12 Bedroom Cleaning and Storage Tips
Updated: Apr. 02, 2024
You spend a lot of hours every day in your bedroom. Make sure you're keeping it clean and organized with these tips.
Under-the-Bed Drawers
Drawers from old dressers can be given new life as under-the-bed storage bins. Fasten small casters to the bottoms and slide the drawers under the bed to store your bedding, seasonal clothes, extra blankets, toys and more.
Vacuum Your Duvet/Comforter
You may not want to wash your duvet or comforter every week. But if you have animals and kids jumping on the bed regularly, it would do allergy sufferers good to vacuum it a couple of times a week. Other house cleaning tips to consider include vacuuming your mattress cover, and washing your comforter and pillows once a month.
Add-On Clothes Rod
Don’t let that space underneath the hanging clothing go to waste — add a second clothes rod. Use a chain and some S-hooks to hang the second rod, which you can then adjust to the right height.
Maximize Drawer Space
Your Pillows Probably Need Cleaning
When was the last time you washed your pillows? Make a note to wash them at least every three to five months. For down pillows, check your pillow labels to ensure they can go in the washing machine.
Opt for a gentle or delicate wash and spin cycle and add detergent. Tumble dry on low or an air-dry setting for a few hours until completely dry. Adding some clean, dry towels will absorb moisture and speed the drying process.
Touch Up Nicks and Scratches
If you have shallow scratches or nicks on furniture like a bedroom dresser, hide them with a stain-filled touch-up marker.
Dab on the stain and wipe off the excess with a rag. But beware: Scratches can absorb lots of stain and turn darker than the surrounding finish. So start with a marker that’s lighter than your cabinet finish, then switch to a darker shade if needed.
For deeper scratches, go with a filler pencil, which also colors the scratch. If the cabinet finish is dingy overall and has lots of scratches, consider a wipe-on product like Old English Scratch Coat. These products can darken the finish slightly, so you have to apply them to all your cabinets.
Bigger than a scratch? Use polyester filler.
Keep Closets Clear for Easy Cleaning
Closets are dust reservoirs, full of tiny fibers from clothes, towels and bedding. Every time you open the door, you whip up an invisible dust storm.
You can’t prevent clothes from shedding fibers, but you can make closets easier to keep clean and vastly cut down on dust.
- Box or bag items on closet shelves. Clear plastic containers are best — they lock fibers in, keep dust out and let you see what’s inside. When you dust, they’re easy to pull off the shelves and wipe clean.
- Enclose the clothes you rarely wear. Those winter coats shed fibers year-round. Slip garment bags or large garbage bags over them. They help to contain fibers and keep dust off the clothes themselves.
- Keep closet floors clear. Chances are you’ll bypass a cluttered floor while vacuuming, but a wide-open floor adds only a few seconds to the chore. And a wire shelf lets you clear all those shoes off the floor without losing storage space.
No-Slip Clothes Hangers
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have all matching clothes hangers in my closet. Sometimes you get one of the really cheap, plastic ones when you need an anti-slip hanger. My solution? Wrap pipe cleaners around the plastic hangers, adding a grippy stop where you need it.
Murphy Bed with Bookcase
If you don’t have a lot of space in a bedroom but still want a sleeping option available for guests, opt for a Murphy bed! You can build a Murphy bed with a bookcase! This design features pullout nightstand tables on both sides of the bed, along with built-in night lights. Here are the complete instructions for this DIY Murphy bed with a bookcase.
Skip the Furniture Polish
Of course, you need to polish your wooden furniture and hardwood floors once or twice a year, or when they begin to look foggy. But all you really need to keep them shiny is a dry microfiber cloth. Your furniture will actually get less dusty without furniture polish.
Check Your Mattress
Fun fact: If your mattress is more than ten years old, you’re probably bunking with more than ten pounds of dead skin cells. And to make matters worse, dust mites love munching on all that dead skin.
Sharing a bed with these critters is more than nasty; doing so can also be harmful for your health.
“The proteins in dust mite feces can cause allergic reactions like watery eyes, a runny nose, and, in severe cases, asthma attacks,” says John Rukel, founder of Pillow of Health, an Illinois maker of sleep products. In general, you should replace your mattress every seven to eight years.
Add Drawer Organizers
Dividers don’t just have to be for large drawers, either. You can add them to other multitasking furniture pieces you may have like nightstands and decorative tables.
Originally Published: July 01, 2022
