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?

@Paulisexcluded

😂I'd need a library ladder. It would end up being used for storage of items never used!!

I can only comfortable reach my bottom shelf, the second at a stretch as it is.

I will be replacing my kitchen but it'll end up being the same as otherwise the gap between worktop & cupboards is too small.

my kitchen is quite small, and I think 'to ceiling' cupboards would make it look/feel even smaller, so I think I'll stick with similar to the gap now.

@Oncemoreuntothebeach

i think the benefit of these threads is that they make you think! I disagree with a lot of the 'must do/must have' things, but it does make you think about them again before making your own mind up.

for example, I hate with a passion, walk hung toilets, they make me nervous! I FAR prefer the style I chose. It sits on the floor, and it's smooth around the base to the wall. Feels safe/solid and easy to wipe, no nooks & crannies.

I love my heated towel rail, it's FAR from useless. It's huge and is on the wall at the end of my bath, it's about 800 x 1200. Heats the room, dries the big towels & keeps the hand towel dry & warm. What's not to love?

Floors - I love carpet, I don't like hats floors in the sitting room or bedrooms (upstairs) hallway.

Good Luck with doing your new house up.

We have cupboards to ceiling, only to put non everyday stuffs like bulky ingredients, big bag of dry foods

Agree that wall hung toilets are a no no, base flush to the wall is better.

After fitting our wall hung toilet, we were then advised by the plumbers that DH shouldn't use it (tall and well built so heavy but not obese). Thankfully be have a downstairs loo.

We are a house of boys, overtime, I will be the only one who can use it without risking it coming off the wall!
On second thoughts, having a wall hung toilet for sole use is the way to go :-)

After fitting our wall hung toilet, we were then advised by the plumbers that DH shouldn't use it (tall and well built so heavy but not obese).

Sorry but I suspect this means your plumber cut corners and didn’t install a proper frame for the loo. With a proper frame a wall hung loo is rock solid, I can jump up and down on mine.

@minipie i wonder if this is more to do with the plumber being cautious? Having seen a traditionally mounted toilet seat smashed by a grown adult deciding to jump up and down on it, plus a large adult be blue lighted for emergency surgery having severed an artery after sitting normally on a toilet with an invisible flaw in the porcelain, which then broke under his weight - I would be reluctant to add the extra risk of a wall mounted toilet into the mix !- there is even less support for your he toilet than a traditional mounted bowl.

Hmm maybe Alphabet but I’m sceptical.

@Cheeeseontoasts I have four machine washable rugs and they're fabulous. One at the front door, two at the back door and one in the lounge. We have two large dogs and being able to throw it in the wash if it's muddy makes a world of difference.

I think they look nicer than doormats too

I think the benefit of these threads is that they make you think! I disagree with a lot of the 'must do/must have' things, but it does make you think about them again before making your own mind up.

I agree. There are loads of things that others suggest that I think sound daft and pointless but it really does make me think. Re the chat about tall kitchen cupboards, I don't understand why you wouldn't want to hide stuff in cupboards, even if you need steps to get up there. Surely it's better than having them exposed on top of your units gathering dust

I can only speak for myself but we don’t keep anything on top of our cabinets and they are so tall that I need a step ladder to reach the top shelf.
The top of the cabinets being greasy or dusty doesn’t bother me in the slightest as no-one see up there.
I am not averse to having cabinets all the way to the ceiling but they may look ridiculous at almost 3m in height.

This might be a quirk of mine, but: having no plumbing above ceiling height on the top floor of the house is a great thing. Obviously that's only possible with a combi boiler or an unvented system, but I sleep a lot more soundly knowing there isn't a 50 gallon tank of water directly above my pillow. And who wants to climb into the loft at three in the morning to investigate a leak?

A few years ago I learned that some people actually prefer to install the central heating BOILER into the (otherwise unconverted) loft. That's the height of madness in my view.

No elbow grease required for large glass showers if you use a Karcher after and/or stream clean it.

Bigger tiles mean less grouting and easier cleaning.

don't have too much stuff every single item is inventory which needs a storage space, needs to be cleaned and to move to clean other things
declutter before you move not after

no open shelves in kitchen or glass fronted cabinets
no shiny glossy surfaces fingerprints show up
if members of family work outdoors or get dirty at work make sure that the floor coverings are easy to clean and not pale, a shower room /boot room by back door so folks working can come in and out to loo and get a coffee without dirting the whole house, it is definitely not convienient for someone working in a workshop or farm to be taking boots on and off every time they come in and out so be realistic and have this area of house easy clean

I just wipe the dust of the top of mine every few months.

I was told to put an extractor fan in my kitchen to help collect the grease and use it.

I didn't believe it worked until I washed the filters after a year, and noticed the grease was in the filters but not on top of the cupboards.

Oh a trick I learnt from landlords particularly in high traffic places or if you have messy children is to paint walls in rooms white or magnolia. Then when you need to touch up a wall you don't need to re-paint the entire room.

The grout on the kitchen floor here is absolutely grim. It was light grey when first our down, by the time I bought it 5 years later, it’s black. From scrubbing it with grout cleaner and a sonic scrubber to using an industrial steam cleaner with grout brush, I spent around an hour a day for a month trying to get it up. In some areas it’s come up okay, in the high traffic areas it’s not.

I cba to replace the floor yet as the whole kitchen needs doing/underfloor heating putting in, it’s a huge job and is too overwhelming at the moment.

If you do have grout, don’t use a mop and floor cleaner. It makes it sticky. Which attracts muck. Steam clean or nothing.

I also have this problem , (though atm i still like mine because its new ) I had new flooring fitted throughout my ground floor including a door mat , it was cut to fit around door frames and pipework which was a fiddley job for the experts , I dont fancy trying to replicate it when I have to change it but hopefully that wont be for a few years

Re the 'to celling cupboards ' I have quite a low kitchen celling so the gap on top of mine is only about a foot , I dont store anything up there but I do have tinfoil on top with white fairy lights sat on the foil . The foil reflects the lights so if I am not actually cooking I just have them on and they provide a much softer light.

Apologies if it’s already been mentioned, but I’m giving a shout for drawer liners, especially in the kitchen. When they get dirty you can just lift them out and replace them, much easier than washing the bottom of a drawer. I make them out of wall paper now, so they look pretty as well.

We boxed in the top of our tall kitchen cupboards so we wouldn't have the issue with cleaning on top of them. We don't need the area for storage though.

I would recommend you don't get Matt dark kitchen cupboards. They're terrible for showing up for fingerprints and need constant cleaning.

I love this! What a great idea!

Never have white grout. Certainly not on a floor or in a shower. Dark grey grout all the way! Sure, you still need to do basic cleaning, but you won't have to spend your life meaning to get round to bleaching/scrubbing/replacing it because it looks manky.

1.Timber floors show way less dirt than other surfaces.
2.According to Choice (Australia's Which?) no floor cleaner beat warm water for cleaning power. https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/laundry-and-cleaning/surface-cleaners/articles/cleaning-products-that-are-worse-than-water#:~:text=Our%20testing%20has%20shown%20that,for%20being%20%22flawed%20cleaners%22.