As days get brighter, now is the time to get your house in order before dusty ledges and stained windowpanes become visible, writes Eoin Lyons.
Set aside the guts of a weekend for cleaning and decluttering. Apart from a bottle or two of Cif, this approach is cost free. Rope in a few friends - you can always repay them with a good dinner at the end of a day's clear-out.
But not everyone has the time or inclination for DIY cleaning and it can be worth paying to get professionals to do everything in one fell swoop. Lucky people have a regular trusted cleaner and can draft them in to do extra hours but for those who don't, there are some one-off options.
First of all ask for the names and numbers of cleaners friends or family use. If that fails, reach for the Golden Pages. There is a growing list of cleaning services around the country. Pristine (1890-252309; www.pristine.ie) is a franchise of a UK company and is based in Dún Laoghaire. A manager calls to your home to give an estimation of cost. There is no set hourly rate - each job is tailored to your budget and what's required.
CLEANING
A good cleaner will do things that you, even in your most dedicated mood, may forget - vacuuming the tops of curtains, washing light fittings, shampooing carpets, wiping doors and so on.
Southside Cleaners (01-8879006) is used by Pembroke McDonnell Estate Agents to clean high-end apartment lettings to a standard of which the most obsessive-compulsive would be proud. "We pride ourselves on attention to detail," says Margaret Whelan of Southside Cleaners. It also cleans carpets at a reasonable rate. A 5m x 4m carpet, for example, costs €70.
(086-8312957) is a husband-and-wife team who work in Dublin. Kathleen and Harry O'Neill offer a daily rate of €480 to do an average four-bedroom house. They will leave the place shining, including windows, oven and fridge. "Most people will brief us with a list of instructions but when you hire a cleaner for a one-off job, it's good to prioritise things - start at what's most important and work back."
GETTING SPECIFIC
Specific skills are required for some jobs. Antica, the stone specialist, recommends Jacinta McCarthy (087-2339324) for touch-ups. She will finely polish stone floors, fill in imperfections (natural wear and tear) before resealing and polishing the floor. Frank Kierse (01-2808605) specialises in cleaning Marmoleum floors, while EV Kidd (01-8110722) does a brilliant job smartening up wood floors (sanding, staining, removing scratches). Audrey Adams (01-6771960) is used by Francis Street furniture dealers to restore old furniture. Clean windows will make a big difference to the interior of a home. Interior decorator Angela O'Connor uses Damien Clarke (086-3331913). "He's reliable and trustworthy," she says, "and, most importantly, he's fully insured. You have to be very careful that people who work in your home are insured - if they fall and break their neck, you'll be sued."
Getting the whole house, or even a couple of rooms, repainted is messy, but will be worth it come summer. Specialist painter Robbie Keating (087-6424166) is sought-after for period homes (his clients include Louise Kennedy). Another good painter is Michael Davidson (087-6645248), who devotes a lot of time to preparation, leading to very good results. Even getting a few things, such as doors or skirting boards done, will make a big difference.
DECLUTTERING
Freshening up your home is also about getting rid of as much old paraphernalia as possible. In a word, declutter. Rooms will look bigger and brighter. The point of paying someone to help you declutter is to see your home with fresh eyes and to help keep you focused. It does not mean living in a super-minimal way - ie having nothing but Christmas decorations in your attic - and is as much about organisation as anything else.
Ros Sparks (ros@homedecluttering.com, 086-8137984) will tackle your attic, garage, understairs storage, and kitchen or whole house. There's an hour-long briefing the day before decluttering, then a skip arrives, and Sparks divides everything into piles to keep, dump, give to charity and recycle. The process takes a day, at the end of which Sparks removes the skip.
"People often call me before they move house - that way they're not moving things they don't need. It saves money on moving costs." Hers is a personal service, so it helps that she is genuine and discreet. "I'm sympathetic and sentimental - the owners usually get more ruthless than I do!" Consultations are free and cost depends on how many people she needs to draft in to do the job in eight hours. She also offers advice about how to keep the home in order.
Sparks believes decluttering shouldn't be a painful process. "Everyone opens their wardrobe doors and wonders where to start. Have a bag beside your wardrobe and tackle one item per week - for example, shoes, shirts, ties, handbags etc. At the end of one month, the bag will be full and you will have a tidier wardrobe. Toys are the worst clutter of all. Fill a bin liner or two with toys, hide them away and if there's no screaming after two weeks, drive as fast as you can to your local charity shop. Always have two bags to fill with things you don't use any more - one for recycling and the other for the charity shop. When the bags are full, move them out of the house straight away; don't leave them sitting by the front door for weeks."
Oxfam Home (01-4020555) will collect old sofas or other furniture to sell in its Francis Street shop. But only give things in relatively decent condition - nobody wants junk.
GETTING ORGANISED
Tara Dalrymple of Busy Lizzie Lifestyle Management (091-865353; www.busylizzie.ie) offers a decluttering service that crosses into home organisation. An initial consultation is used to talk through rooms such as the home office and kitchen. Her team will then help with purchasing extra storage options (if needed), creating recycling systems, fine-tuning office space (they will even file both electronic and hard copies of household paperwork) and planning children's rooms. This will cost from €200 for a half-day and €450 (plus VAT) for a full day. Dalrymple, who used to work as an event organiser in London, operates Busy Lizzie from Galway but her services are available around the country. Hers is one of a new breed of concierge-style businesses that basically help the frazzled run their lives.
"Try to deal with the household over the week rather than in one big go at the weekend," says Dalrymple. "Get children involved by making it into a game, and create a reward system with stickers on the kitchen door. Give them little projects to do - we did this as children and by making it fun it meant rooms were tidied quickly and we were able to go and play."
At Home Concierge (01-4847181; www.homeconcierge.ie) Ariane Ducas and Aoife Rafferty will organise grocery shopping, cleaning, ironing, drop-off and collection of dry cleaning, and dog walking. The pair has experience in five-star establishments across the world. They offer a four-hour package (€242) to suit individual needs. Two people are available at €290. They also offer a decluttering service.
"Having someone else go through things helps because they're not emotionally attached," says Rafferty. "It's common sense but we take a methodical approach and make it all a bit easier. Paperwork is a big problem. People don't like to throw out documents, for the sake of privacy, so we bring along a shredder and they can get rid of them that way. We always say that when you buy something new you should get rid of two other things from the house - it's the one in, two out rule. In general, get rid of anything you haven't used in the past six months. A home can have so much broken crockery, odd cutlery, old appliances - all should go."
For DIY attempts at decluttering, a good idea is to have a charity box in each main room. It should be deep and have a lid. And it should be attractive - you'll get something for next to nothing at TK Maxx (the Blanchardstown branch is best) - or shop for a luxurious trunk or wooden chest. Put a few disposable bags in each box and (over time) as you're cleaning and tidying each room, throw in things that aren't used or wanted any more. Then, when the bags are full, simply lift them out and bring them to a charity shop.
A FRESH START
Decluttering is all about moving things on - in the box and out the door! Apart from cleaning and decluttering, there are other, inexpensive things that can be done to refresh a home and change atmosphere from one of winter to spring. Rearrange your pictures. Or maybe even have some reframed. Evy Richard (087-7425054) will artfully rehang your pictures. Gary Thornton (086-2416943) is an independent framer who, apart from regular framing, will also take a selection of your family snaps and return them beautifully mounted in a frame of your choice.
Moving furniture around gives a similar feeling of newness to a room. Change anything that can be easily replaced with a lighter colour. A bright throw across a sofa, for example, brings something to a room. Habitat has some in lovely soft, fresh colours and light wools. You can change your cushion covers and rugs; buying a new duvet cover is easy and does change a bedroom.
Think about elements of the home that are associated with winter in a different way. Perhaps the hearth of a fireplace could be used to display a collection of simple glass jars and vases. Everyday objects can be beautiful if grouped together.
After bringing the house up to scratch for spring, try to set aside a little time each week to clean a small area at a time, rather than rely on rare bursts of energy.
TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS
Tackle one type of item each week to declutter
Get rid of anything you haven't used in six months
Involve children in dealing with their clutter
If you buy something new, get rid of two things
Keep a charity box in each main room for collecting unwanted items
Have someone else go through your things - they can be objective
Painting doors and skirting boards will make a big difference
Change rugs, cushion covers and duvet covers to a lighter colour
Hire a specialist for specialist jobs