A surprise visit? How to clean your home in 5 minutes!

Leigh Leigh
LOFT DISEÑADO POR JUDITH FARRAN by HOME DECO ( centro de Barcelona), Home Deco Decoración Home Deco Decoración Гостиная в стиле лофт
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All of us have receive unexpected visitors to the home or have had guests arrive earlier than expected. Naturally, we like to have our homes clean and organised when we entertain guests or receive people. We want to provide them with a pleasant and comfortable visit. We also don't want our friends to think we live in chaos!

Often we have to resort to quickly making the house presentable, which means we don't get around to any deep or meaningful cleaning. However, there are a few tips and tricks you can employ to make sure that you kill two birds with one stone. For example, you can empty any rubbish out of the living areas by going through it with a rubbish bag or you can put all of your dirty clothes and wet towels into a laundry basket. This will help with more meaningful cleaning later on!

Closing cupboards and drawers can also help to make a home look tidier and more appealing. Don't forget to straighten the sofa cushions and blankets too and push the chairs under the table. You also don't want to leave dishes piled up in the kitchen. Apart from being aesthetically unpleasant, it can lead to horrible smells. Put everything in the dishwasher machine if you have one. Otherwise, rinse the plates with warm water and cover them with a cloth. It's OK to cheat when you're in a hurry!

While this is a good start, we at homify have a few more tips and tricks up our sleeves. When you're done reading this, it will look like a design professional just left your house!

1. Clean the TV

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While the entrance of the house is where we receive our guests and where we need to make a good first impression, it is still a passageway that they will pass through in a hurry. Of course, if you have a chest of drawers, chair or table in the entrance, you need to clean the surfaces quickly.

Yet after the entrance, we usually move to the living room. Here it is advisable to remove any dust that has accumulated on the television screen. It is the centre of most rooms and dust is easily noticeable against the black colours. 

Also run a cloth along the coffee table.

2. Clean surfaces

The first and most important step is to quickly identify what is most noticeable in the common areas such as the kitchen, dining room, living room and TV room. These rooms are the first areas that guests will access so you want the counters and surfaces to be clean and tidy.

You also want to make sure the guest bathroom is tidy.

This is why it's important to clean the surfaces of the tables and counter first. Sweeping or vacuuming the floor can also help. You don't need to go to town though, just be practical and wipe down with a damp cloth.

3. Turning to the bathroom

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In the bathroom, cleanliness is key. We must keep it as neat and clean as possible so that if we have unexpected guests, we don't have to worry. However, this is not always possible, especially if we live in a house with a large family. 

To impress your guests with the cleanliness of the bathroom, quickly swap the washcloth and towels and wipe down the mirror. Check there is toilet paper and hand soap too.

4. Hide the dirty dishes

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Most households use the kitchen every day, which means that washing dishes is a constant chore. However, if we only end up washing the dishes at the end of the day, we end up accumulating a lot of dirty plates and cutlery! Think about how breakfast, lunch and snacks add up, among other things.

If guests have to pop in just before dinner, we could potentially have a lot of dirty dishes piled up.

This is why it's practical to pack the dishwasher as you go along or even put the plates in the oven so that the space looks tidy, hygienic and clean!

5. Remove hair from your pets

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It is easy to identify a house where domestic animals live by the amount of hair that small, four-legged friends leave wherever they go. Having pets is wonderful but laborious in terms of cleaning!

This is why it's important to keep the house fresh and clean by not allowing your pets to go on the furniture. If you do, cover it with some form of protection. Thus when you receive guests, you just have to remove the protection, fold it up and put it away.

Remember that carpets also pick up hair very easily. Give it a quick vacuum or wipe it with a damp cloth.

6. Lighting matters

LOFT DISEÑADO POR JUDITH FARRAN by HOME DECO ( centro de Barcelona), Home Deco Decoración Home Deco Decoración Гостиная в стиле лофт

With a little bit of ingenuity, we can make light our best ally when it comes to creating the impression of a clean and orderly house.

If someone pops in for a visit during the day, raise the blinds and open the windows to allow fresh air and sunshine to stream into the home. It will immediately look more modern, light and bright.

In the evening, use lamps and lanterns to create a soft glow throughout the home rather than bright lights that illuminate every corner. This will disguise those messy corners!

7. Sort out the small details in the room

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Just as important as cleaning the surfaces is to visually arrange each element of the room to give the feeling that everything has its proper place. You can, for example, make sure that the sofa cushions are straight and tidy and that the picture frames are aligned. Also make sure that the magazines, papers and other items are not in chaotic piles or out of control.

These little things take no more than two minutes and make a huge difference.

8. A house that smells good

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A house should appeal to all senses. Smells are one of the most important senses. Make sure that your home always has a pleasant smell by investing in fragrant candles, especially in social areas where you want to create a more intimate and pleasant atmosphere. 

You can also use air fresheners that will last a long time. If all else fails, open the windows to let fresh air in!

9. One last trick up the sleeve

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Lastly, have the mop and vacuum cleaner in hand when you open the front door, pretending to be caught in the middle of perfect cleaning. This will justify any mess or mayhem, as long as they don't read this article too!

If you've enjoyed this article, you'll love these ones too:

10 beautiful entrance ideas to surprise your guests

10 bedroom must-haves for your guests to feel at home

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