Keeping House

Not since Tom Sawyer made whitewashing a fence seem like the perfect way to idyll away a sunny afternoon has anyone been able to make housework appear so enticing as Cindy Harris does in her new book on home maintenance, 'Keeping House: Hints and Tips for a Beautifully Clean Homes' (Ryland Peters & Small; Hardcover $24.95; April 2004). What's seductive about her new book is the tremendous ease with which anyone can instantly access information on virtually any home maintenance topic.

'Keeping House' is the first book of its kind for a generation accustomed to getting answers at the breakneck speed of the Internet superhighway. Readers won't need to wade through tons of information to get these easy-to-access tips for tackling every element of your home. Simple charts lay out essential routines that need to be performed on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

'Keeping House' offers a concise rundown on the best tools for any housecleaning job. The author provides a crash course on the wide variety of cleaning products needed for each room and surface in the home. Banishing clutter, identifying which items can be trashed or repaired, acted on or put away, recycled or passed on, says Harris is an important first step in organizing and maintaining your home. Following an introductory section devoted to "clean house basics," the book is broken down into the following parts:

• Sparkling Surfaces: maintaining all surfaces in the home, including walls, floors, carpets, blinds, nooks and crannies.
• Gleaming Kitchens: organizing the heart of the home and making it a place suited to convenience and cleanliness.
• Beautiful Bathrooms: creating a spotless, germ-free, shiny, and sweet-smelling space family members can retreat to and relax.
• Laundry Fresh: transforming the seemingly unending chore of laundry into a pleasurable routine.
• Food: developing sensible routines for storing and cooking food safely, with an emphasis on not just sustenance, but on comfort, enjoyment, indulgence and sensuality.

'Keeping House' also features a chart decoding those cryptic wash care labels, as well as tips on removing a host of stains including, medicine, cosmetics, grass, red wine, chocolate, coffee and tea, paint, pet stains and much more. With the extensive lists of useful addresses, websites and suppliers, as well as tabbed sections for ease of use, with wire-o-binding, an elastic closure band and pockets for storing business cards, 'Keeping House' is designed to withstand the daily use and handling it is sure to receive. Whether resolving disputes on the best way to wash dishes or the proper way to make a bed or for advice on maintaining a garbage disposal or removing spots from stone floors, this new book will earn its place on any bookshelf as the ultimate home reference.

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Also available at Restoration Hardware stores