Home and GardenLifestyle

Minimising Mess: Designing A Home That’s Easy To Clean

When it comes to creating the most amazing family home, often we focus on things like the appearance of our homes and the layout. While those things are important, one of the most vital areas to focus on is practicality and creating a space that’s family-friendly because it’s easy to keep clean and tidy. There’s no getting away from the fact that children make mess, that’s a given, and while you can’t control the mess that is made, what you can do is make it easier to clean up.

Parenting young children is hard work, especially when they make a lot of mess. However, by adapting your home to better suit your family’s needs, you can ensure that your home is a practical space that’s easy to keep clean and tidy. Wondering what it takes to create a home that is easy to keep in perfect order? Then have a read of the tips and advice below, and take note.

Minimising Mess: Designing A Home That’s Easy To Clean

Ensure there is adequate storage space

One of the most important steps that every parent needs to take when it comes to home design is ensuring that there is adequate storage space. The fact is that when it comes to family life, the amount of ‘stuff’ that you have in your home seems to triple – kids need so much stuff – which means that it’s easier than ever for your home to end up in a mess. That’s why it is more crucial than ever that you ensure your home has plenty of storage space.

If you are are blessed with built-in storage space, it’s vital that you utilize this. If you don’t have the luxury of built in space, it’s important to consider your options. If you own your home, then perhaps you could consider investing in built-in storage to make it easier to keep the place neater and tidier? While built-in storage will come at a cost, what it’s important to remember is that it will make life much easier, as it will offer you plenty of useful storage space.

Invest in hard floors

While carpet may feel nice under foot, when you have little ones who are prone to spilling food and generally making a mess, it pays to be mindful of what you invest in. Carpets are much harder to keep clean than hard flooring, which is why if you want to ensure that your home stays looking good, it’s vital to invest in the right kind of flooring. For a child-friendly home that stays free of mess, it can be worth choosing speciality flooring for the entire house. Just think, not only will this flooring make the property easier to clean, it will also ensure that your home looks smart and stylish.

One of the benefits of hard flooring is that it really does stand the test of time. While carpet has a much shorter lifespan, hard flooring tends to have a much longer one, and stands the test of time. This is because it can be cleaned more easily and so when it becomes dirty, it doesn’t stay dirty, which is a major benefit. All it takes to keep hard flooring clean is a vacuum cleaner and a steam mop, and you can keep your hard flooring looking fantastic.

Minimising Mess: Designing A Home That’s Easy To Clean

Be smart about toys and games

Kids have a tendency to pull out all of their toys and games at once, creating a huge mess throughout the house. To prevent this mess from occuring, implement a rule that says they can only have three toys out at once, and if they want to play with another one, they must put back the other toys first. It’s important that you teach your children to put their toys and games away themselves, otherwise you will spend your whole life picking up after them – all of the most important life lessons should be taught early.

When it comes to where your children’s toys and games are stored, choose storage space that is easily accessible for them, so that there’s no problem with them being able to put things away themselves. If you are going to keep your home neat and tidy, then it’s important to encourage your kids to take care of their things and put them away once they are done with them, from a young age.

Use wipeable paint

Children’s fingerprints seems to get everywhere, as does the drinks they spill, food they throw and crayons they use on the walls. If you want to ensure that when it comes to your home, things stay neat and tidy, it’s important that you use wipeable paint so that anything that ends up on your walls, from grease and grime to marker pen and handprints, can be quickly and easily removed. You will find that many home stores now sell wipeable paints that are designed specifically for family homes, to make keeping them neat and tidy easier.

If your kids have a tendency to draw on the walls, then perhaps you might like to invest in chalkboard paint instead. As that way, your kids can draw away to their heart’s content, and then once they are done, you can wipe the wall clean, provided they’ve used chalk, that is. If you don’t fancy painting your entire home in chalk paint, how about painting just one wall with it instead? As that way your kids have somewhere to doodle their designs onto, as and when they pleased.

When it comes to family homes, it’s not always easy to ensure that your home remains neat, tidy and clean, as kids make a lot of mess. However, if you take note of the tips and advice above, you can ensure that your home is easier to keep clean and tidy. The fact is that certain design choices aren’t a good ideas with kids, and that’s that. Whereas, there are some design styles that can work well and improve how easy to take care of your home is, as well as how straightforward it is to keep clean.

4 thoughts on “Minimising Mess: Designing A Home That’s Easy To Clean

  • I can totally second the need for hardwood floors when you have little kids. We had a few months where it seemed like we were always calling the carpet cleaners to handle huge spills on our carpets. Since we moved to a house with hardwood floors, it’s so much easier to clean up spills!

    Reply
  • For me the most important space in a home is a huge closet. When it is big you can have lots of stoage bins, shoe holders and etc.

    Reply
  • I could not agree more. Hard floors are a must have with kids. And a roomba is a must have with pets!

    Reply
    • I’ve had a Roomba on my wish list!

      Reply

Leave a Reply to donna porter Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *