Overlooked Areas of the House to Clean Before Guests Arrive

What should you do before guests comes over?

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Before they come over, I highly recommend first opening all the windows in the house if the weather permits and just air the space out. If this is difficult, fire up your favorite candle and let the wonderful smell permeate, especially in areas like your bathroom.

Don’t spend the time cleaning or organizing areas you know your guests will not go to and instead focus on the living room, kitchen and nearby bathrooms.

If you’re inviting families with young kids, don’t bother tidying up the toys too much. The kids will make an immediate mess anyway. And as a guest myself, I absolutely love seeing tons of toys when I visit someone with my kids because I know they will have a lot of fun AND give me some adult time to socialize.

When you are short on time and have to focus your house cleaning to specific areas, the best way to tackle this is to consider where the guests will spend the most time alone without their hosts.

This alone time gives guests uninhibited time to look around more thoroughly.

Overlooked areas of the house to clean

Front door spiderwebs and leaves

The moment your guests start walking up to your house, they are noticing everything. It’s not malicious but people generally like to scope out their environment. The front door or porch area is where they will wait first after they ring the doorbell.

People tend to focus so much time cleaning inside the house but often forget that right outside is a very commonly overlooked area of your house that guests actually notice first.

Most guests will ring the doorbell, look around the door, the floors, and even the ceiling.
Try to do a quick sweep of the floors and ceiling for any built up leaves or spiderwebs.
If you have time, a wreath is always a cosmetic plus. The home will feel more inviting and well kept.

Bathroom Baseboards

This is actually the space guests tend to spend the most alone time in. If you don’t have a lot of time and have multiple bathrooms, focus on the ones you know the guests will most likely use. When people are alone in the bathroom, doing their business, sometimes longer than others, they will notice the dust that’s piled up on the baseboards and corners of the countertops.
The bathroom tends to be moist and overlooked so the tops of the baseboards will build up very visible matted dust.
Do a quick wipe all around the bathroom and consider using a dryer sheet for longer future prevention. My favorite for both the laundry and baseboards are these.
Personally for me, I always notice this overlooked area of every house I visit.

Yellowing Around Kitchen Faucet

The kitchen is the heart of the house for many people. With dinner parties and cooking being a part of the experience, many home visitors will congregate and snack around the kitchen with you. The crust and yellowing of hard water around the faucets are musts to clean. Don’t forget the bathroom faucets as well.
I recently discovered a cleaning hack with this amazing soap dispensing brush! I’ve always love OXO bottle brushes when my kids were little, so decided to try the same brand again. The trick is to mix 50/50 of Dawn and Vinegar into the dispenser. It seriously works so well for this!

Stove Top

This one is a little difficult to keep clean if you just cooked up a storm for your guests, but try to keep the stove top from being overly dirty.
My favorite sponge to scrub off stove top grime is Scrub Mommy. I actually prefer it over Scrub Daddy. I love how it has two different textured sides, it holds soap suds well, and it doesn’t trap odors after prolonged use.
If the stove top looks like it’s been a long time since it’s been cleaned, the food may feel less appetizing as well.
Also, the smell lingers longer in your home and you will have to overwork your candles to counteract it.

Sticky or Dirty Floors

If you wear shoes in the home, this might be a moot point. However, if you do not allow shoe wearing inside the home, this is an element that I always notice after I get home.
If your floors are filthy and your guests go home and realize how dirty the bottoms of their feet or socks are, it doesn’t leave the best afterthought of your home.
I suggest a quick mop of the high traffic areas to ensure guests don’t leave with dirty feet. This dual spinning electric mop is a staple in my home. I don’t get tired using it and I’m satisfied with the cleaning result.
Another great touch and tip is to purchase some disposable house slippers. It feels so luxurious for guests and you don’t have to worry if your floors aren’t immaculately clean!

That was the quick and dirty of the overlooked areas of the house to clean if you’re pressed for time. Now if you have a little extra time time on your hands, Merry Maids has some awesome additional details you can focus on.