Monday Motivation #55 | Spring Cleaning: Windows, Doors & Walls

We are continuing our Spring Cleaning series with a top-down refresh of the “vertical surfaces” that quietly collect dust and grime all year long. In this Monday Motivation, I will walk you through simple, practical steps for cleaning windows (including sills, tracks, and screens), doors, and walls—with the right tools, safe DIY solutions, and tips for avoiding streaks and protecting finishes. You’ll also learn what maintenance issues to watch for as you clean, so you can catch small problems before they turn into big ones.

SHOW NOTES

The entire transcript of this episode is on the blog along with links to suggested tools and helpful resources. Click below or go to theartofhomepodcast.com/blog and search "MM54".

Transcript

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Happy Monday, homemakers. Welcome to Monday Motivation, brought to you by the Art of Home Podcast, where we are exploring how homemakers cultivate a place to belong. I'm your host, Allison Weeks. I'm a wife, a mom, a granny, and I've been practicing the Art of Home for over 30 years. Thank you so much for joining me for a little Monday motivation today. Every Monday, you can meet me here for homemaking tips, ideas, and encouragement in this short form episode. If you like what you hear today, be sure to check out our long form episodes that come out every Wednesday, where we feature stories of homemakers just like you and deep dives into topics related to homemaking. We are well on our way with spring cleaning. We found some inspiration from history, modern homemaking wisdom, and the biblical origins of spring cleaning. We talked about tools and last week we tackled ceilings, vents, lights, and everything overhead. Today we will continue the best practice of top-down cleaning by addressing walls, windows, and doors and move one step closer to a refreshed and renewed home environment. Much like the ceiling, we don't often consider our walls and our doors as places where dirt, dust, and grime lurk. We do generally recognize that windows get dirty, there's visible evidence, but until we actually clean the windows and see the difference it can make in the room's lighting, we underestimate just how dirty our windows are. Walls and doors are a little harder to remember to clean, but are just as needful of a good wipe down. Again, by going over these surfaces with more attention once a year, you will not only refresh your home, but you will extend the life of your paint, door finish, and hardware. You will catch small problems before they become big ones. Let's start where most of the dirt is hiding, windows. To clean your windows, including the windowsill and tracks, you will need a vacuum or duster, microfiber cloths, a gentle cleaner, a squeegee, and possibly a stepladder. A note about safety. To properly clean windows on an upper level or large windows that extend to great heights, you may want to hire professional window cleaners, especially for the outdoor cleaning. You might be able to safely clean these out-of-reach windows with a very long extendable handle tool made specifically for this job. Do your research and a cost-benefit analysis considering all the costs, how long it will take you to safely clean these windows inside and out, and any special equipment, ladders, tools, etc., you might need to buy or borrow. For basic window cleaning that you can safely do with your feet on the ground or on a low stepladder, here is the preferred method. Dry clean before wet clean, always. This universal cleaning rule applies here as well. Using a microfiber duster or your vacuum hose with brush attachment, remove dust and dirt from the window frame, sill, and the track. At this point, you might also want to vacuum the blinds if you have any. We will discuss cleaning window coverings next week. You can decide whether or not you want to do both at the same time. For example, remove the curtains and launder them while you wash the window. It's totally up to you. For now, I will be talking about cleaning the window itself. Remove the screen from the window and go over it with a brush or a vacuum to dry clean the screen. Next, mix up a mild cleaning solution of one part white vinegar with ten parts water. The vinegar's acidity will cut through mineral deposits and soap residue on the window while evaporating cleanly and not leaving streaks. Add a drop of dish soap for extra cleaning power on heavily soiled windows. Dip the sponge or cloth into your cleaning solution, bring out some of the liquid, and apply to the glass in circular motions. Then quickly remove the solution with a squeegee, working from the top down, wiping the water off of the squeegee with a cloth in between passes. Next, wipe down the windowsill, the frame, and the track. If the track is really dirty, you may need a small scrub brush to get into the nooks and crannies. Do these two steps on both the inside and the outside of the window. Unless you have windows that tilt in for cleaning, you will probably want to do all the inside work first and then move to the outside. When you're ready to tackle the outside, just repeat the above steps for wet cleaning. If dry cleaning did not get all the dirt from the screen, you will want to gently scrub it with your solution and a scrub brush. Spray clean with a hose and let fully dry before placing back on the window. Throughout this process, be sure to check for peeling paint, rotting or missing weather stripping or caulk, broken tracks or hardware, and any other maintenance issues. Deal with them right away if you can, or add them to a running list of to-dos that you will get to once the cleaning job is done. Tips for success. Clean windows on a cloudy day rather than in bright sunlight so that your solution doesn't dry before you can squeegee it off, leaving a streaky window. If your windows are very large, clean them in sections for the same reason. Trying to cover a huge area at once increases the likelihood of streaks when the solution dries before you can get to it. Break up large windows into two or three sections, working from the top down. Make seasonal cleaning of your windows easier by practicing regular maintenance cleaning. Wipe away fingerprints, greasy smudges, pet noseprints, kid noseprints, etc., once a week or every few days. Run the vacuum or a swiffer duster over the windowsills and the tracks once a week, and vacuum dirt off of the screens every few weeks to keep it from transferring onto the glass, especially when you're opening and closing your windows a lot. Next, let's clean those doors. You know what I'm going to say. Get out your vacuum or dry cleaning tool of choice and remove all the dust and the cobwebs from the frame and the flat surfaces of the door. Pay special attention to corners, the top of the door frame, and the area around the hinges. They tend to get particularly dusty. Now you are ready for a little damp cleaning. For wood doors, use only mild soap and water so that you don't damage the finish. No vinegar or other acidic cleaners. If the door has glass, clean with the methods discussed in the previous section. For metal or fiberglass doors, use a mild vinegar solution, one part vinegar to ten parts water. A drop or two of dish soap is usually safe for the door, but be sure to test your cleaning solution on a small hidden area so that you can tell whether or not the paint is going to be affected. Wet your cloth or sponge with the solution and wring it out until just damp. Wipe all areas of the door with the cloth, going over scuffs or stains again as needed. Tough stains or scuffs might need a magic eraser, but be gentle. It's very easy to get carried away and remove the paint. Give extra care to cleaning the high touch area on and around the doorknob. And finally, clean those walls. Do your dry cleaning first, following the same procedure that we laid out last week for sealings. A long-handled flat head microfiber mop is great for both dry and damp cleaning your walls. Once you've removed all of the dust, mix up your mild cleaning solution, warm water, couple drops of dish soap, or if you're cleaning the kitchen or other grimy areas, do the one part vinegar to ten parts water mixture with a couple of drops of dish soap. That vinegar is going to cut through all that grease. But for regular rooms, you probably don't need the vinegar. Test your paint like you did on the doors if needed. Now, before you go after the whole main surface of the wall, wipe down the light switch plates and other high-touch points and get after the smudges and the stains that are on the wall. Here are some solutions to remove common wall stains or marks. Crayon, use a paste of baking soda and water, and that will gently lift it off. For ink or sharpie, use rubbing alcohol, hairspray, or another type of solvent. Apply it with a cloth and gently, gently rub away the stain. Magic eraser works well too, just don't erase your paint with vigorous scrubbing. Then dip your flat mop head cover into the solution and wring it out until it's slightly damp. Or if you're using a spray bottle, spray it on until it's slightly damp. And now go over your walls, working from the top down in slightly overlapping passes. Work in three to four foot sections at a time. Once you've done a washing pass, then you can go back over it with another flathead mop cover that is just damp with a little bit of water. So it is really helpful to have a couple of uh flat, flat mop head covers for this job. Now, a word about baseboards. I leave it up to you as to whether or not you want to include them in your wall washing or do them as a separate job or even as part of the floor cleaning. It's totally up to you. Just make sure that you clean those baseboards with the dry cleaning methods first and then follow up with a paint test and then a gentle cleaning with the proper solution. Also, wait until you're all done with the walls before you tackle the baseboards because you don't want the solution dripping down the walls onto freshly cleaned baseboards. Congratulations! By turning your attention to windows, doors, and walls, you've cleaned all of the vertical hard surfaces in the house. Great job. Next week I have a little story to share with you about the time I cleaned my curtains after 10 years and why you shouldn't wait that long to clean yours. The transcript of today's episode will be on the blog along with links and tools. Go to theartofome podcast.com slash blog and search MM55. I will be back on Wednesday with an all new homemaker portrait. Until then, keep practicing your art of making home.