How to Deep Clean Your Living Room

A few times a year, you’re going to want to do more than standard vacuuming or mopping your living room floors. You’re going to want to do a full deep clean to make sure your home is in tiptop shape. You’ll be doing a variety of deep cleaning tasks like removing drapes and getting rid of excess lint and pet hair from your furniture. Whether you have hardwood flooring, carpets or one big rug, here’s how to deep clean your living room.

1. Do a General Living Room Clean Up — First things first: Start cleaning up your living room to look relatively neat before you start doing any deep cleaning. That means going through your living room and picking up clutter off the floor, furniture and all the nooks and crannies of the living room. This includes the corners of the room, underneath the furniture, behind any bookshelves and in between the couch cushions. If you’re vacuuming or mopping the whole living room, you’ll want to start moving furniture and fixtures out of the way to get all of the spots that have been neglected during regular cleaning. With pets at home, you’ll want to use a large pet hair remover to help get rid of any noticeable clumps of fur in the living room.
2. Discard or Donate Old Clutter — This next step is up to you to decide whether you want to start piles for discarding or donating before you start deep cleaning or to save this step after you complete the deep cleaning. It’s helpful to decide what remaining clutter you’ll want to save, such as important books, toys, blankets and so forth. You’ll have one pile to throw away, like trash and crumbs that ended up in your living room. Another pile can be for recycling like old CDs, DVDs or that lone soda can you found under your couch. The final pile can be for donating, such as a sweatshirt that you put on to watch that Netflix show when it’s cold but you don’t wear anymore and it is full of dog fur. Before you donate any old books or clothes, make sure that they’re in relatively good shape. Books should be gently used, while clothing should be washed, dried and free of any fur. Use a simple pet hair removal tool to get rid of any cat or dog hair on your clothing before you donate it.

   

3. Dust from the Top and Make Your Way Down — If you’ve ever seen cleaning professionals or a housekeeping service clean, you’ll see that they have a method to their cleaning. They’ll start from the top down to be the most efficient. That way, any dirt and debris will fall from the top and down to the floors. If you start from the bottom instead of from the top, you’ll end up having to clean more on the bottom once you start doing the top. It’ll take more time and you’ll have more to clean. When dusting, start at the corners and dust on the top of shelves, your TV, overhead lights and ceiling fans.
4. Take Down Curtains and Blinds — You’ll also want to take down the curtains and blinds from your living room. According to Merry Maids, cleaning your curtains and blinds is a great spring cleaning task and should be done at least once a year. Be sure to check the label on the curtains to see if the manufacturer has any specific cleaning instructions, such as steaming or hand washing. Make sure the curtains are washing machine safe before you put them into the washing machine. When cleaning blinds, you’ll want to dust the blinds on both sides with a microfiber cloth or a small, handheld vacuum with a soft brush attachment. If the blinds have grease or residue on them, clean them with a mixture of warm water, a few drops of dish soap and a cup of baking soda. Allow the blinds to soak in this mixture for one hour and then rinse with warm water. Finish the process by wiping away excess dirt.

   

5. Clean the Couches and Chairs — Now it’s time to clean the couches and chairs. If you have upholstered furniture, you probably have lint, human hair and pet fur everywhere. You can begin the cleaning process by using a lint remover to get rid of lint, hair and fur. The lint remover will get rid of the majority of the hair and lint. Any remaining debris can be cleaned with a small, handheld vacuum with a soft brush attachment. If your couch has any old stains on it, check the manufacturer’s cleaning tag to see if they have any specific instructions, such as using water, a solvent-based cleaner or only vacuuming the material. If you want a DIY couch cleaner, you can mix one teaspoon of dish soap, one tablespoon of white vinegar and one cup of warm water in a small spray bottle. Add one teaspoon of baking soda to the mixture and be sure to immediately add the top back when you do so since the baking soda and vinegar mixture will bubble up once they combine.