Thoroughly Cleaning Your Bedroom: The Complete Guide

This is the perfect time of year to really clean your bedroom. Dust and germs have a way of accumulating during the winter months and can make you sick if not properly dealt with. This guide can be applied to any room in your home, but since we spend so much time in our bedrooms asleep, I recommend starting there. I find it easier to work with music, so get our your favorite Cd’s and prepare to work your tail off.

1. First thing is to gather all of your cleaning supplies. You will need furniture polish, glass cleaner, a broom, an old pillow case and a sturdy rubber band, old dusting rags or paper towels, and depending on whether you have carpet or not, a vacuum or mop. If you will be using a mop you will need a bucket of hot water with your favorite mopping solution added. My personal preference is Pine-Sol in the original pine-scent, but the choice is up to you. Bring everything into the bedroom and close the door. Now you have no need to constantly leave the room. It’s also a good idea to keep the dust and mess contained.

2. Remove all pictures and decorations from the walls. Wipe them clean, front and back, then set them aside for later. Do not re-hang them, yet.

3. Take down the curtains and blinds, or shades. Wipe the blinds or shades with a cloth sprayed with window cleaner. Set them aside. Launder the curtains. If you are able to wash and dry them yourself, do so. If not, send them to the dry cleaner. I wash my curtains myself, and after drying them I always spray them with sizing and iron them. Sizing is not a starch. It is a fabric finish that removes wrinkles quickly, speeds up your ironing, and leaves a fresh linen scent. Set them aside for later.

5. Now is the perfect time to clean those windows. Start with the window frames. Clean them with furniture polish on a clean cloth. Scrub them from top to bottom. Clean the glass using window cleaner on a separate cloth. Don’t worry. You don’t have to clean the outsides today. Unless you want to.

6. Grab your broom and old pillow case. Put the bristles of the broom into the pillow case and wrap your rubber band over the pillow case to hold it in place. Now, “sweep” the ceiling. Make sure to wipe the ceiling in rows, so that you don’t miss any spots. I don’t usually use any kind of cleanser on the ceiling. The purpose is to remove the dust gathered up there and sometimes furniture polish or window cleaner will leave streaks. You want to avoid this.

7. Move all of your furniture away from the walls. Make enough space for your body to fit in between.

8. Still using your broom covered with the pillow case, you need to sweep the walls. If your pillow case is really grungy at this point, please change it. Start in the corner of one wall and going from the top of the wall all the way to the floor, work your way around the room. Again, be careful to cover every area without missing spots.

9. Using a ladder, stool, or chair, clean your light fixture or ceiling fan. You will need a cloth sprayed with window cleaner for this. Be sure to do a good job. You need to dust the light bulbs, too. Dusty light bulbs don’t put out as much light. If you are cleaning a ceiling fan make sure to clean the tops of the paddles, also.

10. Clean your furniture using furniture polish. Clean the entire piece of furniture, not just what shows. Get the backs. If you have a dresser, pull all of the drawers out. Leave the clothes in place. Dust inside the dresser and dust the outer parts of the drawers themselves. Replace the drawers so you will have room to work. Tilt your chairs back and wipe underneath. Yes, it may seem like a lot, but this isn’t something you do every day, so do it well.

11. If you have carpet, now is the time to vacuum. If not, you need to get the pillow case off of your broom and start sweeping. While your furniture is still away from the walls, it’s a great time to clean the baseboards and in each and every corner. Carefully clean the spots of your floor that are normally covered by furniture.

12. If you are mopping, do so now. Really lean into that mop and use some elbow grease. Pretend your grandmother is watching you. Let the floor dry completely.

13. Shove your furniture back into place.

14. Hang the pictures and decorations back on the walls.

15. Re-hang the window coverings.

16. Now that the dust has settled strip your bed and launder everything. Sheets, blankets, bedspread, and dust ruffle. I don’t advise doing it earlier because dust from the ceiling and walls will settle here and this can aggravate allergies. Use the hottest water that is safe for your fabrics. Remember, if you choose to hang the bedspread or blankets outside to dry, they tend to pick up lots of pollens and allergens there. If you are sensitive to this, using the clothes dryer is your safest bet.

17. Re-make your bed.

Now that you are done, step back and admire your work. If you didn’t manage to complete this job in one day and chose to break it down into two days, that’s okay, too. You’ve obviously worked really hard.