How to Clean a Studio Apartment Fast

That Cleaning Girl · Apartment Cleaning

A studio is one room doing the job of four: bedroom, kitchen, living room and office. That is great for the rent and tough for keeping things tidy, because a mess anywhere is a mess everywhere. You can see the whole place from the door. If you want to tackle the bathroom first, How to Keep a One-Bathroom Apartment Clean walks you through it. Here is how to clean the main room of a studio in about an hour.

Think in zones, not rooms

The secret to a studio is to split it into zones in your head. Most studios have four:

• Sleep zone: the bed, nightstand and the floor around it.
• Kitchen zone: counters, stove, sink and the floor in front of them.
• Living zone: the couch, coffee table and TV.
• Work zone: a desk or a corner of the kitchen table.

Clean one zone fully before moving to the next. It keeps you from wandering around picking things up at random, which is where an hour turns into three.

Step one: a full pickup

Start with a basket and a trash bag and do one lap of the whole studio. Trash goes in the bag, anything out of place goes in the basket. Then put the basket's contents away. In a studio this step makes the biggest visual difference, because clutter is not hidden behind a bedroom door.

Make the bed next. A made bed makes the whole studio look clean, even before you have wiped a thing. It also gives you a clean, flat surface to fold the laundry you just found on the chair. If your studio has a closet, take two minutes to push hangers to one side and set shoes in a row so the closet door actually shuts. A closed closet door is half the battle in a single room.

Step two: dust high, then work down

Dust the ceiling fan, light fixtures, shelves and the tops of the kitchen cabinets. Then dust the TV, the desk, the nightstand and any picture frames. Work around the room in one direction so you do not miss a spot.

In a studio, kitchen grease travels further than you would think. If your bed is close to the stove, the headboard and nearby shelves may feel a little tacky. A damp cloth with a drop of dish soap takes care of it.

Step three: the kitchen zone

Clear and wipe the counters, clean the stovetop, wipe the microwave inside and out, and scrub the sink. Wipe the fridge door and handle. Empty the trash. Since your kitchen is part of your bedroom and living room, trash smells matter more in a studio, so take it out often, especially during a Texas summer.

Step four: soft surfaces

Studios have a lot of fabric in a small space: the bed, the couch, rugs and curtains. Fabric holds dust and smells.

• Change or wash the sheets weekly.
• Vacuum the couch cushions and the crease between them.
• Shake out throw blankets and pillows outside or on the balcony.
• Wash or vacuum curtains every month or two. They catch cooking smells.
• Vacuum rugs, flipping the corners to get underneath.

Step five: floors last

Vacuum the whole floor, moving lightweight furniture like chairs and side tables. Go under the bed edge and behind the couch where dust collects. Then mop hard floors, starting at the corner farthest from the door and working your way out.

The bathroom can go before or after the main room. We like to do it last so you are not tracking water across a freshly vacuumed floor.

Keeping a studio clean during the week

A studio stays clean by never letting one zone spill into the others.

• Give everything a home, even if that home is a basket under the bed.
• Do dishes the same day. A full sink is visible from your pillow.
• Keep the desk zone clear at the end of the workday so your studio feels like home again at night.
• Do a ten-minute reset before bed: dishes, counters, clothes in the hamper.

Studios are popular around Waxahachie, Midlothian and the south DFW area for students, new grads and folks who just want less to take care of. A good routine is what makes that small space feel bigger.

Once a month, give the studio a slightly deeper pass. Pull the bed away from the wall and vacuum behind it, wipe the baseboards, clean inside the microwave and fridge, and wash the curtains or shower liner. With only one main room to cover, these jobs go faster than you would expect. They keep the space from slowly collecting the kind of dust and smells that are hard to notice when you live with them every day, but that guests pick up on right away.

To see how we handle studios and other small units, visit our apartment cleaning services page. Coming up next: how to keep any small space clean every single day.