Could we start a 'low maintenance home' lessons learned thread?

[Oncemoreuntothebeach]

Our new home needs so much doing to it, new kitchen, new bathroom, insulation, new radiators. I work some silly hours sometimes, so I thought I'd use the renovations as an opportunity to introduce some things that would make life a bit easier.

What I've gleaned from the clever MNers on this board so far is:

•Don't have wooden worktops in your kitchen, far too much maintenance/faff to the keep them looking nice.
•Make sure that your toilet is wall mounted, far easier to clean the floor, but make sure you have easy access to the plumbing if something goes wrong.
•Make sure your kitchen cupboard fronts are flat, it'll mean less nooks and crannies for dust to gather in, and make sure your kitchen cupboards go right up to the ceiling too, so the tops of the cupboards don't become dust traps.

However, I'm sure there's loads more I could be doing to make my life easier! What are your favourite things about your home that make it less of a pain to keep tidy and functioning?

Further to the shower point, have fixed glass screens so no fiddly catches and brackets to clean around. Also, the less grout to go orange over time the better so maybe look at mermaid panels rather than wall tiles.

no carpets - game changer as no smelly/stained carpets needing proper cleaning. Sweep/hoover as needed and all spillages dealt with quickly without residue/stains left behind. No worries about dp wandering in with wet boots or wet/muddy pets, as everything can easily be dealt with in minutes. Rugs can be washed or moved around or completely changed according to need/desire and far more cheaply than entire rooms of carpet.

Two dishwashers... best thing I've ever read on MN! We almost never have 'the stack' now.

If you are having an island, have everything you use day to day in the busy zone (i.e. between sink and hob)... drastically reduces tooing and froing.

I also throoughly recommend a filing drawer planned into your kitchen... now I open letter and immediately file, instead of putting down to file later (resulting in massive pile).

Haven't bought mine yet but you get hidden wireless chargers for kitchen worktops (even stone)... avoids a mass of cables. On this note I'd recommend planning a couple of sockets inside cupboards, to allow for a 'charging shelf ' or to charge the cordless hoover etc.

Think about you actually use each room.

Eg, when getting in do you all take your shoes off at the door rather than at the end of the hall? In which case you need a shoe area by the door.

Or if you make tea, do you have a walk between kettle, bin and fridge?

Then this is an obvious point of consideration for renovation!

What chores do you find most onerous? Would a new appliance help? Or different storage layout?
Don't bother with things you don't need after doing this review, they won't add anything meaningful but you can change your life by a thoughtful purchase or redesign foe something which is acpain in the arse!

Plus allergy reduction as less dust.

Always have a utility room if at all possible, even better if you can put it upstairs - and make it as nice as possible and add heating as you’ll spend a lot of time in and out of there.
I would also absolutely LOVE a laundry chute leading to the utility room.

Get LVT instead of wooden floors - it’s changed my life!

Always stay as classic/neutral as possible with things that can’t be easily changed - you WILL get tired of that bright green kitchen and terrazzo floor tiles - don’t follow fashion fads.

Always buy the best quality bathroom/kitchen fittings you can afford - stuff from places like Victoria plumb just don’t last.

and lastly but a lesson learned for me: make sure you get a hose-type shower head installed if you’re having an overhead walk-in shower - they’re a bugger to clean otherwise.

If not a wall-mounted toilet, have one where the bowl is flat to the wall so you don't have to clean that grubby bit round the back. They look quite chunky when you first see them, but you get used to the look and it's honestly lif-changing.

If you have young children, or plan on having them, buy all your living room furniture with a small or nonexistent gap to the floor, unless you want to spend your entire life fishing toys out for under everything (like I do).

But it doesn't look nearly as nice and makes your bathroom appear smaller. Some things are worth the elbow grease... and that comes from someone who lives in a very hard water area!

People who put black gloss floor tiles in kitchens should be rounded up and executed at dawn though.

@GasPanic true!!

If you have a dog, put a large sink in the utility with shower tap. Keep all the wet/mud contained.

Water softener and brushed or dark switches and sockets which don’t show fingerprints.

But you sand out the scratches!

make sure there is always an access panel to get at any plumbing - the cistern of the loo and the pipes under the sink etc should all be accessible by removing a simple panel, NOT by having to hire an expensive joiner to pull everything apart because the cistern hidden behind a neat minimalist wall can't be fixed when it breaks.

Similarly, have surface-mounted shower fittings (not ones behind the tiles) so that they are easy to replace when they break / clog up.

Even better, get a shower with warm water installed in the garden, so that you can clean the dogs before they come inside.
Have 2 washing machines and 2 dryers for those days when everyone in the family has nits or nurovirus.

That! ^^
My sink is accessible, technically. However you have to lie with your feet in the hallway, arms above your head and then dislocate your neck. Even the plumber said "I don't know WTF they were thinking"

Don't use mosaic tiles, the next time I do anything I'm using wall boards with no bloody grout or sealant. The mosaic ones are tiny and scrubbing them is tedious

glass fronted cabinets not shelves so you don't have to dust books/ornaments/lamps etc etc, Everything stays beautifully clean and new - just shine the glass occasionally

I don’t understand British bathrooms with no bench or cupboards. Australian bathrooms have the sink set into a bench top with cupboard space underneath. So much more useful.

Really awesome thread.

Ooh I love a carpet. So cosy, soft and warm. We only have hard floor in the kitchen, hall and bathroom. It's not that onerous to hoover.

We put a door in the bath enclosure. There's loads of room under it for storage, loo rolls and cleaning products, dog shampoo etc.

Dark grout on floor tiles and colored grout eg. Grey or beige on bathroom tiles.

Lift up bed with storage underneath.

Two washing machines side-by-side with tumble-dryer on top. We kept the old WM instead of replacing. Great for work clothes and kess delicate items.

Following the "cupboards to ceiling" idea with interest. If cupboards go as high as the ceiling, does anyone use the top shelf, amd if so is it a pain to reach it?

Yes. That is where all the ‘once a year’ stuff lives along with Great Aunt Alice’s gravy boat which we don’t want to throw away but we don’t want to use either.

We have them. Turkey plate, cake stand, the 3 kilos of bulk bought pasta etc, etc.
Only thing is we need a set of steps to get up there.

Design in somewhere to dry laundry. We had a slightly bigger utility room in the previous house, with a ceiling airer and extractor vent, everything dried in 24 hours. Another house had a covered carport with a polycarbonate roof and washing lines across, that was even better.

Also design your insulation and ventilation right, and consider how it will be in scorching/freezing weather, maybe done ceiling fans.

Have at least the wiring for an EV point because they will eventually be mainstream.