Shelterpop

Filed under: Storage & Cleaning, Storage & Organization, Cleaning

One of the cheapest cleaning tools is also one of the most versatile. Do you know all the things your toothbrush is capable of?

Mary Findley ("Mary Moppins" of GoClean.com) has been a career housekeeper for at least a dozen years. She's also the co-author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cleaning" (2005) and wrote a follow-up four years later ("The Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Cleaning"). It's the move-outs for private residences that allow her to do the best work -- and remove every single speck of dirt. About every four to five months at each of her client's homes she arms herself with a toothbrush and does a deep clean.

clean with a toothbrush Photo: Getty Images

Here's are some areas of your home -- make that, 13 -- where a toothbrush will come in handy. In most cases, your favorite cleaning products or simply warm, soapy water over the toothbrush bristles will be enough to do the job.

1. Edges of the kitchen and bathroom sinks
"It's those little crevices where dirt goes. Toothbrushes work a lot better than toothpicks, which break off all the time and then get stuck," says Findley.

2. Sink drain
To clean out the drain in your bathroom or kitchen sink, simply pour vinegar (which Findley likes as it's less toxic than most other options) down the drain. Next, take your toothbrush and scrub, scrub, scrub until you don't see any more grime lining the drain.

Photo: Jolie Novak, AOL

3. Stove and dishwasher knobs
If you've ever tried to take a sponge and swipe it over the knobs on your kitchen appliances, then you know this just does not work. The goal is to remove all of the dirt, not just some of it. That's where a toothbrush is your friend. It allows you to get under and behind those pesky little knobs, which is actually where dirt builds up, yes?

Photo: Jolie Novak, AOL

4. Faucet base
Mold and mildew can easily collect on the base of a faucet, says Findley. Gently brush the wet bristles of a toothbrush over the base and more will come off than you could have removed using a rag or a sponge.

5. Linoleum flooring
Put a blob of toothpaste onto a moist toothbrush and get down on all fours to get stubborn stains out, especially marks made from boots or high heels. "That's the only way I get heel marks off my client's floor," says Findley. Note: Do not try this with hardwood or ceramic-tile flooring, however. The toothpaste could stain and the scrubbing leave nasty-looking marks on the floor.

6. Lampshade
Getting dust off a lampshade might require just a swipe with a microfiber cloth, but what about keeping the color pristine? Grab a children's soft toothbrush and gently rub it against the lampshade. "They are wonderful for cleaning the pleats in a pleated lampshade," says Findley.

7. Framed pictures or art
Take a small piece of gauze and cover the bristles, says Findley. "That does a good job of cleaning the corners of framed pictures." If you don't cover the bristles you run the risk of scratching -- and forever damaging -- a beautiful frame.

8. Toilet-seat hinges
Another tight space that a toothbrush has no problem fitting into.

9. Wall sockets for light switches
You're probably already thoroughly cleaning the socket, but what about the little "off" and "on" areas? The bristles on a toothbrush can get the dirt out of those little letters, no problem.

10. Sliding glass doors
You know the runners on a shower area's sliding glass doors? They get pretty grimy and they're a pain to clean. Findley suggests that next time you tackle this task with a toothbrush. "Runners get moldy pretty quickly. A toothbrush gets in the corners," she says. "Man, a toothbrush just zips that stuff out of there."

11. Window frames
Just like the sliding glass doors, the insides of window frames are prime real estate for collecting mold. Take a toothbrush over the cracks and crevices to do a better cleaning job.

12. Microwave or stove vents
Findley takes a rag (she' s really good at chopping up her husband's old T-shirts into 5" by 5" pieces) and gets it slightly wet with a cleaner before throwing it over a toothbrush. This is perfect for cleaning out microwave or stove vents. "You can't spray a cleaner back there because it will burn out the fan," she says.

13. Refrigerator vents and coils
Ideally these should be cleaned twice a year. "With the slats in those vents, it's real hard to get a cloth down there," says Findley.

Read about more surprising ways to clean:
Weekly Cleaning Tips Put to the Test
Mint Robot Cleaner: We Tried It, You Win It
Cleaning Kitchens: Deep Clean Your Kitchen Sink

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Check out out decor picks inspired by the most glamorous Golden Globe fashions on our Facebook page!

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Design, etc, House Tours, Architecture

When it comes time to designing their own homes, what do architects create for themselves?

Architects juggle a myriad of demands with every project: Unusual properties, constrained budgets, difficult contractors, and of course, the client's (sometimes unrealizable) dreams and desires. What happens when the architect is his own client? How does the process change and what can we learn from the homes architects have created for themselves?

Mark Hutker, a Cape Cod-based architect, has built a home for himself and his family that reveals much about an architects' personal project. Hutker's Falmouth, Massachusetts house was the second home he had created for his family: The first was a small house on Martha's Vineyard that he and his wife had kept building onto slowly. "We learned from making a very small house and adding onto it," he says. This experience made him better prepared to design a house from the ground-up for his brood.

architects-home Matt Hutker The exterior view of the back of Hutker's home in Falmouth. Photo: Brian Vanden Brink

When the family moved to the mainland to be closer to Hutker's new Falmouth office and to ease their children's school commute, Hutker asked real estate brokers to show them all of the unusual and un-sellable properties in the area. Hutker figured what he didn't have in finances he could make up for with his creativity, which led him to two side-by-side lots next to a horse farm listed as needing landfill due to the wetlands at one end of the property. "What was advertised as a deficit, I saw as an asset," says Hutker, who left the wetlands alone and built at the one high, dry corner of the lots.

The selection of an unusual lot reflects one major difference between the house Hutker designed for himself and one he might design for a client: Budget. Laughs Hutker, "I could never afford the things I tend to design for my clients. As Oscar Wilde once said, 'Necessity is the mother of invention.'" This penny-wise attitude extended to the house itself, which Hutker built with budget in mind.

architects-home Matt Hutker An interior view of Hutker's home made from low-cost, no-fuss materials. Photo: Brian Vanden Brink

Hutker was also able to experiment with techniques that he wouldn't normally try out on a client. For example, the steel beams inside remain unfinished to show the hand of the person who crafted them. Likewise, inexpensive but strong chipboard floor joists wouldn't fly with a client, but stained gray they all but disappear visually in Hutker's home. "I tried to use as many interesting and cost-effective materials to achieve interest, warmth and character," notes Hutker of his approach.

Hutker also built his home with wear-and-tear in mind. "We resisted granite and shiny materials in favor of materials that will actually start to look better over time with use," says Hutker, whose two children were teens when the house was built.

When asked if he would change anything now that he has lived in the house for more than six years, Hutker reveals that he made one major alteration shortly after moving into the home: He added central air conditioning. He also admits he'd make the laundry room a little bigger if he were going to re-design today, proving that not everything is perfect, even in an architect's own abode.

Take a peek at other homes architects have designed for themselves:

architects-home Glass House The interior of Philip Johnson's legendary Glass House. Photo: Eirik Johnson/National Trust

A famed example of an architect's home, Philip Johnson's Glass House is a prime example of an architect trying experimental ideas out on his own home. With an all-glass exterior and no interior walls, the Glass House was nothing short of revolutionary when it was completed in 1949. Imagine Johnson trying to convince a client to build a house with virtually no privacy. This modern icon might never have been built!

architects-home Frank Gehry An exterior view of Frank Gehry's Santa Monica home. Photo: Netropolitan.org

Back in 1978, before he'd become a "starchitect," Frank Gehry renovated a Santa Monica bungalow for himself and his family. Looking at its deconstructionist exterior you'd never guess that Gehry left much of the Dutch colonial-style home's exterior alone, building his cutting-edge design work around the original house.

architects-home Anne Fougeron A view from the patio looking into the kitchen of Anne Fougeron's home. Photo: Fougeron Architects

Architect Anne Fougeron's San Francisco home remodel added glass walls to allow light into the space creating the feeling of a glass box. Like Hutker and Johnson, Fougeron created a space that took maximum advantage of natural light -- without breaking the bank.

architects-home Steven Ehrlich Ehrlich Architects' principal designed a house for himself that combines indoor and outdoor spaces in a revolutionary way. Photo: Grey Crawford

Like many architect, Steven Ehrlich used his own Venice Beach home home as an opportunity to experiment. Large glass doors pivot and slide open on three sides of the house -- effectively dissolving the barrier between indoors and out. Ehrlich also experimented the materials he used, and like Hutker, he was drawn to using raw, honest materials -- like Trex decking in lieu of exterior cladding -- that his clients might not have approved for their own projects.

For more great stories on ShelterPop, don't miss:
My Nook Will Never Replace My Bookshelf
Naked at Home For a Week
The Case Against Cleaning
Always the Writer, Never the Client

Check out this video to learn how to design like an architect!

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes

What to do when your $20 million penthouse just won't sell? Bring in a home stager, like Derek Jeter. Or just steal the best ideas from here.

Back in September, New York Yankee star Derek Jeter put his 5,425-square-foot corner Manhattan penthouse on the market. The photos showed a pretty space, but it was very, very blank. And since there have been no takers, he's going for round two with a little bit of help from lamps, rugs and more of the home stager's go-to items.

If you're having trouble selling your home, why not try out some of these ideas? We're not promising that you'll get $20 million out of it, but it's worth a try...

derek-jeter-home Courtesy photo | Al Bello, Getty Images (inset)

Home Staging Tip 1: Show symmetry by the bed. A nightstand on each side is key for feng shui and the dual lamps add to the symmetrical look (and help distract from the bare walls).