Showing posts with label Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. Show all posts

Thursday, September 16, 2010

House Cleaning Tips

House cleaning is a tiresome chore for most of us. Nonetheless, it needs to be done regularly. Most of us fret by the thought of cleaning house regularly. Still, if it is done with a proper procedure and technique, it can be a fun and less time consuming job. Following are some tips for house cleaning.

House Cleaning Tips
You must be knowing that if work is divided, it is easier to do and also complete it. Therefore, split the work and do it part by part. If you start cleaning all the rooms and closets and walls and the laundry at one time, you will only end up in a bigger mess. Hence, the key lies in doing it part by part. Similarly, division of labor is also equally important. Distributing the work among family members can save a lot of time as well as energy. Let us make a start with the following household cleaning tips. Know more on house cleaning rates.

Clean the Clutter
One of the best house cleaning tips is to simply pick up the things lying around and put them in their places. With this, nearly half of your job is done. So start from the living room; pick up the magazines, papers, glasses and dishes from the coffee table and couch. The same things may also be lying on the side table in your bedroom. Also, throw away all the left over foodstuffs, empty cartons and other stuff from the kitchen and put the greasy dishes and utensils in the sink.

Clean the Household Appliances
With the help of a feather brush, clean the music system, television set and other things in the living room. In the kitchen, clean the refrigerator, oven and microwave according to the instructions given in the user's manual. Do not clean kitchen appliances by splashing water in it. Clean the mirror and dressing table with a semi wet cloth. Also clean all the wall hangings and decorative articles in each of the room with a feather duster.

Wash the Washables
Now take down the curtains and cushion covers from the living room and put them in the laundry. Similarly, change the bed spreads in the bedroom and replace with fresh ones. Do the dishes in the kitchen in one go. If they are extra oily or greasy, soak them in soapy water for 20-25 minutes and then wash them. Similarly, clean the kitchen counter top with soap and water. In the bathroom, clean the sink and toilet with suitable cleaners. Also take down the shower curtain for cleaning. Do not forget to clean the mirror and faucets.

Vacuum the Floors
This should always come last, as all the dust and dirt from other articles gathers on the floor as you clean them. Therefore, it is always advisable to clean the floors at the end. Vacuum all around the living room, kitchen and bedrooms. Clean the floor in the bathroom with water and brush. Also look out for the dust in corners, windows and window sills. Move the furniture and clean under it if possible.

Clean the Closets
Now once we are done with all the above, most of us will hardly have any energy and patience left to clean the closets. Therefore, this can be shifted to the next day. Start with the drawers in the living room. It is always better to start with the topmost one first and going downwards. In the kitchen cabinets, throw away all the unused and expired items and rearrange the remaining ones according to their daily necessity and usage. For e.g., keep the cornflakes at the front. Read more on housekeeping.

House Organizing Tips
There are certain tips for house cleaning that can help in minimizing the work and time required for cleaning. They include:
  • Clean the spills on the carpets, mats, floors, counter tops, walls, refrigerators, etc. immediately when they occur. This way you won't have to struggle with them later.
  • Cleaning the laundry daily instead of weekly can reduce a lot of weekend work.
  • Organize and plan your work by making your own house cleaning schedule and house cleaning checklist.
  • Make a habit of returning things to their proper places after use. This will also be helpful when looking for things during an emergency.
  • Go through the refrigerator everyday and throw away whatever has expired or is empty.
Lastly, put on some good music or have someone to help you, and you will realize that house cleaning is not all that boring! I hope these house cleaning tips will be helpful in making this tiresome job more interesting! Also remember, multitasking can be extremely helpful!

Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

From House Plans to Dream Home!

We at The Plan Collection just received an email from one of our past customers, and with his permission, I'd like to share a little bit about his experiences. It's a success story that will show you just how enjoyable an adventure building your own home can be -- especially if you get things started off on the right foot. I'd just like to highlight a few key points that helped give this project a happy ending:

CHOOSE THE RIGHT HOUSE PLANS


Like most people, Garry had considered building a home for quite some time, but he had a few concerns:

"I had been thinking about building but wasn't sure how it would work on such a narrow lot. I went to Google and just typed 'House Plans < 25 feet wide'. Your site came up. This plan was the third unit I looked at and fell in love with it."

Garry also went on to say that,

We really liked working with The Plan Collection site for a couple of reasons. We loved all the choices. There were so many homes to choose from. We also really liked the 'Advanced Search' because we had some very special requirements and this search option helped us narrow our choices down to the plan we fell in love with.

HIRE THE RIGHT PROFESSIONALS


Early on, Garry and his wife chose to hire a professional interior designer -- Annie Florin from HPF DESIGNS -- and that made all the difference. According to Garry:

House Plan Photos"We chose to work with a designer because of the many decisions that need to be made right up front that affect so many other choices further along in the process. If we had made a mistake early on, we could have easily jeopardized the look of our beautiful home in the end. We chose to seek out a professional who understood the consequences of decisions that needed to be made and what effects it would have to the overall appearance of the home. We chose to go with an independent decorator vs. the builder's 'on site' decorator because we found that the independent would make sure our interests were met, not just that of the builder's. We have heard horror stories of couples getting divorced over building a house. That is such a shame. This project was so easy with the aid of our designer. My wife and I have different taste and the designer was able to hear both of our ideas and bring things together that satisfied both of us. It was so easy we didn't even realize it was happening. I have also heard, 'I wish I would have done this or that.' I can say we have both said I wouldn't change anything. With an investment of this magnitude a designer's fee is probably the best money spent in my opinion, whatever it is."

And what makes this story even better is that this particular home actually ended up taking 3rd place at a local Parade of Homes -- along with many other awards, including "Best Kitchen". Here are a few of the photos:
More House Plan Photos

And here is my personal favorite -- the custom fireplace.

Custom Fireplace

All of this amazing interior design was brought to you by HPF Designs, and they also made the custom fireplace, kitchen cabinetry, and the custom desk unit.