Completing daily tasks like sweeping the floors or washing dishes is like second nature, but your walls tend to get overlooked and put on the back burner. With furniture scuffs, splatters, fingerprints, and more, it’s safe to say interior walls could use a little tender, love, and care. If you have kids, your walls are probably covered in crayons, sticky fingerprints, and who knows what else. Over time, they can actually become one of the dirtiest surfaces in your home, and it can be hard to ignore. No matter the paint color, your interior walls could probably use a deep wall cleaning to bring them back to life.

With soap and water, you can maintain the luster and brightness of your walls, regardless of the paint finish. Whether you’re doing a weekly home refresh or deep cleaning for the new year, add this simple task to your to-do list for a huge difference.

How often should you clean your walls?

Sometimes you won’t need to keep track of how often you need to clean your walls. The dirt itself will make that call for you. However, you should clean your interior walls at least once a year to maintain your beautiful paint job. Additionally, how often you clean can be dependent from room to room. For instance, your kids’ playrooms may need more attention and soapy suds than your bedroom.

If you ever notice a spot, take on spot cleaning. Do this at least once a month or as needed. The quicker your clean the stain, the easier it will be to remove the markups. All it takes is a swift clean by wiping down your walls with mild soap.

How To Clean Your Walls

Depending on your paint finish, the wall cleaning process may vary. However, these easy tips will work for any surface and wall type even if they’re covered in matte or gloss finish.

What You’ll Need to Clean Your Walls

• Liquid dish soap
• Sponge
• Buckets (2)

#1 Start by preparing your space.

For a thorough cleaning and to ensure you don’t miss any spots, you have to prepare your space. This entails moving all furniture pieces, wall art or paintings, or anything else that you may want to clean behind. Push your furniture far away enough and lie your paintings away from the wall to avoid potential water damage. Lay down drops, whether newspaper or old towels, to protect your floors and along your baseboards. This will help collect any drips and dust.

#2 Knock off the dust from your walls.

Before you wash your walls, you must dust first. Take the extendable wand attached to your vacuum and suck up all the dust particles and cobwebs. Start at the top of the walls move in the downward direction, and repeat. Grab a stepping stool if you’re unable to reach to top of the walls.

#3 Mix your cleaning solution.

Now that you’ve dusted all the particles on your walls, prepare your cleaning solution. You’ll want to have separate buckets. One for your cleaning solution including warm water and dish soap. Another bucket to rinse. Get a bucket of warm water and add a few droplets of dish soap to it. Try not to overdo it with the soap.

#4 Wash your walls.

In a circular motion, wash your walls. Don’t be afraid to apply pressure and use some elbow grease to get those stubborn marks. For safety measures, test out the solution on a small area on the wall just to avoid any wall damage.

#5 Thoroughly rinse your walls and let them dry.

Rinsing your walls will get rid of the excess soap, water, and grime. To avoid creating water stains or damage, try not to use a lot of water. Use your sponge to dip into the warm bucket of water and wring it out well. Then, wipe down the walls for a little rinse. Afterward, dry the walls by using a dry cloth or opening the windows.