Just moved into a dirty house.. need tips!

[jumperooo]

We've just moved into a lovely old house.. which is quite dirty. Hiring a team to deep clean isn't an option so I need some tips to do it myself as quickly and painlessly as possible! I also have to do this around a baby!

I've managed to do a reasonably decent job on the windows with Windolene. Most of the flooring is wooden and I've borrowed a steam mop for those. We will repaint all the walls eventually so those are lowest priority at the mo.

The kichen isn't too bad at all, it has modern oiled wood units and work tops, is there anything recommended to spruce these up?

The windowsills and surrounds in every room are very grubby, any tips for cleaning the paintwork on these?

Bathroom modern, has fab stone walls and flooring and a walk in monsoon shower, screen is new so clean, but not sure what is best to use on the stone.

There's also two sky lights, an open fire place and a wood burner that need cleaning..

Phew.. any ideas for this and the above greatly received?!

TIA

Sugarsoap for paintwork, you can get it in B&Q. Not sure about stonework, sorry.

Cleaning paintwork: make a weak solution of biological washing powder in hot water, use a microfibre cloth.

To clean the glass on the wood burner, scrunch a bit of newspaper in some water, dip the damp paper in some ash (assuming they haven't totally cleaned it out?) and rub on the glass. All the soot marks will come off.

You can buy danish oil for the wooden work tops.

Fabulous, thanks

Oh, what will the Danish oil do?

Washing up liquid in hot water, and a microfibre cloth works for paintwork. A tightly-wrung-out microfibre cloth is also pretty good at getting moderate soot off the glass of the wood stove, and for giving the stove a wipe down in general. For cleaning serious grot off the glass use barkeepers friend, or hob brite. For adding a bit of lustre to cast iron, put a little bit of wd40 on a duster and rub it in... But never, never, never when the stove is warm!!! (Boom!) What's the open fire like? Tiled or wood surround? Either responds well to a very light application of spray furniture polish. A filthy glazed tile fireplace will clean up with a kitchen spray cleaner (something degreasing for the soot). Quarry tiles do better with a polish with wd40 ( again, when the fire is completely cold). Of, and if your bathroom walls are smooth stone, wd40 them too. You'll be completely high by the time you've finished, but it'll look great.

Don't underestimate the power of bleach!

I love:

1. Washing up liquid in hot water with a drop of bleach
2. Cif cream for scoury type things like tiles - with either a sponge or, for very icky areas, a scotchbrite pad (watch for scratches, though)
3. Neat Flash liquid for extra greasy areas like tops of kitchen cupboards
4. Viakal for lime scale

Sorry if it seems like a chemical shit-storm, but it works