When you have to look after your own house, it’s up to you how clean and tidy you let it stay. When you are away and have someone else popping in for any reason, you want to make sure you leave it as bright and shiny as you can. This was very much a moot point when some neighbours went away on their holidays – the previous family were outstandingly clean, tidy and when I did my house checks, I…
We have to be so careful at this time of year to make sure the outside stays just there and to keep our interiors clean and bug free. I was out in my garden over the hot and humid weekend – lots of nice flying things that I did like, being birds, butterflies and a couple of moths, earlier in the day. I was sat inside, near the patio door and my eye was caught by a dashing movement that…
We all know that carpets are a relatively new item in the household list iof ‘must haves’ and in fact they are beginning to wane in popularity in some quarters again. The desire for carpets only in one or two rooms is now becoming the norm. Certainly not wanted in the washrooms, wcs, kitchens or anywhere else that gets grubby and needs constant refreshing and almost sterilising. However those houses that do still boast a magnificent wool carpet are very…
Sometimes I look round my nice spacious family house and realise it has the beginnings of a care worn look . . . Not the image the busy ‘she who does’ needs to project, that’s for sure. I have learned that tackling any situation immediately is the only way I can operate. My instinct is to engage the services of a professional carpet cleaning company – but failing that, my route to mental salvation is to take one room at…
There’s no doubt that in the ‘good old days’ we knew where we stood with the seasons. Autumn clocked in around October – very reliably in time for bonfire night as a rule. We’d have dampness and leaves fluttering down for a couple of months and then winter would really make an entrance just before Christmas. Here we would suffer the ravages of really bad rain, freezing temperatures, icicles the lot. Once spring returned in April, the spring clean started…
The easter holiday season will be upon us before long. Those lovely lazy days of playing with children who have a large number of very chocolatey treats. Yes, the easter egg fun is wonderful for them – not healthy, but jolly good fun all the same. But as we all know, getting chocolate out of a pale honey coloured carpet can present a major problem. The first thing is to scrape up any residue of the chocolate – a palette…
Removing normal carpet stains must be done fast – using a mild no rinse carpet detergent. Always a good idea to keep a bottle under the sink . . . you might get it a little damper than recommended if the mess was liqid anyway. Panic not, just clean off loose mess first and then start with the solution – froth it up as much as you can and only use the foam on your scrubbing brush. Starting from the…
I’ve just come back from a super busy week of family based Christmas and New Year activities. Except due to poor health, I had to cut short my stay. However I did have the delight of staying at the hostesses lovely country house for a couple of weeks prior to Christmas – they were away on vacation and I was happily installed on dog walking and house sitting duty. Now that’s the kind of job I really love. I…
Just at this time of year, when we’ve had the Halloween fun – with the kids rushing in and out with pumpkins to be turned, miraculously and messily, into funny ad frightening lanterns. Then we run into our dear old Bonfire Night. I still like the idea of running around with our old narrow that Dad made, on it we plonked our fantastic Guy – also rather more input from Dad than us . . . this used to bring…
With so many things happening throughout the summer season, it can get to the point where the summer holidays are running into the autumn break and then up shoots Christmas and the new year. We all like to have folk around over these festive days – nothing better than a crowd round for lunch, followed by games and fun with the children romping around on the floor. It’s not such fun though when the little romper and his clothese are…