Do you take your walls for granted? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Even ‘Martha Stewart’ style cleaners need a reminder that walls require, at minimum, a yearly scrub down too. The job may seem daunting and boring, but all you need are a few 60-minute scrub sessions and a tiny splash of elbow grease. Follow this 3-step system and you’ll be guaranteed a beautiful transformation.
1. Deep Clean Your Walls
You don’t need highly specialized gadgets designed specifically to clean walls. Just gather the same tools you use to clean your floors: a reusable microfibre mop head, a couple microfibre dust pads, or a vacuum with a long wand and soft brush. Then, dry mop or vacuum away dust particles, cobwebs and hair. Don’t forget the tops of your doors and their surfaces as well. Next, scrub away handprints, scribbles and foreign substances. Just a head’s up: stickers and tape are frustrating. If your fingernails aren’t up to the task to scrape away these sticky substances, gently (and carefully) pick away with a knife or razor blade. Another way to get rid of sticky grime is to dab the end of your microfibre cloth with baby oil to help soften the muck. Once you’re ready to wash the walls, all you need are a couple microfibre cloths, a pail filled with warm water and a couple drops of all-purpose cleaning detergent. Avoid products that contain bleach, as they may damage your paint. Make sure to wash your doors, door handles, as well as all moulding.
2. Paint, Patch and Print
Once your walls have completely dried, you can assess if repairs are needed. Chipped paint, holes from wall hangings no longer in use and outdated paint are pretty easy to tackle. You’ll just need to set aside some time to dig out your unused primer and paint from storage, or take a quick trip to the hardware store or your local home improvement store. Instead of patching up a wall hanging hole, why not put up new art or a photo? If you own a colour printer, print off a photo from a recent trip. If you want to frame it, take a trip to the dollar store! Or, you might decide you don’t even need to frame it, and can simply use reusable clear mounting tabs, available at most craft stores. Keep in mind that most office supply stores can print panoramic and oversized photos for you as well.
3. Fast-forward to an Instant Makeover
Once your walls are spotless and clean, and your beautiful art work has been hung, you might feel that there’s still room for improvement. You can get instant results by simply customizing your light switch covers. If you’ve just finished painting your kitchen in Caliente AF-290, Benjamin Moore’s Colour of the Year, but your switch covers are the standard white ones, the colour clash will be jarring. So remove the covers, and paint them to match your walls. Make sure to paint the light switch and screws too. To ensure a uniform look to the room, make sure to paint light dimmers and covered electric sockets too.
