Dining rooms are a beautiful part of any home. The central location of the home, the dining room is a place of gathering, family, and love. Whether you’re sharing a regular meal or hosting a special event, the dining room is a place of happiness. Dining rooms are also a great place to display the nicer things in your home: a fine wood table, fancy china, elaborate decorations, and more. The dining room is a centerpiece of your home, but all these decorations and finer things in combination with its regular use can mean it’s hard to know how to clean a dining room the right way.
Cleaning a dining room requires a few different approaches. Dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, wood treatments: all of this will require attention and care in order to maintain. Since people are eating in this space, you’re also going to want to use non-toxic products to make sure nothing damages or risks the health of people around you. Luckily, our team has spent time researching the best non-toxic and trustworthy cleaning routines for your dining room that will help keep your space in top condition year-round.
Dusting Your Dining Room
Materials Needed:
- Duster
- Microfiber Cloths
- Distilled White Vinegar
- Dawn Dusting Spray
Dusting is one of the best ways to get your dining room clean regularly. From your dining room table to light fixtures and decorations, dust can collect quickly, so you’ll need to dust your dining room regularly. You can do this with a few different things. The most popular type of duster is a Swiffer brand, but any duster will do. One with an extendable arm will be best to dust off the higher parts of your dining room, but with a stepladder you can make do as well. Dust down every surface you can reach. For surfaces that might come into contact with food or beverages, you can use a microfiber cloth sprayed with either Dawn Dusting Spray or distilled white vinegar in order to thoroughly cleanse and remove any dirt or debris.
Sanitizing Your Dining Room
Materials Needed:
- Microfiber Cloths
- Distilled White Vinegar
- Lysol Disinfectant Spray
- Wood-Formulated Spray
Sanitizing your dining room is a good idea before meals or when you’re getting ready to host guests and need a place to stay. Soap and water can’t always do the trick; sometimes you need a good rinse with specially formulated products that will help keep your dining room absolutely clean.
For a targeted cleaning solution, you can spray down a microfiber cloth with Lysol disinfecting spray and wipe down all surfaces it’s safe for.
This will not work for wooden surfaces: wood can get damaged by this spray if not properly or carefully treated. However, you can buy a wood-formulated spray for specific treatment of wooden surfaces, tables, or other wood surfaces, something that will help keep your dining room very clean.
If you prefer natural cleaning, you can always turn to distilled white vinegar as a natural grease-cutting detergent that will help remove the dirt and grime from any surface. Spray your vinegar on the cloth first and then wipe down all surfaces until you’re fully sanitized and ready to go.
Vacuuming and Washing Your Dining Room
Materials Needed:
- Vacuum
- Carpet Shampoo
- Flat Mop
- Floor Cleaner
Vacuuming your dining room should be a regular part of your cleaning routine. Getting a good, regular vacuum in your home is a great start to keeping your dining room clean. Brands like Bissell, Dyson, Shark, or Hoover are all great brands that provide innovative, top-of-the-line vacuum cleaners.
Vacuum your dining room after every meal, before you have guest, and when doing a regular cleaning. Make sure to vacuum slowly over your carpet. Vacuuming in cross-hatch patterns, first one way and then the other, will help pick up the most dirt.
You can also sprinkle carpet shampoo prior to vacuuming and work it into the carpet with a stiff brush. Allow to sit and rest before vacuuming up the remainder.
Wash your floor with a wet mop, and floor cleaner and let it air dry. We recommend Mr Clean Multi Surface Cleaning, which is safe to use on ceramic, vinyl, and varnished hardwood. For wood flooring use Murphy Oil Soap.
Cleaning Your Dining Room Dishware
Materials Needed:
- Mild Dish Soap
- Vinegar
- Microfiber Cloth
Cleaning fine china, glassware, and other fancy dishes can be a challenge if you’ve never tried it before. You can’t just put them in the dishwasher; the hot water and aggressive cleaning rotations could crack, damage, or bubble up the dish sealing. Instead, you’ll need to turn to gentle hand washing in order to clean them thoroughly.
Soak your fine dishes in a lukewarm bath in the sink. Add a squirt of mild dish soap and vinegar into the mixture to help dissolve grease and food particles. Avoid using a sponge or dish brush, as that can be too tough on the dish itself. Instead, stick to a microfiber cloth or dish rag that’s soft and gentle. Apply gentle pressure and wash in a circular motion, then air dry and polish with a dry microfiber rag before returning them to their display.
Polish silver with a commercial silver polish and microfiber rag before returning to an airtight container to prevent tarnishing.
Maintaining Your Dining Room
Keeping your dining room in top shape will require some patience and hard work in order to maintain. Luckily, regular cleaning can help keep your dining room in good condition so you don’t have to do a deep clean every week. Dusting should occur at least twice a week to help keep the dirt from building up. Vacuum after big meals or on the weekends, and before special events. Polish silverware and fine china once a month and wipe down surfaces and tables every week in order to keep them clean.
Cleaning your dining room is an important part of keeping your home clean and organized. The variety of a dining room means it can be hard to know how to keep every part clean, but our guide will help you target every part of your home and keep your dining room clean on every occasion.