Neat as new pins

My vacuum cleaner is in the middle of the floor as I am trying to clean up as a friend is coming for a couple of days tomorrow.
I really should do it now, but it's nearly time for Question Time.

I used to have a great aunt who put newspaper on her polished wooden floors and moved them with you as you walked in. She then went after you with a duster polishing the none existent footprints. Needless to say, she did not have many visitors.

I was brought up in an immaculate house which was never a home. My mother had one room for "best" so of course the furniture was hardly used. I think we spent most of the time in the kitchen to keep the other rooms clean. My bedroom had furniture in it but it could have been any hotel room as I was not allowed to put anything on the walls or leave it less than immaculate.

My mother would have a fit if she saw my house at present. I have a cleaner but the first thing she would do would be to tidy and then clean it. I prefer to live as I do, tough if others do not like it.

I am of the view that dusting should only be undertaken when there is a really good layer of dust to be seen, so that the act of dusting brings true satisfaction - that means roughly annually!

clean and tatty,a bit dusty essential cleaning done frequently...thats me ...the house is the same,essentials done daily,cream sofas,black lab,bird seed,but people say we are cosy and feet go up on sofa,and shoes get kicked off..you can visit in your onesie and pjs we are warm and cosy and anyone is welcome

Yes, I did take a pile to Oxfam before we moved house once, and regretted it as they had belonged to my DF.

Not criticising the handing on of books - but if you never have a book lying around once you have read it because it makes the place look untidy, it's unusual I think.
Old books get valued by Oxfam if you donate them rosequartz and they sell in best place. I thought i had a gem - first edition of Three Men in a Boat - but turns out that there was a massive print run and only worth about £20, which Oxfam were welcome to.
Nothing wrong with having a cleaner either. Just saying that a lot of those immaculate houses do have one.

We have some books that are over 150 years old.
What to do with them, though? They are really worth hardly anything - will they end up in a skip when we are dead and gone?

MeggyMay Life's to short for that sort of worry ( and stuffing mushrooms !) lol

I think it is only manners to take off your shoes indoors . But saying that I would never ask people to do it. I like people to feel at home .

JessM - what's wrong with passing on paperbacks you've read? ( and are never going to read again)? Why clutter up,your house with "stuff"? Or having a cleaner? I had a cleaner when I was working full time - £20 a week and she did my ironing and occasional babysitting.. Can't justify it now but it was well worth it at the time.

That meant Nanaandgramps.

Anna and Gramps, you sound like my kind of people. We have five grandkids, a large lolllopy lab and a farm. Cream carpets? Nah.

I just recently realised that my 'new' beloved carpet (and various other household necessities) have been in situ since 1984 and some dated from before that.. where have the years gone?

I know some people with immaculate houses. They do not keep stuff (e.g. books they have read once get disposed of...). They have cleaners.
With some people it can become a recognised psychiatric condition, if it starts to rule their lives.
Shoes off houses were common when I lived in MK - lots of people moved into new houses, surrounded by a building site so you start off that way.
I was once very shocked when house-hunting that Muslim owner asked us to take off shoes and the estate agent completely ignored the request. (was it rudeness, or hol-ey socks...?)

My sister's house is always immaculate, though not cream! She does confess to having problems with keeping surfaces clear, but makes sure there is an ornament or vase on anything which might collect clutter. It's really comfortable to go and visit though and she doesn't have a duster or Hoover to hand. I just can't do it. I have just converted to the shoes off rule after reading so much about it, but won't insist on it for visitors until I have enough spare slippers.

Leather furniture is great!
You just wipe it over with a soapy sponge and hey presto! All is clean.
I've had my settee for about 20 years and it survives dgds using it as a trampoline and all the other mistreatment kids hand out.

We had a much loved older friend who always said their house was a home and not a museum. We have tried to live by this mantra and as long as the house is basically clean it does not much matter if it is a little untidy.

DH and I spent nineteen years living in Army quarters, which was enough to make anyone with small children totally paranoid about spills, accidents and marks on the furniture and walls! Once we had our own home it was nice to be able to be more "relaxed" about things, but old habits die hard and whilst our house is not a shrine to the domestic virtues, it is usually clean and tidy enough not to disgrace me if people call on spec (which fortunately doesn't happen very often!). When DGS has been here it is a different kettle of fish!

I have dear friends whose houses are both much loved cosy homes and also immaculate .... blowed if I know how they do it, but I think it's partly because they are innately tidy people who have luckily married other innately tidy people, and therefore it isn't a chore for them to keep their places clean.

I really struggle to be tidy but I do love the way my house looks when I've made the effort. There are books, plants, pictures, cushions, a cat who is firmly of the belief that she has first dibs on any sofa/chair she desires; the very nicest thing that anyone ever said to me was that she liked my house "because I always feel I can just kick off my shoes and put my feet up" - highest praise in my book.

My dad and I used to call our living room 'The Museum' because my mum was so house proud. She worked full time and had a strict routine for cleaning, laundry etc in the evenings which could not be amended even if we were all ill.
I was determined to be more relaxed when I had my own home, and I am, but I still feel my mum looking over my shoulder at the state of my skirting boards............

Oh, I forgot to say thanks to whitewave (not!)...... who made me look down and realise that my carpets needed cleaning. I have just spent the last two hours using the Vax carpet cleaner.

OK, I do feel virtuous and a trifle smug now but would have been much happier reading a book all afternoon!

Candelle

I have a cream carpet throughout the house and cream sofas and then... I wake up from my dreams.

I do have a very pale apricot carpet in our sitting room (and remember the salesman asking if I had children, which I did (still do, but a bit bigger now!). He then recoiled in horror when I explained this purchase was for the sitting room and told me in no uncertain terms that it would not be possible to keep the carpet looking good in such a position. With much hard work, I have proved him wrong. Just.

However, I can't imagine having a pale carpet in a hall. Is there a trick - apart from a 'shoes off' policy as I would love to have one. I am considering changing the hall carpet and sitting room to an even paler one (am I mad?) and am wondering if instead of the usual 80/20 wool/polyester, there is now a 100% synthetic pile which would not shine (as they used to do, years ago) or give out static electrical shocks. Would anyone have knowledge of such a product? Something 'stain free'. I have looked on-line but found only one company and prefer recommendations (honest ones!) from those with experience of an item.

I am not sure of the policy of Gransnet.... is one allowed to ask for recommendations? Ahh, have just spotted 'Guidelines' and it seems OK to ask for personal opinions, so if anyone has a recommendation, please let me know.

Likewise for leather sofas - we are thinking of changing our 'Alcantara' ones which have not worn well. Is leather really as durable as at first glance? Does it tear/mark if tea is split on it, etc? I would love personal opinions, although I guess part of the answer with the sofas will be the quality. How can one judge the quality of leather?

Thanks in advance if you have any knowledge of stain-free carpet/leather sofas.

Candelle

Whenever I come across a "splendid" house like that, I ask myself when will they put ropes up so that you do not put your feet on the white carpet, but I guess they do that though when they have only their family but
no visitors and quite cedrtainly no dogs !!!

Dust is a protective covering for furniture !! Or at least that's what my Mum used to say :-)

There's nothing in my house more precious than my little visitors so you can take your shoes of for not at our door , we don't mind !

We do have cream sofas, we do have cream throws on them ,but that's because we have a hairy little dog who believes he has sofa privileges .

If somethings spilled , we mop it up . We wipe off sticky fingers and I haven't met a stain I can't deal with .

In consequence our house has always been full of our kids, their friends , our family and any waifs, strays and friends .

Life for me is far too short to worry about an keeping an immaculate house - I'd rather keep my friendships and family relationships immaculate :-)