- 4 days ago
Brighten an entire room by cleaning the baseboards, doors, and trim the right way, starting with dry dusting so you do not turn dust into mud. The method here is simple and practical: dust first, then wash, rinse, and dry for a streak-free finish that makes the edges of the room look cared for again.
The lesson covers painted trim, where a little dish soap and warm water is enough, and bare wood, where a small amount of wood oil soap is the better choice. It also shows easy ways to work standing up with a cloth on a broom or flat mop, plus the slower hands-and-knees method for stubborn dirt in grooves and panels.
Top-down cleaning, fresh water when it turns gray, and a gentle touch on black scuff marks all help protect the finish. It is a useful home cleaning tutorial for deep cleaning, house cleaning routines, cleaning hacks, and simple low-cost ways to refresh a room.
SEO: Ideal for viewers searching for how to clean baseboards, clean doors and trim, deep cleaning tips, painted trim cleaning, wood trim care, and streak-free home cleaning. A helpful home-care guide for quick refreshes, spring cleaning, and practical cleaning methods that make a whole room look brighter.
The lesson covers painted trim, where a little dish soap and warm water is enough, and bare wood, where a small amount of wood oil soap is the better choice. It also shows easy ways to work standing up with a cloth on a broom or flat mop, plus the slower hands-and-knees method for stubborn dirt in grooves and panels.
Top-down cleaning, fresh water when it turns gray, and a gentle touch on black scuff marks all help protect the finish. It is a useful home cleaning tutorial for deep cleaning, house cleaning routines, cleaning hacks, and simple low-cost ways to refresh a room.
SEO: Ideal for viewers searching for how to clean baseboards, clean doors and trim, deep cleaning tips, painted trim cleaning, wood trim care, and streak-free home cleaning. A helpful home-care guide for quick refreshes, spring cleaning, and practical cleaning methods that make a whole room look brighter.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00There is a dinginess that creeps over a whole room so slowly you never notice it happening.
00:05And it is not on the floor nor the walls where you look,
00:09but down along the baseboards and up the doors and the trim,
00:13that grimy gray film and the dust in the grooves and the black scuff marks along the bottom.
00:20And it makes a whole clean room look dull and tired without your ever knowing why.
00:26And here's the thing most folk get wrong when they finally go at it.
00:30They take a wet rag straight to that dusty trim and only make mud of it,
00:36smearing the dust into a gray paste and rubbing it into the grooves, and it comes up worse.
00:42There is an order and a way to clean baseboards and doors and trim,
00:46so they come up bright and streak-free and stay that way.
00:50And today I am going to show you exactly that, step by step,
00:55so the whole room brightens by the cleaning of the edges most folk forget.
01:00Let me show you.
01:01Here is the thing to understand first, for it is the one rule that saves you from making mud,
01:06and it governs the whole order of the job.
01:09You dust before you wet, always.
01:12For the trim and the baseboards gather a great deal of dry dust,
01:16in a film over the flat and down in every groove and ledge.
01:19And if you take a wet cloth to that dry dust, you do not lift it,
01:24you turn it to a gray mud and smear it about and grind it into the corners,
01:28making a worse mess than you began with.
01:31But if you first take off all that dry dust while it is dry,
01:35then your wet cleaning after has only the grime to lift,
01:38not a whole coat of dust, and it comes up clean and easy.
01:42So the whole job goes in that order.
01:45Dry first to take off the dust, then wet to lift the grime,
01:49then dry again to buff it streak-free.
01:51Dust before you wet.
01:53That is the rule that saves the whole job.
01:55Now let me give you the way, step by step.
01:58Quick word before we go further.
02:00My name is Esther Yoder, and the old household ways handed down to me,
02:05the kind I am sharing today, and a great many more besides,
02:09are far more than I could ever fit into one video.
02:12I have gathered the whole of them into a book,
02:15and you will find it at EliasYoder.com.
02:18If today's tips serve you,
02:20that is where the rest of what my mother and grandmother taught me lives,
02:24all in the one place.
02:26Now, to the trim.
02:27My grandmother had a saying that fits this exactly,
02:30that a room is judged by its edges,
02:33for anyone can clean the middle of a floor.
02:36She meant that the true measure of a well-kept room
02:39is not the broad, easy places that show,
02:42but the edges and corners,
02:44and the low trim that folks skip,
02:46and that a room whose baseboards and trim are clean
02:49looks cared for all through,
02:52while one whose middle is scrubbed,
02:54but whose edges are grimy,
02:56looks neglected however you polish the center.
02:58And she cleaned her own trim on her hands and knees to prove it,
03:02of which more in a moment.
03:03So here is her kind of edge minding,
03:06the cleaning of the baseboards and doors and trim in its right order.
03:11So, the first step, the dusting, before any water touches it.
03:15Take a soft duster, or a dry soft cloth, or a soft brush,
03:19and go along all your trim and baseboards,
03:22and up your doors, taking off the dry dust.
03:25And mind especially the ledges, and the grooves,
03:28and the panels of the doors, and the top edges of the trim,
03:31for dust settles thick in those hollows,
03:34and along those top ledges where the flat cloth misses.
03:37And here is a care worth naming.
03:40Use a soft brush or duster,
03:42not a harsh or scratchy thing,
03:44for you do not want to scratch the paint,
03:46or the finish of the trim as you dust.
03:49Soft, so it lifts the dust and marks nothing.
03:52Dust it all off dry, grooves and ledges and all.
03:56That is step one,
03:57and skipping it is why folk make mud.
04:00Now, the second step, choosing the right cleaner,
04:02for painted trim and bare wood want different things.
04:06If your trim and baseboards are painted, which most are,
04:09a few drops of plain dish soap in a bucket of warm water is all you need.
04:13The mild, soapy water lifts the grimy film beautifully and harms nothing.
04:18But if your trim is bare or oiled wood, not painted,
04:22then do not use the plain vinegar I so often reach for.
04:26For as I have told you, acid is hard on wood.
04:29Instead, use a proper wood oil soap, made for wood,
04:34which cleans it and feeds it both.
04:36And here is an honest and important tip about that wood oil soap,
04:41which the makers do not stress and folk get wrong.
04:44A very, very little of it goes a long way.
04:48Just a capful in a bucket.
04:50And if you use too much, it leaves a sticky, oily film on the wood
04:55that gathers dust and grime worse than before.
04:59So with the wood soap, use a small amount, less than you think.
05:03Dish soap and water for painted,
05:06a little wood oil soap for wood.
05:08That is step two.
05:10Now the third step, the tool to reach it with.
05:13And here you have three good ways,
05:15from the easiest to the most thorough.
05:17The first and the kindest to your back and knees.
05:21Take your washing cloth, wet in the solution,
05:24drape it over the head of a broom
05:26and band it on tight with a rubber band.
05:29And now you can wipe your baseboards clean standing straight up,
05:33no getting down on the floor at all,
05:35and with a tool you already have.
05:37The second is much the same.
05:39A flat mop or a flat-headed pole wrapped in a cloth,
05:43dipped in the solution,
05:44and run along the trim, again standing up.
05:48Those two are for cleaning quick and easy without kneeling.
05:51And the third is the old way, the thorough one,
05:54the one my grandmother taught me.
05:56Down on your hands and knees with the cloth in your hand.
06:00Yes, it is harder on the body,
06:02but I will be honest with you.
06:04When the trim is truly dirty,
06:06nothing else gets every spot the way your own hand and eye do down close to it,
06:11into every groove and corner.
06:13So the broom or the flat mop for the quick, regular clean,
06:17and the hands and knees way when it is really dirty and you want it perfect.
06:22Now the fourth step,
06:23and this is the heart of getting it truly clean and streak-free,
06:27the three-cloth way,
06:29the same wisdom I have given you for the furniture and the glass.
06:33Three cloths, each for its own job.
06:36The first dipped in the soapy water to wash the grime off.
06:40The second dipped in plain clean water only, no soap,
06:45to rinse the surface after,
06:47carrying off the loosened grime and soap.
06:49And the third, a clean dry one,
06:52a soft microfiber if you have it,
06:55to wipe it dry after rinsing,
06:57which both dries it and buffs away any streak,
07:00leaving the trim clean and clear rather than dried with a filmy smear.
07:05Wash, rinse, dry.
07:07Three cloths, and the trim comes up bright and streakless.
07:12A small honest note,
07:14if you used the wood oil soap on wood,
07:17you need not rinse it,
07:18for it is meant to stay.
07:20So there you use just two cloths,
07:23the oil soap wash and the dry buff.
07:26But for painted trim with the soapy water,
07:28the three cloths.
07:30And here is the fifth thing,
07:31the way of working that keeps you from spreading the dirt about.
07:35Two habits worth the knowing.
07:37The first, always work from the top down.
07:40Start at the top of the door or the trim,
07:43and clean your way downward,
07:44so that any drips and loosened grime run down onto what you have not yet cleaned.
07:49Never down over what you just cleaned.
07:52And when you wipe that dusty top ledge,
07:54where the dust gathers thickest,
07:57flip your cloth to a clean side after,
07:59so you do not carry that ledge dust smearing down the rest of the door.
08:04Top down and flip the cloth off the dusty ledge.
08:08And the second habit,
08:09which folks skip and which makes all the difference,
08:12change your dirty water.
08:14As you clean,
08:15your soapy bucket and your rinse bucket grow dirty,
08:18turning gray and brown with the lifted grime.
08:21And once the water is dirty,
08:23you are no longer cleaning.
08:24You are only spreading dirty water about and leaving a film.
08:28So the moment your water turns gray,
08:31dump it and mix a fresh clean batch,
08:33and go on with clean water.
08:35Change the water when it grays.
08:37Clean water cleans,
08:39dirty water smears.
08:40And the sixth and last,
08:42the stubborn scuff marks.
08:44Those black and gray scuffs and marks along the bottom of white trim
08:48that the washing will not lift.
08:50And here I must give you a firm,
08:52honest caution.
08:53For this is where folk ruin their paint.
08:56For those scuffs,
08:57a melamine sponge,
08:58the kind called a magic eraser,
09:01works wonderfully.
09:02You wet it and go over the scuff
09:04and it lifts right off.
09:06But hear me well,
09:07for this is important
09:08and the very reason folk wreck their trim.
09:11That magic eraser is not a soft sponge at all.
09:14It is in truth an extremely fine abrasive,
09:17a very fine sandpaper.
09:19And that is how it works,
09:21by sanding the scuff away.
09:23And that means,
09:24on painted trim,
09:25if you bear down and scrub hard with it,
09:27you will sand the paint itself right off,
09:30dulling and thinning and ruining the finish.
09:33So use it barely and gently,
09:35the lightest touch,
09:37just enough to lift the scuff and no more.
09:39Test it on a hidden spot first if you are unsure
09:42and never, ever scrub hard with it on painted trim.
09:46Gentle as a feather on a scuff and no more.
09:49That is the whole care of the magic eraser.
09:52Then wipe the spot with a clean cloth
09:55and it looks like new.
09:56And a plain word of safety as ever.
09:59Keep to your plain cleaners and never mix them.
10:02Above all, never mix bleach with anything,
10:05nor with the vinegar you may use elsewhere,
10:08for that makes a poison gas.
10:10And mind your bare wood,
10:11using the oil soap and not the vinegar,
10:14and not over-wetting it,
10:16for standing water harms wood.
10:18Those cares,
10:19and it is a safe and simple job.
10:21Now think a moment about why we came to skip
10:24the baseboards and trim entirely,
10:26or to buy a special deer trim cleaner
10:29and a special tool for the job,
10:31when a bit of dish soap,
10:32three cloths,
10:33and a broom
10:34clean the edges of a whole house for pennies
10:37and brighten every room.
10:39It is worse than a plot,
10:41for no one had to arrange it.
10:42There is a small profit in the special cleaners
10:45and the fancy tools,
10:46and none at all in teaching folk
10:48that the edges are what make a room look kept,
10:52and that a cloth on a broom
10:53and a dab of dish soap do it.
10:56So the plain old minding of the edges
10:58just stopped being handed down,
11:00because no one profits
11:02by your brightening your own rooms from the cupboard.
11:05My grandmother cleaned her edges on her knees,
11:08and her rooms looked cared for all through,
11:10and somewhere between her day and ours,
11:13we were taught to scrub the middle
11:15and let the edges go gray.
11:17The mending of it is a duster,
11:19three cloths,
11:20and a little dish soap.
11:21You dust all the trim and the doors
11:23and the grooves dry,
11:25before any water,
11:26so you do not make mud.
11:28You mix dish soap and water for painted trim,
11:31or a little wood oil soap for wood.
11:34You reach it with a cloth on a broom,
11:36or a flat mop standing up,
11:38or down on your knees when it is truly dirty.
11:41You wash, rinse, and dry
11:43with three cloths for streak-free trim,
11:45working top-down,
11:47flipping the cloth off the dusty ledge,
11:50and changing your water when it grays.
11:52And you lift the stubborn scuffs
11:54with a barely gentle touch of the magic eraser,
11:58never scrubbing hard on paint.
12:00And your baseboards and doors and trim
12:03come up bright and clean and streakless,
12:05and the whole room brightens with them,
12:08for pennies.
12:09That is how it comes home,
12:10one dusted ledge,
12:12one bright baseboard at a time,
12:14the keeping of your own house
12:16back in your own hands.
12:18So here is what I would ask of you.
12:20This week, pick one room
12:22and clean its edges the way I showed you.
12:24Dust first,
12:26then the three cloth wash-rinse-dry,
12:28and the gentle eraser on the scuffs.
12:31And then stand back
12:32and look at the whole room.
12:34And come back and tell me in the comments
12:36whether it did not brighten the whole of it,
12:38for I do love to hear of a room made new
12:41by the cleaning of the edges folk forget.
12:44And tell me too, while you are there,
12:47your county and the age of your house.
12:49For the old houses have the deep grooved trim
12:52and the tall baseboards that gather the most
12:55and reward this most.
12:56And I learn from every one of you
12:59how the keeping goes where you live.
13:01And if your own mother or grandmother
13:03had a way of cleaning the trim and the edges
13:06that I have not named here,
13:08tell me that most of all,
13:10for that is how this goes.
13:11We share what we were given.
13:14I read every comment,
13:16and I learn from you
13:17the way the old women learned from one another
13:20across the fence line,
13:21one room and one season at a time.
13:25Next time, I will show you the old ways
13:28of keeping the walls themselves clean and bright,
13:31the marks and the handprints
13:33and the dinginess that creeps over a painted wall,
13:36cleaned gently with the plain cheap things
13:39so they come up fresh without harming the paint,
13:43so that between the trim and the walls,
13:46your whole room is bright
13:47from floor to ceiling for pennies.
13:51There is a right and an old way
13:53to keep a room's edges and surfaces clean
13:56that runs on a duster and three cloths
13:59and a bit of dish soap rather than a shelf of special cleaners.
14:04But this week, you start with the edges.
14:07You dust before you wet, wash, and rinse and dry
14:10with your three cloths,
14:12work top-down, and change your graying water,
14:16and lift the scuffs barely and gently
14:19so you spare the paint.
14:20And you will understand,
14:22as my grandmother did on her knees at the baseboard,
14:26that a room is judged by its edges,
14:29for anyone can clean the middle of a floor,
14:32that the dinginess dulling a whole clean room
14:35is often only the grime on the trim you never minded,
14:39and that dusting before you wet
14:42is the plain rule that keeps you from making mud of it.
14:46The household kept the plain old way
14:49is the one that remembers to mind the edges
14:52as much as the middle,
14:53and so keeps every room looking cared for all through.
14:58And that is a thing we are only just starting to remember.