Cleaning

If you’ve been called into service to assist your elderly parents with their home care, you might feel— accurately — like you’ve taken on a lot. Surveying the clutter of their kitchen, unearthing long-covered surfaces, figuring out how to restore a cozy sense of safety and utility in their spaces: All of these disparate activities…

Spring cleaning can be a workout. To dust your surfaces, sweep under them and buff your countertops and tables to a lovely shine, you need some level of strength and range of mobility. Or, at least, that’s what many people think. The truth is, spring cleaning doesn’t have to be a strenuous activity. The use…

You can tell a lot about a culture by their cleaning practices. While we can’t travel back in time to quiz ancient civilizations about their spring-cleaning routines, we can examine the clues they left behind. Luckily, some substances are malleable enough for ancient cultures to leave their mark — but enduring enough to have made…

Gleaming marble countertops, squeaky-clean granite floors, sparkling stone surfaces: There’s just something oh-so-comforting about walking into a kitchen with natural-stone surfaces that are completely prepped and ready for use. As it turns out, there’s a reason we appreciate that tidy, clean feeling. Our brains run on orderliness and our bodies physiologically and psychologically respond to…

Let’s do a quick thought experiment. Take a swift glance around your kitchen. Now of your cleaning supplies. What substances do you see? Do you think they’re safe to use for cleaning your countertops? Even if you keep a relatively neutral kitchen, even if you don’t happen to use more potent substances like bleach or…

Quartz may sound like it’s a natural mineral – and it is. However, the engineered quartz that you see in modern kitchens and bathrooms comes from a man-made, manufactured process. It’s formed of a buffet of ‘ingredients,’ different pieces which include resin and more than 90 percent crushed natural stone We tend to connote man-made…

Dirty tile grout: The bane of every tiled-surface owner’s existence. It’s a little thing that can make an entire room feel grimy. As a result, the temptation is always there to take up a scouring pad and attack it with every fiber of your being. This might feel good. It might feel like you’re doing…

For centuries, families across the globe have upheld the tradition of spring cleaning. (The custom has its roots in many different cultures and religions; it’s traced back to a 13-day long cleaning celebration marking the Persian New Year). Every year, come warm weather, people around the world have opened their windows, aired out their homes,…

We think of the ancient baths, those that originated in early Roman times, as exotic, masterfully built pieces of art that served as luxurious centers of self-care. Now, thousands of years later, we live a faster-paced, less communal life. We tend to retreat to our own personal baths for our daily toiletries. We don’t have…

If you have a natural-stone shower, bath, countertop or other surface in your home, you need to be aware of what limescale is, how it forms and, most importantly, how to safely remove it without harmful chemicals that can damage your natural-stone surface even more.  Many homeowners don’t become aware of limescale until there is…

Wondering how to clean a stone fireplace? The good news is that you can easily care for your natural-stone fireplace in – or outside – your home, giving it a brilliant luster and making it a focal point in any setting. Without a proper three-step cleaning, sealing and polishing routine soot, ash and smoke can…

Did you know your typical, common household cleaner is doing more harm than good when it comes to cleaning your granite countertops? If you’re investing in natural-stone surfaces, then it is important to know the best way to clean granite countertops, the types of cleaners that work the best, the types of cleaners that should…

From St. Peter’s Basilica to the Roman Colosseum and even the lobby walls of Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), travertine has been used as a building material all over the world throughout history. Travertine is a sedimentary form of limestone that mostly forms in hot springs and caves in large deposits of calcium carbonate. In…

With the widespread popularity of granite and marble countertops, we’ve seen more and more people choose slate as stone countertop alternative. Not only does slate offer a unique look over other options, but there are practical benefits as well. Not only is slate usually less expensive than granite or marble, but it’s a tough material…

Some great ideas have come out of this trend of lifehack sites and brought with them a resurgence in DIY ingenuity that we love to see. Sites like Lifehacker share great guides and tips, but some other sites or blogs have fallen into the trap of quantity over quality as of late. With that has…

Having been used throughout history as a famously high end and luxurious building material, adorning everything from the Taj Mahal, to the ancient Egyptian pyramids and ubiquitous carved columns in Greece. To this day marble is prized for its high-class appearance, structural rigidity and unparalleled timelessness. However, all that beauty requires some rather specific maintenance…

Slate has been a staple building material for hundreds of years, from historical buildings in Pennsylvania sporting slate features, to now where it’s seeing a bit of a resurgence. With modern rustic design becoming huge over the last decade that seems to have risen hand-in-hand with the craft brewery boom. For a local example to…

Considering the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are reconsidering how we go about our cleaning routines. This and other recent health scares shed light on how paramount it is to maintain clean and safe food-prep surfaces especially. With that being said, there are special considerations to keep in mind when it comes to cleaning and…

Stone paved floors, walkways and roads have been an architectural staple for hundreds of years for good reason: they last. Now in an age of man-made concrete and pavement replacing stone for most of these tasks, a well done natural-stone patio has become quite the luxury for homeowners. A great place to cook, spend time…

In this continually changing landscape of health concerns, it’s more important than ever to stay informed on best health practices — especially when dealing with food-prep surfaces such as your countertops. When it comes to natural-stone surfaces in particular, there are more considerations in terms of cleaning, disinfecting and caring for than with other materials….

If it was good enough to make up the majority of the Colosseum’s structure, we think it’s a safe bet travertine is up to the task in your home. That’s not to say this tough stone is maintenance free, though. While it has mostly stood the test of time structurally in Rome, keeping this natural…