What would you do in a brand new house?

[OrangeLily]

We're soon to be moving in to a brand new house and we're currently scrubbing our old rented furnished flat.

This is the first time we've owned a house and can do what we want. I'm looking for any hints and tips about what I could put in place to keep it as clean as possible. I've just been scrubbing the kitchen cupboards in our flat and was thinking we should line the shelfs and drawers in our new kitchen. Thankfully the units are inbuilt as cleaning the top of the cupboards is doing my head in!

It's quite a high spec townhouse over three floors if that helps.

The other thing I'n thinking about investing in is a laundry system cupboard thing from Ikea for the downstairs bathroom as we don't have a utility room.

We don't have kids yet but planning very soon!

[racingheart]

Congratulations. Sounds lovely. Agree about lining shelves and the out-of-sight tops of any kitchen units that collect dust and grease from cooking.

Best advice for keeping places clean is: don't let clutter in. Far easier to clean a clutter-free house. If you don't adore it or need it, chuck, sell or give it to charity.

[OrangeLily]

Thank-you and thanks for the advice. We're still a bit shocked we've managed it to be honest! Thankfully the tops of the kitchen units go right to the ceiling.

I've now lined the tops of the cupboards in our rented flat so we can quickly whip it off before our inspection. Whilst up there found out where we were getting mice in two winters ago (boke) due to another one of our landlords crap DIY projects.

Hoping to get some good housekeeping systems in place before we become parents but we're both a bit hopeless TBH.

[Mum2Fergus]

Agree with Racing Heart...dont let clutter takeover. You end up wasting time moving stuff from one place to another! I also like to keep shelves/worktops as clear as possible...things left out just gather dust. Wash basket in bathrooms and our bedroom helps keeps things together too. Good luck, and very many congrats on your new home

[GoingBlankAgain]

How lovely! I wouldn't bother lining though, just make yourself a list of things to do every 6 weeks and rotate ie pull out furniture and wash skirting, behind fridge etc, and then the next time, clean cupboards out, clean cooker and windows, clean under beds even if it means turing them up on their ends, and if you are storing precious things in the attic, check every so often for moth infestation.

I'd love a brand new house. Congratulations.

[ILoveTIFFANY]

Well light fittings are all different in new homes due to energy bulbs! I'm still replacing old light fittings with new ( recently moved into a new build)

Is it still a building site? The builders dust is awful! so bear it in mind when opening windows. And it's all White and magnolia. Don't scrub any marks that get on the Walls..... The paint tends to come off, I found out the hard way

To keep all the door handles and chrome bath fittings shiny and mark free, I use glass wipes. Keeps it all shiny like it was in moving in day.

[xkcdfangirl]

If it's only been fairly recently completed - be aware that it is possible that the plaster may not yet be completely dry - it can take about 6 months for all residual moisture to dissipate.

Some friends of mine who bought a new-build flat found mold behind a bookcase that they had put in one place when they moved in and later wanted elsewhere - the mold grew because the damp from the plaster as it dried couldn't evaporate properly.

Keep the number of additional (i.e. non-fitted) furniture items which are close against a wall minimum, and buy a dehumidifyer.

[OrangeLily]

I'm currently decluttering all the time, whenever I have a spare few hours! Amazing how much can amass in one smallish flat!

We bought the showhome so it would have been one of the first completed but I don't actually know when it was completed. Good idea to ask if the plaster may still be wet. There is wallpaper and paint up already and that makes me a little worried! It also means we have lots of poncy light fittings which are lovely BUT full of tiny bulbs and lots of complex bits that are sure to get dusty so reckon we'll get rid pretty quickly! (Also means its getting a deep clean before we take if over too, hence why I want to be extra careful to keep it up to scratch rather than let it slide in to chaos).

It is still a building site, nothing adjacent but pretty close by so I'll be careful with the windows thank-you. Lots of sensible advice here!

[mameulah]

One of those oven liners from the Betterware catalogue or Lakeland. It is absolutely brilliant, can't recommend it enough.

[OrangeLily]

I'm turning in to a Lakeland addict. That sounds like a good idea too. Thanks.



Cleaning everything as I go too, nothing is allowed to sully my clean new house. Also meant that when MIL comes to help us move she doesn't think me and DH are still studenty types living in a hovel.

[PPT]

I've got an attachment for the downstairs toilet door which hangs the ironing board and iron. Great space saver!

[newtonupontheheath]

Ooooo

We bought a show home last year

It is no longer a show home!! (but we have a toddler to blame for that!)

Cleaning is really easy to keep on top of... We e-cloth everything and Hoover. That's pretty much it. Even kitchen cupboard tops etc if you do them regularly enough. Garden, same.

The one thing I would say is that the paint in new houses is really thin on the walls... We have wiped marks off and in high traffic areas, it's really obvious that there paint has rubbed off. It's a no-win situation as you want to keep it looking nice but to do that you'd be looking to redecorate in 12/18 months time when the building has dried out (we were told no decorating for at least 12months!)

Make sure you register all electrical appliances already installed and stress the date you have moved in. We had some issues with our shower as we didn't buy off plan (whole other thread!) and warranty had expired.

Enjoy your new house! We never thought we'd be able to get something as lovely either

[newtonupontheheath]

Oh yes and the light fittings.... We have already started to replace some of ours ( in fact NHBC did it for us!) The teeny tiny bulbs kept blowing.... Was told this is because they are fitted to look pretty not to be used It was costing us an arm and a leg in bulbs and we've always got at least one that needs replacing somewhere in the house! Small price to pay though

[dreamingofsun]

have you gone round and checked everything. When we have moved into new houses there are normally things that haven't been done correctly/at all and the builder has had to put them right as part of the contract, eg one window in totally different style to rest; roof tile missing....probably about 20 things when you start looking

[Fluffycloudland77]

Everytime you want to buy a table not for dining choose one with lots of drawers. Eg a chest of drawers in the hall rather than a console table.

When you have curtains made have them lined with thermal material, even with double glazing a thermal lining makes a difference.

Buy some turtle door mats, put one at every entrance. They pick up loads of dirt so your home stays cleaner. People take their shoes off when they come in too, it's not too much to ask.

[EyesDoMoreThanSee]

There is a thread started on 1st Jan 2012. The organisation thread.

Print it off (save to word document first) and go through highlighting systems that could work for you. Then put them into place.

Works like a blooming dream for housework, meals planning, organising paper, hell organising life!

[EyesDoMoreThanSee]

Here it is - its got some gold plated advice