[dalbrough]

Just wanted to pick your brains...

We just installed a darker floor which I LOVE.

That being said, I am thinking function over design I should have gone with a lighter floor........reason - One yellow Labrador.

The dog hair shows like crazy - particularly in the morning with the bright sun shining in the windows - I used my extra large swiffer last night and this morning once again completely covered in dog hair. We never saw all the hair on the lighter flooring unless he was shedding badly in the spring and fall.

I am wondering what everyone uses to sweep / vacuum the dark floors?

I have a rather large Kirby vacuum i love as well but cant see me pulling that out everyday - I am thinking of getting a smaller more portable vacuum to clean. The swiffers are great but will become expensive over time using a new cloth morning and night.

What do you use to pick up all the pet fur? Are you happy with it?

[splatgirl]

welcome to my world, just add three cats to the mix. if I had know then what I know now, I would NEVER have gone with legs on my cabinets. I have a love/hate with those **** legs and now they're at the point where they all need to be individually cleaned and/or wiped down. Argh.
I've tried everything from the cheap rechargable sweepers to a Roomba to the little electric "magic blue" mini cannister vac from Sears, and I eventually ended up back with my old Kenmore (before they jumped the shark and outsourced mfg.) cannister vac with the hard floors brush. Nothing else worked as well or as efficiently as me just biting the bullet and spending the one and a half to two hours dragging that thing around. I have to force myself to do it only once a week, because really, there's always wads of hair (generally mostly cat once dog finishes taking off his winter clothes) rolling around everywhere. And just as bad for me are the spiderwebs under the cabinets and around the legs. it's a never ending battle with those suckers from week to week. on the bright side, now I know what spider poop looks like and I'm sure my house is much cleaner overall than any carpet house I've lived in.
hard, dark floors. ug

[NBeth]

Try a swiffer with regular rag stuck on the bottom. It will stay in place OK. You can also hack into the cleaning solution bottle so you can refill with vinegar water mix. I found instructions online.

[kelly]

You know, I've been known to run out of swiffers and to just use a couple doubled over good quality paper towels, slightly dampened, in it's place on the swiffer mop. It's not a complete replacement, but it does pick up and corral floor stuff.

I have a roomba but only use it on the dense dark grey carpet adjoining the kitchen as the poor thing gets terminally lost under the cabinets with no toe kicks on yet (this is one of life's many mysteries). It does struggle with this carpet (admittedly the thickest I could find) but has no problem on the hardwood when I send it on a mission.

I would guess a nice slim stick vac would work well...I wonder if Dyson makes one?

[foxforce18]

I use a yellow duster cloth and attach it to my swiffer to dry dust the the floors too! It picks up pet hairs very well. I have two dogs that I have tried through the years to color co-ordinate my furnishing around. I mainly now use my Dyson on the slate floors when I vacuum my carpet.

Actually, now we laugh that we have our kitchen to match both our dogs. Birch inside cabs match one dog and Nexus Yellow Brown match my other dog.

[dalbrough]

Oh you have done a marvelous job matching dog to kitchen - wished I had thought about that for the flooring <grin>
I do love my pup and the floors so will just have to be super diligent - and yes Splatgirl I guess you are right - my floors will be so much cleaner since I can actually see the fur whooshing around the floors now. I can't imagine how gross the carpet used to be in my hallway now that I see the amount of fur I sweep up twice a day. Oh having to wipe down the cab legs would drive me crazy. I cant imagine how much fur ends up under your cabs - I have a claw-foot tub in my bathroom that I have to clean out (shovel out the dog hair from the corners underneath it) that should have given me the idea that the kitchen and hallway would be the same. Here is the tub and the same flooring:



Here is hubs and dog (aka fur flying machine) just after the floors were finished. Note - they do not match! At the time that photo was taken hubs was talking to the dog telling him that he had to stop shedding.





I swiffered this morning and just back from another shopping trip to get my knobs and pulls and the dog hair is all over the floor again......

Thanks for the suggestions - I think I might try a swiffer and try damp microfiber cleaning cloths with it - that is a good idea - no idea why I never thought of that!!! Way more economical and environmentally friendly.

But you are right kellymbw I have been looking at the commercials for the Dyson and it does look interesting - does anyone here have one? Wonder if they work as well as they claim. I paid so much money for my Kirby hubs would kill me if i wanted to replace it with a full size Dyson - but can convince him for a slim one I can pull out once a day.

I might go on a hunt for a slim one if they have one........

[foxforce18]

Your wooden floors look awesome!! I have a Dyson 'Animal' model. It works terrific! We have carpet in most areas of my house and the Dyson works like no other that I have tried. I would like to get the slim model next time around as the full size is quite a workout to push around. My grandma also had a Kirby - I remember it being very heavy too!

[dalbrough]

Oh the Kirby is a killer - super heavy to haul around.

I checked the Dyson website and they only have the standard size in a slim model which is way bigger than I wanted to go - and the price - wow.

So it is true about the Dyson working as well as they claim?

Hmmmm.....think I will break that one to hubs well after we are done with the kitchen

[foxforce18]

The Dyson works so well on carpet - you will be amazed. It is pricey, but shop around. I got mine on the internet over 4 years ago. I think it was around $430.00 & I got free shipping.

[laurie]

I also love the darker wood floors. My concern is how much dust they will show. Do you have to dust the floor several times/week?