Tips to Keep Your Indoors Clean This Holi

India, a bespoke confluence of culture and traditions, encompasses various festivals across diverse communities. With Holi being just around the corner, colours, celebration and the cleaning chaos prompt the need to safeguard your home from getting smeared with gulal. Not only do we need to figure out which worn-out attire will work for the day but also how to protect your interiors and the furniture from getting tinted in the spirit of Holi. Don’t let your white sofa hinder your Holi at home plans this year!

Through this blog, we have curated tips to help you keep your house protected, right from pre-festivity precautions to endgame Holi hacks!

Walls

The hardest part after playing with beautiful colours is cleaning up after celebrating Holi at home! Keeping the most exposed part of the house spotless is a tough job but not impossible! 

Easy Clean or Gloss-finish Paint 

If you have a home full of kids, then giving your walls an anti-stain varnish is a good choice. This option might be a little expensive than the others but always a good choice when it comes to cleanliness. This type of paint can be easily cleaned off with just water and a sponge. Other than Holi colours – pencil marks, tea spills and handprints can also be easily cleaned off the walls with ease.

Check for Cracks and Waterproofing

Making sure that both the indoor and outdoor walls are crack-proofed and water-resistant is a priority. Make certain that there is no seepage and cracks in the walls for the colour to get in. 

Plastic Wrap  

Another trick is to cover up your walls is by using cling film or plastic sheets. This might be a time-consuming Holi hack but it is effective and does not burn a hole in your pocket.

Touch-up

A useful Holi hack is getting a touch-up for your walls. This is an extra outlay option to get the damage re-painted. Additionally, it’s the only way that does not require hours of scrubbing or stressing over the walls. 

DIY It!

Do you love DIY? Why not spruce up Holi at home wall into a family DIY project? Stain that wall again! Go crazy and express through your paints. Creating your own accent wall is another Holi hack. The good part is that you can have fun while creating patterns on the wall.

How to Clean it Yourself?

For stained walls, bleach and water solution is effective way to get rid of the paint. Bleach helps in eradicating stains but one must make sure that the bleach isn’t concentrated. Scrubbing the wall with a sponge dipped in this solution might get out the Holi taints. 

If your walls have a non-washable finish, then calmly soak wet stains with tissue paper and apply a paste of baking soda and water to the stained area. Leave it for 15 minutes and wipe it off with a damp microfibre cloth. 

Floors

It might be easy to not get in contact with the walls, furniture or even the windows. However, it is a trick when it comes to skipping steps on the floor.

• If you have marble flooring anywhere in your home, it is likely that after Holi it will be impossible to restore it. Therefore, avoiding playing indoors is the best option. 
• Make a newspaper map. Create a track by laying out newspapers in the house. 
• For spilt dry gulal on your wooden, marble or tiled floor, try brooming it off rather than cleaning with a wet or damp cloth.
• Soak the spilt wet colour immediately with tissue paper or cloth, then use a floor cleaner and water solution to scrub them out. 
• Holi tips of applying a solution of baking soda and water is the best a man can get.

• Protecting outdoor stone flooring might not seem like the one we really have to worry about but the first impression of a home starts from the outside. 
• We all prefer playing Holi outside the house and that leaves our verandah or gallery tinted with colours. It is always good to clear the area with mild scrubbing and soapy water.

Read Also@ Top 5 Holi Decoration Ideas for 2021

Furniture

• Furniture, especially fabric, acrylic or wooden pieces are predisposed to get stained during the festival of colours. The most appropriate thing to do is tuck them away– shifting most of it in a guest bedroom or storeroom of your house. 
• In a tighter space covering your furniture pieces with cling film or plastic sheets is the best option. 
• For dry Holi colours, prefer vacuuming the surfaces or dusting it off with a nylon brush. 
• Using sheen protectant is another Holi hack, it will not only protect your wooden furniture but give them a bright shine. Make sure the sheen remains intact and prefer an undercoat with a water-based solution. 
• For a wooden setting, wiping off the stains with a cotton pad dipped in acetone will be really helpful. 
• For a leather sofa set, clean with a damp cloth and ethanol.
• One can remove the wet stains from cushion covers by soaking them in either equal parts of water and vinegar solution or water and lemon juice. Alternatively, you can apply the solution directly to the affected area, wash with cold water and dry in the sun. 

Bathroom

Even if you avoid getting your house stained with Holi colours, the bathroom can’t be saved!

Apply oil of petroleum jelly on all the doorknobs, handles and bathroom fittings to avoid them from getting dirty. The oily surface will not let the colour sit on anything.

Clean the bathroom tiles with a little shaving cream or the juice of half a lemon which will help erase the colour. 

Glassware

It is hard to protect your windows from balloons being thrown everywhere. Well, it is not that hard to clean your windows after all is that is done immediately after they get stained or wet. Wipe the glass with a damp cloth and any glass cleaner. 

If the stains dry and set on the surface– spray a little acetone and lemon juice mixture or apply shaving cream on the stains and wipe off with a microfiber cloth for a clean and shiny surface. 

Unlike the famous catchphrase “daag ache hain” (stains are good), we’d say they are only good for your home until they come off easily. 

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ’s)