The holiday season is almost upon us – from having family and friends over for Thanksgiving dinner, to the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, to hosting extravagant seasonal parties. These events may give off strong feelings of love, spirit and cheer, but the amount of cleaning required to host all the increased traffic to your home can be daunting.
To help you transform your house into a space worthy of holiday hosting, here are four cleaning projects for you to tackle.
1) Clean Your Carpets
When you have people over for the holidays, one of the first things they see when they walk through the door is the floor. A dirty, stain-ridden carpet is off-putting to guests, and can immediately give off a negative impression, even if the rest of the house looks clean.
To help keep your carpets clean for the holidays, you can purchase a kit, follow some simple DIY carpet cleaning methods, or – if the situation is especially dire – hire a professional carpet cleaning service. A thorough cleaning will help reduce the wear in high-traffic areas, and brighten the color to liven the atmosphere and help foster a more positive perception of your home.
2) Clean Your Furniture
Your carpets aren’t the only thing that may need a cleaning before the holidays. Your furniture may seem fine to you after months or years of daily use; but a guest in your home may notice things that you tend to overlook, such as stains, discoloring, and even odor. Additionally, if you haven’t had your furniture cleaned in a while, there could be health risks due to a build-up of debris around the cushions.
To make people feel more comfortable in your home, it’s important to clean your furniture before the holiday season kicks off. Like the carpets, you can either clean the furniture yourself, or hire a service that specializes in upholstery cleaning. The difference will be visibly noticeable to guests, and your furniture will look like it did the first day you bought it!
3) Prep the Guest Bedroom
Oftentimes, people spend so much time cleaning their house before the holidays that they overlook an important room – the guest bedroom. If you have friends or family coming in from out of town, it’s important that your guests feel like they’re in a home away from home. Making the guest bedroom cozy and inviting is an important factor in visitor satisfaction level.
Make sure the guest bed is ready to sleep in – that means putting on fresh, nice-smelling sheets, fluffing the pillows, and cleaning the comforter. If you use the guest bedroom as a place to store your clutter throughout the year, you should begin clearing that out as early as possible, and ensure the room gets a thorough vacuuming/dusting to eliminate dust and debris. You can also include a candle to give your guests a relaxing atmosphere after a long day of holiday festivities.
4) Freshen Up Your Kitchen
During holiday gatherings, the kitchen is often the centerpiece of the festivities – it’s where the food is prepared and served, and a common place for people to congregate. Therefore, you should ensure this room is as clean as can be before it experiences heavy use.
First things first, make sure your kitchen is free of any extraneous clutter that may have been building up over the months. Once that’s done, sweep the floors, take out the trash, and wipe down all cabinets, countertops and appliances. Then, make sure your cabinets are stocked with clean dishes, glasses and utensils. A clean kitchen generates lots of compliments from holiday guests!
What other cleaning projects do you tackle before the holiday season? Comment and let us know!
