Four Cleaning Tips From an Innkeeper

Innkeepers work hard at presenting the best and cleanest establishment possible. Recently, Association Director, Amy Hager, got to “play” innkeeper for the day at Waypoint House B&B in Berryville, VA. After a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs with ricotta cheese (get the recipe here) Innkeeper Rachel Worsley taught Amy how to flip a room and prepare it for the arriving guests. Here are four tips that you can use when you are cleaning your bedroom or bathroom this spring. [caption id="attachment_7086" align="alignright" width="225"] Clean natural pine hardwood floors[/caption]

1. Sal Suds (a bio-degradable cleaning solution that is created with naturally derived surfactants) is a great “green cleaning solution” that can be used in the bathroom, to mop floors and in the kitchen. It is great on the natural pine hardwood floors at Waypoint House B&B because it doesn’t create a waxy build up like Murphy Wood Cleaner or other wood waxes. The cleaner has no preservatives and no added color.
2. Rachel kept saying “A dry bathroom is a clean bathroom.” After using the Sal Suds and a hospital disinfectant cleaning solution with a wet cloth, she wipes down all the surfaces with a drying towel to prevent any opportunity for moisture to sit and cause ugly water spots or stains on the clean bathroom (also, mildew would have nowhere to grow.)
3. Cotton Duvet Covers are great to preserve and protect your down comforter, but can get wrinkly sitting in the closet. Once the cover is on the comforter, pull it tight and lightly spray it with a water bottle to get the wrinkles out. In 5 to 10 minutes the winkles will disappear. [caption id="attachment_7805" align="alignright" width="300"] Before & After[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_7088" align="alignright" width="300"] Rachel has a great technique to folding sheets and blankets[/caption]

1. Rachel has a great technique to folding sheets and blankets to make it easy to make the bed alone. Watch this video of how Rachel does it. Here are the basic steps:

• Fold the sheet or blanket in half, bottom to top, with the “good” sides facing each other.  Your tag edge, or stitched edges will be the ones you see facing out after this first fold.

• Fold the sheet or blanket in half again, this time from side to side.  The item is now in quarters.  This is important when you go to make the bed.

• Keep folding into halves until you get the sheet the size you need to fit in your storage area.

• To make the bed, unfold the sheet or blanket until it is at its quarter size.  Line it up with the top of the bed and place the folded side on the centerline of the bed.  Flip the cloth out from one side of the bed to the other, then pull the top edge down to the bottom of the bed.

• See a video here of how Rachel folds her liens.

One really unique tool at Waypoint House B&B is an Ironite from the 1940s. Rachel is able to use this machine to iron sheets, table placemats, cloths and more! The automatic ironer owner’s manual states you can “Take a holiday from hand ironing… for the rest of your life!” Rachel claims the Ironite has saved her hours of hand ironing and is easy to use. She demonstrated on a table place mat, but basically you use your knees to manage the controls, keeping your hands free to guide the garment into the wheel and press out all the wrinkles. [caption id="attachment_7721" align="alignright" width="300"] 1940s Ironite[/caption] Overall, Rachel at Waypoint House B&B maintains a fresh, clean, modern B&B. Go here to check out the profile and book a room today (PS, The Shore Room with the blue wall is the one Amy stayed in she LOVED it)