Jennifer Sheahan: Go with the flow for a satisfying spring clean
Against all advice, Jennifer Sheahan put her couch covers in the washing machine. Picture: Moya Nolan
Last week I had absolutely no intention of cleaning my house top to bottom, but I started hoovering one afternoon and next thing I knew it was midnight — I had washed the windows, scrubbed the tiles, and had every piece of fabric laundered. I never plan my spring cleaning, but around once a year the frenzy just takes over. I was exhausted by the effort but my word, there’s nothing like luxuriating in your spotlessly clean house. It lasted all of a few hours before my dog got his mucky paws on the couch, but those were some deeply satisfying hours.
We all know how to vacuum and how to wipe down our countertops, but I ended up tackling some of those lesser-tackled cleaning jobs that required some googling before finding the best methods. Should the frenzy grip you any time soon, let me save you some time by sharing the best methods I found for some of those harder-to-clean items.
I have copper pots hanging over my hob and I love how they look. Copper shouldn’t go in the dishwasher, and while I scrub these pots after every use, the copper does discolour quickly. I don’t mind the discolouration, in fact, I like the look of well-used kitchen items. But every few months or so I let it go too far and a sprucing up is required.
The easiest and most effective way to bring your copper back to gleaming freshness is to use salt, vinegar, and a sponge. Table salt will do just fine, as will basic white vinegar that you can get in any shop (though I buy it by the gallon in the Co-op — it’s the most magical cleaning ingredient).
Drizzle vinegar straight onto the copper, sprinkle salt on top, and scrub using the sponge.
The salt and the sponge will be mildly abrasive, but unless you’re very precious about your pots then it’s fine to give it a good hard scrub. Watching shiny copper magically appear is a fun experience! Rinse thoroughly and enjoy the sparkle!
I have a velvet-polyester blend material on my couch. It is very easy to keep clean with a wipe of a damp micro-fibre cloth, or for spot cleaning I swear by Dr Beckmann’s stain remover. However I wanted a deeper refresh than my usual wipe down, so I did what you are NOT supposed to do — I stripped all my couch cushions and put them in the washing machine.
Now I wish to absolve myself of any future claims here — I do not officially recommend that you do this. It is instead advised to bring in a professional fabric cleaning company.
However, if you want to completely ignore my advice and promise not to hold me responsible if anything goes wrong, I can tell you that my covers came out perfectly and what’s more — I’d do it again. I turned them inside out, closed the zippers, used Woollite, and put them on a gentle wash at twenty degrees. I laid them out flat to air dry, and voilà — perfect. I should warn you that the hardest part of the whole process was getting the covers back on — it’s a two-person job!
That’s right, I even washed the walls and skirting boards. I’m telling you, not one inch of my home wasn’t gleaming after this frenzy. Not everyone needs to wash their walls, but I have a ball-obsessed dog so there are bounce-marks all over my walls. I also tend to be a bit careless when bringing my bike inside, so there were plenty of scuff marks and minor dings to wash off too.
I use a slightly damp Magic Eraser sponge on my walls. I don’t know what that stuff is made of and I honestly don’t care — it’s called magic for a reason. There are many brands, readily available in hardware shops, and I don’t have a favourite — they all seem to be the same. Just dampen, wipe gently, and watch the marks fade magically away.
Note that magic eraser sponges are mildly abrasive, so be careful not to scrub too hard or you risk taking off too much paint. I wiped the walls down with a micro-fibre cloth to avoid water marks and my walls look like new!
My number one favourite shower door cleaning hack is from the Gaff Goddess, Laura de Barra. All you need to do is take half a lemon or lime (the remaining rind of a squeezed one is fine), sprinkle salt onto the inside, and use the salted side to scrub the stains and limescale away. Particularly stubborn stains can be sprayed with vinegar or lemon juice and left to soak for ten minutes before scrubbing with salt.
I never throw away squeezed lemons or limes now, I always use them to give my shower doors a little scrub and it keeps them gleaming. It’s always helpful to keep a squeegee in your shower and wipe off water droplets after showering, to prevent hard water and limescale from building up in the first place. But honestly, with Laura’s lemon and salt hack, I don’t bother anymore!
