Has the millennial generation made cleaning cool?

By Ruth MacEachern

Product Manager

If you don’t know what Zoflora or a hinch basket is then you’ve not been paying attention to social media. The last year or so has seen cleaning and all and any activities associated with interiors as the new hypes, especially with the millennial generation. Thanks to influencers and personalities like Mrs Hinch and Marie Kwondo cleaning is now cool, you can find over 2000 interior themed Instagram accounts. And the hashtag interior has 77 million posts.

Interior obsession isn’t a new fad, there’s always been television programmes around the theme; DIY SOS, Changing Rooms, Grand Designs, 60 Minute Make-Over, How Clean is Your House – to name but a few. The Great British public love spending money on their homes, with Brits spending more than £40 million in the last five years. It was only natural that this obsession moved onto the modern platform of social media and with Instagram being such a visual platform it’s a perfect fit. 

Today social media can act as a lucrative income with the title as ‘influencer’ becoming an actual profession and one that can earn someone a decent wage. Simply by posting a photo with a branded product an influencer can make hundreds. Of course, it all depends on how many followers and likes an influencer has and how well their posts engage with people and only ones that have a lot of followers will do well out of it. This does, however, mean you should approach products saw on social media with caution. Unfortunately, there will be social media personalities that won’t care what they are promoting or even fully know what it is as they are supposed to be promoting and are just doing it for the income. 

Recently, as a result of complaints Instagram has insisted that posts that are adverts and promotions have to be labelled as such and cannot be presented as ‘genuine’ posts. This hopefully means we are seeing an adjustment to this new generation and future ‘influencers’ will be transparent in their posts. Like when buying anything you want to make an informed purchase so you want the truth – how much does it cost and does it work?

The best practice with posts on social media, or even blogs, websites and interior themed online stores is to use them as ‘inspiration’ or #inspo. Chances are with most purchases you can find a cheaper alternative anyway but there is a risk with quality. Always check out the reviews and be weary that if a business only has positive reviews they’re probably hiding something dodgy. A business that has 85% excellent to good reviews is probably trustworthy and a good thing to look out for is if a business has replied to all and any negative reviews and how they dealt with them. 

When it comes to actual cleaning tips, a quick Google will usually confirm if it’s genuine. Things like bicarbonate of soda and vinegar have been used for decades so if an Instagram influencer is recommending to leave a bicarbonate mixture on your bathroom tiles – it’s been done before and will probably work. 

Another big favourite of the Brits is the big refurbs, take Grand Designs for example – it began in 1999 and is still just as popular (maybe even more so) today. We love to see a home come together, from a shell of foundations and frames to how the kitchen will be laid out, tiles used in the bathroom then the finished article complete with aesthetically pleasing colours and homey accessories like canvas prints and candles – and all the dramas along the way! On cold winter days we dream of Julie and Jenny’s converted windmill with underfloor heating or in the summer heat Steve and Pat’s rooftop garden, basically chances are there’s been a project on Grand Designs that you’ve thought YES I’d have that in my house.  

Ventilation may not provide a pretty feature in a room but it is an essential part of any property. There’s no point spending thousands on new carpets, paint and wallpaper if your home is going to be full of moisture, which causes mould – a very unsightly home accessory! It may not be the most fun or glamourous part of putting a home together but it does so much for a property it deserves to be given some thought and consideration. 

Ventilation has some serious significant bearing on the health of your home. People may prefer tiles over laminate or wallpaper over paint but nobody wants mould in their home! Positive Input Ventilation works by drawing in fresh, filtered and clean air from outside, the ventilation then dilutes, displaces and replaces moisture-laden air to control humidity levels so that condensation, mould and other indoor contaminants are significantly reduced.

PIV eliminates condensation, preventing mould by ensuring any excess moisture in the air is removed so it cannot build up. The best solution for condensation is proper ventilation, in order to vent condensation your home needs to have an adequate air flow and kept at a good temperature. When a room gets to a certain temperature, humidity gathers creating moisture in the air. If this excess moisture is not ventilated it will cause condensation.

An investment in a high-quality ventilation system will mean an ultimate savings of time and effort. Once your ventilation system is installed, you can forget that it is there as it circulates purified air through your home. There's a ventilation system for each home, so contact one of our specialists today and make sure your instagramable home stays 'follow-worthy'.