12 Simple Steps To A Spotless Living Room

When was the last time you cleaned your living room? And we mean properly, moved-everything-out-of-the-way (including that heavy display cabinet) cleaned your living room.

The living room is the heart of the home. It's a place for solitude; a place for gathering. The room you go to read a book on a Sunday when everyone's out, or sit around watching family films when everyone's in. It's a cosy, homely, do-nothing-all-day kind of place.

Being so well-used comes at a cost, however, and our well-loved living rooms can quickly start to look, well-tired.

But that's nothing some Expert Home Tips' TLC can't fix. Today we're showing you how to give your living room the love and care it needs, with a complete deep-clean, tidy and general spruce up.

Ready? Let's get started.

Step 1: Declutter your living room

Why make life harder than it needs to be?

The first port of call on your mission to a clean living room is decluttering. This will make not only make cleaning much easier, but also make your chaotic room look better almost instantly.

Our favourite way to declutter?

A clutter basket. A clutter basket enables you to whip around your living room, popping anything and everything that doesn't belong in there, or you no longer need inside.

You can then take this basket around the home, replacing every item in its rightful place. Or, even better, why not delegate this task to someone else while you get on with the cleaning?

That sounds like a fair deal to us!

Step 2: Tackling soft furnishing

If you really want to deep clean your living room, you'll need to tackle all those lovely soft furnishings that make your living room so cosy.

Those throw blankets with their sticky spills, tea-stained cushions and tired-looking curtains could all do with freshening up.

Take them all down at the beginning of your clean. Wash what you can at home, and take anything else to the dry cleaners for a proper deep clean.

Clean living room step 3: Dust high-low

It's time to get your cleaning kit out.

No matter what room you're cleaning, the most important thing to remember is...

...always start from high-low.

And when we say high, we mean really high. To get a clean living room, a feather duster will be your best friend.

It will help you get into cobwebbed corners, over the tops of door frames and around ceiling lights.

Once the highest areas have been covered, slowly make your way down. Dust shelves, removing each ornament, book, or candle as you go and giving them a thorough clean too.

Don't forget to concentrate some of your efforts down low too. Table/chair legs and skirting boards will also gather dust which you need to remove.

Step 4: remove pet hair

If you're pet-less, feel free to scroll on down.

If you've got dogs/cats, however, take heed.

Pet hair can soon build up on carpets, sofas and blankets. It's likely your fluffy friend has developed a penchant for a specific spot, and said area will be thick with their moulting hair.

We have two great ways to effortlessly lift pet hair in the living room:

1. Use a rubber glove to remove pet hair from carpets and rugs.
2. For sofas, roll a lint roller over the hairy-area to leave it spotless.

Step 5: clean living room lampshades

Table and floor lamps add a lovely, glow to living rooms.

A dusty lampshade isn't quite as appealing, however.

The best way to clean lampshades is...

...with a lint roller.

It's wonderful for lifting dust caught in the lampshade fibres, preserving the cosy-look, without the 'I've been here for centuries' dust.

Clean living room step 6: the best way to clean screens

Cleaning tv screens is harder than it looks.

Use a traditional dust cloth, and it will leave particles on the screen due to static, and may also leave streaks.

What you need is...

...a microfibre cloth. Microfibre neutralises static, and will lift off any debris on your screen.

Use light, delicate movements for best results.

Step 7: Freshen up soft-furnishings

Just think how many hours of lounging around your sofas have had to put up with over the last year - pretty gross, right?

It's time to freshen them up, one of the most vital steps in getting a clean living room.

To give a new lease of life to soft furnishing and remove any lingering odours, we recommend using bicarbonate of soda.

Sprinkle it onto sofas and armchairs, leave for 10 minutes then use the brush attachment on the vacuum to remove the bicarb along with other nasties.

Step 8: controls & light switches

You might get away with cleaning your controls and light switches in your regular cleans, but if you want a super clean living room, they do need doing.

Wet a cleaning cloth in a diluted, warm disinfectant solution, and wring out thoroughly. Use to wipe around light switches, being sure to rinse regularly to keep the cloth clean.

Clean living room step 9: clean windows

However large your living room windows may be, it's worth making the most of them.

Natural light makes rooms look bigger and brighter - the kind of place people actually want to sit in.

Keeping on top of window cleaning makes it so much easier in the long run.

Our dirty-window solution couldn't be easier:

• Mix 1 part hot water with 1 part white vinegar in a bucket/washing up bowl.
• Rinse a clean cleaning cloth in the solution and wring until damp to the touch.
• Wipe down windows, paying particular attention to the corners and any tough marks.
• Leave for 1 minutes, then use newspaper to dry clean.

Step 10: vacuum your living room

We're almost there!

Your living room should now be petty clean, and any dust remaining should have fallen to the floor during your clean.

The last step?

Vacuuming.

Start at one side of the room, moving furniture to the other side whilst you vacuum. When one side is done, replace the furniture, and do the other side.

Don't forget to move the rug and vacuum under and over it too.

TOP TIP: If you want to freshen up your carpet or rugs, you can use bicarbonate of soda. Sprinkle onto the area, leave for 10 minutes then vacuum clean.

Clean living room step 11: restock & reorganise

One of the final steps to getting a spotless living room is restocking and reorganising - both for aesthetics and functionality.

What's a living room without candles to burn, wood by the fire, or a bowl full of humbugs? Take the opportunity now to restock all the things that make your living room feel complete.

It's also a good time to consider reorganising. Perhaps the furniture layout no longer works for you, or you want to try something new? Or maybe it's just time to have a sort through your TV cupboard and throw out some films you no longer watch.

TOP TIP: If you want to move furniture around but are left with unsightly carpet marks, try our ice cube trick to get rid of them.

Don't forget to replace your clean textiles such as curtains and pillow cases too - your living room will look rather bare without them!

Step 12: dress to impress

It's time to give your living room the final flourish.

This is the fun part, where you get to sit back and admire all your hard work.

Plump up the cushions and arrange them elegantly. Layout some magazines on the table, tie back the curtains.

No, it may not last for long, but your living room will look magazine-worthy for a short while - satisfaction indeed!

How do you keep your living room looking great? Share your tips with us in the comments below.