08 June 2010

floor cleaning a-go-go

With my quest for a new rug, I spent part of Saturday vacuuming the living room, rolling up the old rug, and getting ready for some new rug magic. Problem? The living room floor of my rental house definitely had seen better days (and those days were long gone). Big scratches and worn patches. And given the fact that the new rug was smaller than the old one (4'x6' compared to 5'x7'), I needed to do a little work before I could set up the new, well, set-up.

I turned to one of my favorite easy non-toxic sites and then Googled terms like non-toxic wood floor cleaner. The recipe that popped up in multiple places was easy - 1/4 cup vegetable oil + 1/4 cup white vinegar. Mix, rub on, buff in, and voila! Do my floors look brand new? No. But they sure do look a lot better. Plus, I wasn't worried about fumes or the cats somehow poisoning themselves if they walked across the slightly damp floors.

In fact, I had to stop Colette from licking the floors. Yum.

6 comments:

M said...

The floor really does look great! But I have to ask - how did you handle the logistics of moving the furniture and everything? Where did you put it all while you were scrubbing the floors? I need to do some major floor-cleaning, but the lack of places to shove furniture is what's stopping me...

L. said...

Very nice! I might have to try that recipe on the only portion of wood flooring in my house; it's definitely seen better days.

Almostima said...

Very impressed! I wonder if it would also work on manufactured wood floors...

jerseygirl77 said...

So, what we are saying, is that you cleaned your floor with salad dressing? ;-)

BTW, I need some plant advice! Can you help me?

Gretchen said...

@M - I actually only scrubbed the center floor this time around, although I did take the opportunity while the old rug was up to give a really good vacuum and dust mopping to the areas under the furniture. A little stacking of elements did come into play, though.

@jersey - yes, salad dressing :). Drop me a line and I'll give my best advice! gretchengoodell at hotmail.com

JC said...

Is it ridiculous that I can't wait to get back from our trip in Asia to scrub my floors with your formula? Your old picture looks just like our floors upstairs and your new pic give me hope! hope all is well!