An easy to clean apartment

AN EASY TO CLEAN APARTMENT?

Personally I believe, that there are thousands of more interesting things to do than cleaning. For years of cleaning my own place and testing different finishing materials on my clients and myself, I’ve created a canon of easy-to-clean materials.

What you will find in the below article?

– on which kind of floor dust is invisible

– on what countertop you cannot see any crumbs

– if every wash basin gets dirty in the same way

– what to do to make a glass in the shower clean

– dust secrets on furniture

This knowledge might be useful also in the offices, coffeehouses, guesthouses and in all other places with bigger amount of people. Basically, wherever you prefer to have a coffee rather than running around with a cloth.

An easy to clean apartment – FLOOR

I highly recommend a light floor. If we talk about wooden floor consider classic oak, ash, bleached oak, any brightened one, every whitened one – the brighter the floor, the less dust is visible on it.

On the picture oak floor in natural color

Nutty, mahogany, dyed in a dark color – you will see every pollen on those.

Matte floor is better than glossy floor.

Particles and crumbs are reflected in the shiny surface and we see them twice. The same case is with dust, it is also reflected in the glossy floor. Scratches are more visible on the glossy surface than on the matte one. Remember that a varnished floor can be also matte.

If you plan to have a gres (ceramic) floor, consider patterned tiles in irregular patterns or shades.

On matte stoneware floor dust is less visible

Countertops – TIPS

Countertops in the kitchen are a broad topic. I recommend a short film on YouTube: ALL ABOUT KITCHEN TABLES

When it comes to cleaning, the principle is simple – on a patterned and matte surface crumbs will disappear from first sight. 🙂

You can see more on dark countertops than on light ones.

Since I‘m a fan of natural materials, I recommend stone countertops. Through their patterns, natural imperfections, and their variation over time, they are perfect for hiding extras in the form of crumbs. Even if somewhere a trace of tea is left forever – be sure that no one will be able to distinguish it from the drawing of the stone.

Emperador dark marble and the lighter one – Breccia sarda

Granites for countertops in popular tea color which are great for hiding marks and so nice to clean:

Kashmir gold
Golden crema
Giallo antico

Marbles in warm tones:
Emperador dark
Breccia sarda
Rain forest brown

Light grey granites with tiny dots, on which crumbs are completely invisible:
Kashmir white
Strzegom
Bianco sardo
Azul crema bahia
Bianco rosa

Marbles that are easy to clean, “salt&pepper” style I personally don‘t know. If you know – please let me know too. 🙂

White Kashmir granite

Most notable is the polished black granite that almost says “Clean me up!”. Yes, it is beautiful at the same time. 🙂

Nero Assoluto polished granite

You will see the least crumbs on an irregular surface, flamed or chiseled, with a matte finish. My absolute favorite in the competition for an elegant and comfortable in daily use kitchen countertop is silver grey matte granite with irregular surface, in the pictures below:

A patterned countertop can also be laminate, sintered, quartz conglomerate – any pattern other than plain will be more pleasant to clean.

An apartment easy to clean – BATHROOM

I often hear in my daily work how you consider “shower or bathtub”? The reason for opting out of the shower is sometimes the glass – a large area to clean, where water and soap marks are left behind.

I highly recommend glass coatings for easycleaning – it works. Good hotels use such coatings, ones where aesthetics and ease of maintenance are important. I designed interiors of Hampton by Hilton hotel, Grand Hotel Lublinianka. Since these hotels of reputable international chains have found it profitable to invest in glass coatings – I can assure you that at least a few accountant shave recalculated. The cleaning crew‘s time has value! And what about your time? 🙂

Allow yourself for the luxury of easy cleaning in your own home.

Similar coatings are used on sinks and, less frequently, on bathtubs. Limescale, soap and coloured cosmetics do not deposit on the washbasin walls.

When buying a basin look for coatings called SmartClean, Reflex, CeramicPlus, Cataglaze.

Important advice

Any protection – the impregnation on the stone, the coating on the glass, the coating on the sink – can be damaged by unskillful cleaning. And then the protections disappear. Therefore, you should not scrub such coatings with Cif type cleaners or others having scratching particles. Warm water and a soft cloth are all that is needed for cleaning.

An apartment easy to clean – FURNITURE

Dust is least visible on light wooden furniture or furniture with oak or ash veneer finish. The plywood is great at hiding dust. :- )

You can see more on lacquered furniture because of how smooth it is. Dark colors, whether woods, veneers or lacquers show dust more than light colors.

It’s worth to know:

Laminated furniture surfaces electrify and attract dust. If there are two cabinets next to each other – one laminated, for example from a large Swedish store – and the same next to it, only veneered, then much more dust will be on the laminated one. Not because of the color but because of the material.

Similar to the laminate, other artificial surfaces behave – foil, melamine. Furniture with such surfaces is the most numerous in large stores, they are the cheapest to produce.