the most direct sun during midday.
Keep it Clean!
While this really is obvious, keeping your home clean is an important preventive measure for protecting what is probably your largest economic asset. Cleaning spills as they happen, dusting and sweeping, protecting irreplaceable furniture pieces, and cleaning appliances frequently will all go a long way to protecting the interior of your home!
Working with our Remodel-Design-Build Team at The Cleary Company means you get all of our expertise, not only with the creation and implementation of your remodel, but we are here to assist you with choosing the right finishes and fixtures to fit your family’s lifestyle. Collaborating with you on design choices and providing information to help you protect the interior of your home.
Spring is just around the corner, for more information on how to protect your home, check out our Spring Home Maintenance Checklist!