Easy to keep clean home must haves!

[Cmekrru]

If you could design a home to be the easiest to keep clean as possible what would you do/ avoid?

What ideas do you have for making things easier to clean/keep neat?

If you were building, what would you design (or not design) into the house to make it easy to clean? How about flooring, lighting, plumbing, kitchen stuff, etc?

My never ending quest to get information to make the best/easiest to clean, house.

So far I have
1)Hard floors - tiles / wood light colour show dust less badly.
2)Wet room bathroom to avoid cleaning sliding shower door frames / glass of limescale gunge
3)Smooth kitchen cupboards easy to wipe down.

4)Kitchen sink back flush to splashback to avoid water collecting in behind tap gutter.
5)Lots of storage (but where)

Any laundry room (I wish I had space) or dealing with laundry suggestions?!

Anything else you have noticed is a pain to clean and could be designed better?

I would have no children in it

Yup fail there! 2 boys under 5 😱 currently drowning under a mountain of washing either clean (to put away) or dirty. Never any space to dry things

Tempted by one of those pulley laundry racks (dolly maid?)

Doormats inset into the floor by the external doors.

No skirting boards

No little corners/gaps where stuff can accumulate.

Deep kitchen drawers that fit pans in.

Tops of door frames that are a bit sloped so don't pool dust so much.

Plug sockets - plenty and in sensible places so no trailing leads/extensions.

A front door that doesn't show every mark

Built in storage, especially in bedrooms, that you can shut the door on.

An airing cupboard that is cleverly designed (don't know how) to avoid the piles of sheets/towels that fall down on you every time you get something out.

Garden storage

Love it! Are sloping door frames a thing?! Really need the storage but £££

A water softener

No, I don't think so, but they should be

Dishwasher - somewhere to store dirty pots out of sight instead of on work surfaces or in the sink.

Kitchen units right up to the ceiling.

No shoes on inside...

I really want a toilet where the outside of the bowl is completely smooth and therefore has no nooks and crannies for dust and grime. However I don't know anyone with one to ask if it actually is cleaner than the more traditional shape.

My kitchen would have everything built in. Fridge, freezer, microwave, oven, dishwasher and even toaster if possible. It's much easier to keep clean if everything has a place and much easier to give everything a place if it's designed that way. I have a laundry room and I still have to hang washing around the place to dry.

I'd also have a completely flush loo with the automatic flush that you have in shops-less to touch, less to clean. My shower wouldn't have a lip around the door which collects dust and grime.

I need someone to invent a self cleaning lawn so I didn't have to bother with all the leaves.

Thought of some more, I'd have a roomba and I'd have one of those kitchen sinks that eats all of your waste.

Yes to getting rid of skirting boards..just collect dust.

Yes also to water softener ..have had one installed today cos the limescale is such a bugger.

Integral vacuum system

Wooden floor with loads of knots etc to hide bits.

Work tops with speckled pattern you could lose a piece of toast on.

Mud room at back of house

Integral cupboard in hall for coats shoes.

Small office /desk in kitchen for post/phones etc with recycling waste paper bin underneath.

Laundry room upstairs rather than down .

Dressing room to keep bedroom clutter free.

A utility room with lots of storage including some kind of warm air cupboard that is large enough to take a fully loaded clothes horse. I have no idea if such a thing exists but it would be great.

No frigging hairy bastard of a dog.

(I love him really, but I do not love his hair.)

A cleaner!

Love this thread!!
Separate laundry room with space for baskets for each person above the machines

Porch with cupboard for coats and shoes

I love the toilet idea!!

All bathrooms would have sink/toilet units win drawers and showers would be wet room style.

Built in wardrobes with really good storage space.

Kitchen would have drawers and a pull out larder.

Car wax on shower doors, the water just beads off and I only have to clean it every 14 days ish! Lovely! X

A pulley laundry line doesn't hold a whole lot.
I have one and 3 clothes horses in my garage.
They are always full.

Wall hung toilet and sink in bathrooms makes cleaning easier and no chance of yellowing sealant around the loo

Smooth glass or BIG tiles in all wet/bathroom/shower areas.

Pipework (water pipes, central heating) all chased into walls or at least boxed in

Re smooth kitchen doors, same applies to other internal doors. No intricate door furniture - ours have latches with lots of crevices for dust to collect.

Doors on bookshelves??

Smooth waterproof boarding rather than tiles in the shower.

But I do think there's a balance to strike. It's easy to have no surfaces in a bathroom, but stuff does need to go somewhere, so you need some surfaces even if that means more cleaning. Our bathroom is much more user friendly since we got a fitted loo and sink and gained a little worktop. Plus see above, the built in unit hides all te pipework.

A paper recycling bin by the front door. As junk comes through the door it is a simple matter to chuck in the bin, same with freebie papers, envelopes - everything really. Makes such a difference to tidiness!

Also a laundry chute directly into the utility. Preferably in a place where everyone wants to dump their clothes. Similarly, room for each person in the house to have a basket in the utility room for clean clothes - sorted straight out of the dryer into baskets.

I was going to suggest laundry chute too. And vacuum cleaner sockets that suck away the dust through a tube (available in USA I believe)

Also, not so much for easy cleaning but certainly for easy decorating - upvc skirting boards that unclip. Cables could also be hidden behind these.