Restoring a Cultured Marble Vanity Top

After 15 years, our bathroom marbled counter top looked terrible. There was no gloss left, hard water stains all over it, and little scratches here & there! Ugh. Told my husband I'd really like to replace it.

Being the frugal and handy man he is, told me "Let me have a go at it!" He got his hi-speed buffer he uses to wax the car, then buffed the counter-top with a polishing compound. He then changed to a carnauba wax, and buffed that in.

WOW!

These old bathroom countertops look better than brand new! No more hard water stains, no more scratches, and they SHINE! I've found the wax on them makes cleaning up so much easier too.

If your cultured marble countertops are looking worse for wear, give this quick technique a try!

Also, take advantage of our sale .... it will quickly be over, so don't miss out!

Julie

Make your Stainless Steel Sink Shine!

Quick Tip -
  • First clean with hot soapy water and rinse
  • Then use a clean cloth soaked in white vinegar to scrub. Rinse well & dry.
  • To make it shine, rub in some baby oil on a clean cloth.
And if you're in California or Nevada, check us out!

Julie

Deep Clean Your Living Room

The living room is the most used room in a home. Whether you live in a house or apartment, this is the place you sit with your family and friends, chatting, playing, eating, watching TV or listening to music, & working from home. With all this traffic & activity, your living room needs a lot of attention when it comes to cleaning!

The frequency of cleaning your living room depends on whether you have the habit of eating in there – in this case cleaning surfaces and vacuuming the floor twice a week would be good a good idea, as food particles attract bugs and other critters, and are the perfect hosts for many types of bacteria. The cleaning of your table with antibacterial detergent is essential after each meal. Also make sure to clean your desk and especially keyboard if you eat while working on the computer.

To have a really deep clean of your living room and home, you can book First Choice Maids, or do it yourself.

Start with dusting all surfaces. If you haven’t done that in a really long time, you may vacuum the window ledges and curtains/blinds first, carefully not to damage them, using the proper vacuum cleaner attachment. Clean the cobwebs, again using your vacuum. Dust and polish all furniture, fixtures (including chandeliers), window and picture frames, sculptures and hanging artwork, and all your nick-knacks.

Then clean the windows – first the frames. Use a step ladder if the highest parts of the windows are out of reach.  If the window frames and ledges are wooden, try using furniture polish, if this isn't working, clean them with soapy water with non scratching sponge, dry well and then polish.

For PVC window frames, again use soapy water or non abrasive bathroom cleaner, applying with a sponge and dry well after cleaned.

Metal window frames which haven’t been painted over could be cleaned with soapy water and sponge and must be very well dried after cleaning.

When there is mold on windows and frames, try a sponge soaked in soapy water, scrubbing well. If this isn’t helping, you can clean with a small quantity of bleach. Be extremely cautious when using bleach, use gloves and eye protection. Make sure to clean with bleach only when there really is no other option as using this detergent often makes the paint surfaces get yellow with time.

The easiest way to clean the windows & mirrors is with glass cleaner and a microfiber cloth. If you’d like them particularly shiny, clean them with cloth, soaked in soapy water and polish them with rumpled newspaper sheets, the ink from the pages helps to achieve incredible results.

After the dust & cobwebs are gone, and windows are cleaned, do the upholstered furniture. Fabric covered sofas and chairs should be vacuumed, including underneath the cushions. Leather covered furniture could be cleaned with special leather wipes or using other appropriate detergents. The other option is to clean the surfaces with damp microfiber cloth and, again, vacuum well under all the cushions.

Vacuum the floor, moving the furniture pieces to clean behind and underneath them, also underneath and the top of rugs (if you have any).

Wash the floor with appropriate detergent. For wooden floors use cleaning solutions with special cleaners and hot or lukewarm water. For laminate floors, you can only use very hot water with all purpose floor cleaner. Do not use detergents for wooden floors, as they contain waxes which over the time will create coating that will be difficult to clean. The wood absorbs these waxes but not the laminate floors.
If there are scuff marks on the floor, try pushing harder with the mop and after a couple of wipes it should be cleaned. If persistent, use an all purpose sponge soaked in soapy water, rubbing the mark gently and then wash again with mop.

Allow the floor to dry and enjoy your clean living room!

If all this sounds like hard work, don’t hesitate to call and book an appointment with us for a Deep Clean!

Julie

Step by Step

Cleaning is chore that takes up considerable amount of our free time. Still, this doesn’t mean that you have to devote your entire free time that you have on cleaning. You can do the cleaning chores that took so much of your free time but quicker thanks to some special tips and bits of advice shared by professionals in this field.
There are certain steps that professional maids and cleaning experts use that can guarantee them the quickest cleaning but without sacrificing the results. These steps are just few common sense tips that everybody should use when performing one-off cleaning regardless whether it is spring cleaning or deep cleaning tasks.
  • Clean from top to bottom. Like everything, the law of gravity applies to the dirt and grime as well. So when you clean the upper levels of the room there is dirt bound to fall on the lower levels and eventually end up on the floor.
  • Dust first, vacuum last. Of course, if you are dusting some part of the dust is going to end up on the floor, where it eventually is going to be vacuumed off.
  • Move from one side of the room towards the other. Choose either the left hand side of the room or the right hand side and start the cleaning from that starting point and move towards the other side of the room cleaning everything in your path. You won’t waste effort and time cleaning the same place twice or miss something while cleaning.
  • Always have the right cleaning products and tools close by. Store them in a bucket or a basket that is always at your disposal.
  • Work in a set time frame. Choose a period of time in which you have to perform the cleaning. Most maid service firms and cleaning experts use this tactic because it keeps them focused on the task at hand.
Julie

Get Organized!

Cleaning your home can be overwhelming and many people do not even know where to begin.  Guests are likely to show up unannounced, and you want to be prepared for these great surprises.  House cleaning can be a lot easier if you are organized and follow a few insider tricks and tips.

Start your house cleaning with a concrete plan on how you want to get started, and stick to it.  Many people make a schedule of what needs to be cleaned and when, and this helps spread out the tasks and make the job easier, focusing on one section of the home at a time.  Scheduling also helps to be sure that the home is constantly looked after, and the mess doesn’t get out of hand.  You should take a look at your home, room by room, and decide what needs to be done first and how often.

Many people waste time running to different rooms looking for cleaning supplies, so keep all your cleaning supplies in one area, in a cartable container.  You'd be surprised at the number of homes that have cleaning supplies all over the house - in the pantry, underneath the kitchen sink, in the garage, and under the bathroom sinks!  A cart with a handle will make it a lot easier to transport to the area you are cleaning, and keep you focused on the job at hand.  Make sure you have all the supplies you will need before you start house cleaning.   Eliminate any distractions and keep yourself focused on getting the job done.  Put on a movie for the kids, turn off your phone, and turn up the music on  your ipod because house cleaning can be fun and get your heart rate pumping.  Cleaning can be a workout, so don’t slow down and keep burning those calories!  Not only will you have a clean home, but maybe lose a pound or two!

Cleaning your home can be easy if you change your mindset, organize yourself, and get moving.  Keep on top of the chores around the house, don’t let them overwhelm you, ask for help if you need it, and do not be afraid to call a professional maid service to get the job done.  By hiring a good maid service you will be able to enjoy your free time with your family and friends, and enjoy your clean home, family, and friends!

Julie

My First Blog!!!!

Welcome to my blog !!!!!
I'm Julie, and I help run a professional maid & cleaning service that serves Southern California & Nevada.  Been doing this daily for a long long time.... and have tons of tips & tricks I'd like to share! 

Check out my new website at www.FirstChoiceMaids.com, and if you live in one of the areas we serve, give me a call to clean your home or office!

We all have to clean our homes - and truthfully, its a chore.  Since I do this daily, I've found lots of tips, tricks, and techniques to clean things spotlessly while saving time.  So why not share this on the blog, hopefully we can all get this needed chore done and enoy the finer things in life!

Again, welcome to my new blog!  Stay tuned, more to come ....

Julie