Maintenance & Long-Term Care
Protecting your sweat equity ensures your home continues to look pristine while it sits on the real estate market. The most critical maintenance advice applies to your newly painted cabinets. While urethane enamel paint feels dry to the touch within a few hours, it takes up to thirty days to fully cure and harden. During this first month, treat your cabinets incredibly delicately. Do not aggressively scrub them, and strictly use the hardware pulls to open doors rather than touching the painted edges with your fingers.
For routine cleaning of modernized surfaces, put away harsh chemical abrasives. Clean matte black hardware and fresh paint jobs using nothing more than a damp microfiber cloth and a mild dish soap solution. Harsh glass cleaners or bleach-based sprays will strip the protective topcoat off cabinet hardware and dull the sheen of your new wall paint over time.
If you replaced your heavy carpets with modern luxury vinyl plank flooring, maintain it properly to prevent scratching. Never use a steam mop on luxury vinyl plank; the extreme heat forces moisture through the seams, causing the planks to warp and the adhesive to fail. Instead, sweep regularly to remove grit and mop lightly with a pH-neutral floor cleaner designed specifically for vinyl surfaces. Place felt pads under the legs of all heavy furniture to prevent deep gouges during the staging process.
