Fall is almost here, and with cooler temperatures, changing leaves, and more time spent indoors, now is the perfect time to give your home a thorough cleaning.
Spring cleaning gets most of the attention, but fall cleaning can be just as important. After a busy summer filled with open windows, outdoor activities, pets coming in and out, family gatherings, and everyday traffic, dust, dirt, pollen, and grime can build up throughout your home.
A good fall cleaning helps create a cleaner, healthier, and more comfortable space before the windows are closed and the heating system starts running regularly. At Detail Cleaning M&M, we know tackling the entire house can feel overwhelming, so the easiest approach is to take it one room at a time.
Here is our room-by-room guide to getting your home clean, comfortable, and ready for fall.
Start With the Entryway
Your entryway is about to become one of the busiest areas of your home. As fall arrives, shoes, boots, jackets, leaves, mud, and eventually snow will all make their way through the front door.
Clean the floors thoroughly, including corners and baseboards where dirt tends to collect. Wipe down doors, handles, light switches, railings, and trim. Clean or replace entrance mats, and make room in closets or coat racks for jackets, sweaters, umbrellas, and other cool-weather items.
A clean and organized entrance makes a great first impression while helping stop outdoor dirt from traveling throughout the house.
Give the Living Room a Deep Cleaning
As temperatures drop, the living room often becomes the center of the home again. Movie nights, football games, holiday gatherings, and relaxing evenings indoors mean your furniture and floors will probably see a lot more use.
Move smaller furniture and vacuum underneath and behind it. Vacuum upholstered furniture, including underneath cushions. Dust tables, shelves, lamps, picture frames, electronics, ceiling fans, vents, baseboards, and window coverings.
Do not forget frequently touched items such as remote controls, light switches, doorknobs, and cabinet handles.
If the room needs more than routine maintenance, a professional deep cleaning can give your home a fresh seasonal reset.
Freshen Up the Kitchen
The kitchen becomes especially busy during fall and the holiday season. Before Thanksgiving dinners, holiday baking, family gatherings, and colder-weather cooking begin, give the kitchen a detailed cleaning.
Clean countertops, backsplashes, cabinet doors, appliance fronts, sinks, faucets, and flooring. Pay special attention to grease and residue around the stove and cooking areas.
Inside the refrigerator, throw away expired food, wipe down shelves and drawers, and make room for fall groceries and holiday ingredients. The oven and microwave can also benefit from a thorough cleaning before heavier seasonal cooking begins.
Another often-overlooked area is the top of the refrigerator and upper cabinets, where grease and dust can collect over time.
Prepare the Dining Room for Fall Gatherings
Fall usually means more family dinners and get-togethers. Dust furniture, chairs, china cabinets, shelves, light fixtures, and decorative items. Vacuum or mop underneath the table and chairs, and clean the baseboards around the room.
If you have an area rug, vacuum it thoroughly and consider professional cleaning if it has stains or heavy traffic patterns. Once the room is clean, you can bring out your favorite fall decorations and create a warm, welcoming space for family and guests.
Deep Clean the Bedrooms
A clean bedroom can make your home feel much more comfortable as cooler weather arrives. Wash bedding, mattress covers, blankets, and comforters as appropriate. Rotate or flip the mattress if recommended by the manufacturer and vacuum around the bed frame and underneath the bed.
Dust nightstands, lamps, dressers, ceiling fans, blinds, vents, picture frames, and baseboards.
Fall is also a great time to go through closets. Move summer clothing out of the way and bring sweaters, jackets, and cold-weather clothes to the front. Donate anything you no longer wear. Reducing clutter makes cleaning easier and helps create a more relaxing bedroom.
Do Not Forget the Bathrooms
Bathrooms need regular attention throughout the year, but a seasonal deep cleaning can reach areas ordinary maintenance cleaning may miss.
Scrub showers, tubs, sinks, faucets, toilets, tile, and flooring. Look closely at grout lines and areas around fixtures where soap residue, hard-water deposits, or mildew can develop.
Clean mirrors, cabinets, shelves, exhaust fan covers, doors, trim, and baseboards. Go through medicine cabinets and bathroom storage areas and dispose of old or expired products when appropriate. Wash bath mats and shower curtains or liners if they are washable.
Clean the Home Office
Home offices and electronics can quickly become dust magnets. Dust desks, shelves, lamps, monitors, printers, keyboards, and other equipment using cleaning methods appropriate for electronics.
Vacuum around cords and underneath desks and office furniture. Sort through paperwork, mail, and supplies that may have accumulated during the year. A clean and organized workspace can make it easier to stay productive during the busy fall and holiday season.
Pay Attention to Windows and Window Coverings
After a summer of open windows, pollen, dust, insects, and outdoor debris can accumulate around screens, tracks, blinds, curtains, and window sills.
Clean interior glass and wipe down the frames and sills. Vacuum or dust blinds and wash curtains according to their care instructions. Window tracks are particularly easy to overlook and can collect a surprising amount of dirt.
Tackle Baseboards, Doors, Trim, and Walls
Some areas do not need to be cleaned every week, which makes fall the perfect time to give them extra attention.
Baseboards collect dust, pet hair, and dirt throughout the year. Doors and trim can accumulate fingerprints and scuff marks. Walk through your home and wipe down baseboards, doors, door frames, railings, and other trim.
Take a close look at painted walls as well. Small marks may clean up easily, while worn or heavily scuffed areas may benefit from fresh paint. Fall can be a great time to schedule interior painting before the holiday season.
Give Floors and Carpets Extra Attention
Floors take a tremendous amount of abuse. Summer traffic can bring in sand, dirt, grass, pollen, pet hair, and outdoor debris.
Vacuum carpeting slowly and thoroughly, paying particular attention to edges and high-traffic areas. Hard flooring should be vacuumed or swept before being cleaned with a product appropriate for the flooring material.
If regular vacuuming is no longer bringing your carpeting back to life, professional carpet and upholstery cleaning can help remove embedded dirt, stains, and everyday buildup.
Do Not Ignore Utility and Storage Areas
Laundry rooms, mudrooms, basements, and storage spaces may not be the first areas guests see, but they still deserve attention.
Clean around washers and dryers and remove lint and dust from accessible areas. Wipe shelving, appliances, cabinets, and utility sinks. Sweep or vacuum basement floors and clear away cobwebs.
Fall is also a good opportunity to organize storage areas before holiday decorations begin coming out. Removing unnecessary clutter now can save a lot of frustration later.
Easy-to-Forget Fall Cleaning Areas
- Ceiling fans and light fixtures
- Air vents and return vents
- Baseboards and trim
- Doors and doorknobs
- Light switches
- Blinds and window sills
- Underneath beds and furniture
- Refrigerator tops and cabinet tops
- Upholstered furniture
- Area rugs and carpeting
- Stair railings
- Closet shelves
- Bathroom exhaust fan covers
- Trash and recycling containers
These details are often what separate everyday cleaning from a true deep cleaning.
Why Fall Deep Cleaning Is Worth the Effort
Once cooler weather arrives, your home stays closed up much more often. Dust, pet hair, pollen, and other particles that might have escaped through open windows during summer remain indoors.
A thorough cleaning before winter can remove much of that buildup while giving your home a fresh start for the season. It is also much easier to enjoy decorating, entertaining, cooking, and spending time with family when you are starting with a clean home.
Once the major seasonal cleaning is finished, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly recurring cleaning can help keep everything under control throughout fall and winter.
Do Not Have Time to Do It All? Detail Cleaning M&M Can Help
Fall is busy enough without spending an entire weekend scrubbing floors, cleaning baseboards, dusting furniture, and moving appliances.
Detail Cleaning M&M can take care of the cleaning for you. We provide professional deep cleaning, recurring house cleaning, one-time cleaning, move-in and move-out cleaning, carpet and upholstery cleaning, commercial and office cleaning, organizing, construction cleaning, interior painting, and more.
We proudly serve homeowners and businesses throughout Plainfield, Naperville, Aurora, North Aurora, Bolingbrook, Oswego, Sugar Grove, Westmont, Downers Grove, Clarendon Hills, La Grange, Western Springs, Willowbrook, Oak Brook, Hinsdale, La Grange Park, Oak Brook Terrace, Yorkville, Joliet, Shorewood, Romeoville, Montgomery, Minooka, Channahon, Crest Hill, Lockport, Woodridge, Lisle, and surrounding communities.
Get Your Home Clean and Ready for Fall
Spend your fall enjoying your home instead of cleaning it.
Call Michelle at (312) 730-6552 for a free estimate, or contact Detail Cleaning M&M online and let us help create a cleaner, fresher, more comfortable home for you and your family this fall.
Detail Cleaning M&M — We Handle the Details!