There is a "Cleaning Tips" forum here.

My house seems easy to keep clean, but only DH and I are living in it!

We have all hardwood flooring, with tile in baths and back hall. Low pile wool rugs go out to be washed as needed. The central vac provides powerful suction for floors and upholstered pieces; bag in basement only needs to be emptied several few times a year and isn't spewing back dust into the house. Humidifiers and air cleaners on our furnaces help.

Most of our windows and French doors have between-the-glass shades and wide casings. They need no dust-gathering 'window treatments'. I have fabric roman shades w/blackout linings in bedrooms and baths and wood shutters on one large archtop window. I don't have a lot of shelving/knick-knacks. In a single-story house with 9' ceilings, DH is able to clean most of our windows.

The rectangular back hall has washer, dryer and upper and lower cabinets on one end and a closet and powder room at the other end. There are doors to kitchen, garage and back yard. The 3' X 10' closet houses cleaning supplies, mops, brooms, etc. It also has space for coats and boots and drip-dry items. I built part of this to be a 'Costco Closet' before the name became popular. Adequate storage is a big part of keeping clean and tidy.

The granite in our kitchen doesn't require sealing. The porcelain sinks and cook top are easy to clean with Bon Ami. Stacked dishdrawers: Top one is run once a day. Deep drawers store many things. I don't keep much on my counters.

We wanted a small, single-level home with a few big rooms and ended up with 2900 sq ft. Not too cramped. (Doors are 36" wide.) Not too much to clean without help. Only the guest suite and DR go unused much of the time.

There are also some articles on the HOUZZ side about planning for easy maintenance.

Some of the little things, like making sure you have enough clearance to get a mop between the toilet and the alcove walls.

Others are a design choice, like not having those dust-bunny breeding hutches called "furniture feet" on your cabinets.

For me....having some place to put everything! My house is a disaster right now (LOL) with remodeling 'pieces' overflowing in other rooms. A cabinet here, a dresser there, a countertop over in that room....you get the idea :)

I am one of those people, who actually likes a little clutter. All open, sleek spaces are not my style. But minimal clutter....a few choice vintage pieces or a small collection. Easy to clean and go on to the next project.

I also love books....and live on a farm. So dust is always with us! At least when you have a place to put everything, it's easier to give it all a good dusting and move on. Have fun with your planning!

A lot of cleaning labour can be solved by disguising the need for cleaning. That means no white floors, no harsh downlighting, no flat paint walls. On one home, we had lacquered walls on the main stairwell and the entire upper hallway with toddlers through teens. I don't recall ever having to clean the walls. Ditto for door hardware and plumbing fittings. No chrome. No shiny brass.

Best cleaning equipment: good central vacuum and at least one toe kick unit. Of course, no carpeting.

In bathrooms, I think that free standing tubs and furniture style vanities that have legs and are open all the way underneath must be a pain when washing the floor. They are pretty, but I like my bathroom floor to stay clean so neither of those are on my list.

Oh, and vessel sinks in washrooms. Again, they look neat, but I could never have one in my bathroom. Any sinks that I put in my new home, both bathroom and kitchen will be undermount because there's none of that icky edge gunk to clean.

A scullery of sorts for cleaning tools. Our upstairs is carpeted, the downstairs is not, so I keep the vacuum upstairs in the teeny tiny linen closet. It really doesn't fit because of the shelves. I also have a carpet steamer, which lives in the mudroom closet. But it and its accessories take up so much space on the floor and intrudes on the hanging space. I also have cloths, cleaning fluids (okay, a big bottle of vinegar, a little soap, and essential oil, and spray bottles for it all). I'd like a closet with counter, cabinet, and sink just for that stuff.

I really miss my double concrete sink! Hokey smokes, you could clean everything in one side and let it dry on the other: Christmas tree stand, boots, litter box, you name it. Then I could clean the daylights out of the sink itself.

My mom added a "drip closet" to her laundry room, with a tiled floor and a drain, for hanging up the wet mop, snow pants, and drip-dry laundry. And in the middle of the house, upstairs and down, is a just-right-sized closet just for the vacuum or central vac hose and attachments.

There's a book I looked at at some point, Make Your House Do the Housework by Don Aslett. It's a bit old but perhaps you could pick up some tips there.

I hate cleaning, so I'm with you in trying to design things so that they'll require as little effort as possible. My thoughts:

- Definitely yes to avoiding things that require extra effort: Other people have already mentioned clawfoot tubs, furniture feet on cabinetry, and white floors. These are all nice things, but other options are equally nice. High-maintenance items that aren't REALLY important to me are O.U.T. For example, just today I dusted my bedroom furniture; it's dark wood and contains deep carving -- LOTS of it. When we move, I'll take the bed -- the headboard is not so very much work, and I plan to paint it white anyway -- but the dresser and nightstands can't come with us.

- I also read that book, Oaktown, and it's full of great ideas. Two of my favorites are 1) minimize exterior doors, and 2) have a LONG floor mat on both sides of each exterior door. These things vastly reduce the amount of mess that is dragged into your house. Less in = less to clean.

- Choose colors that match your dirt. For example, I live in the South in the land of red clay; thus, a brownish floor makes sense for me. Extremes of black and white are most difficult to keep clean.

- Think ahead and store your cleaning items where you'll need them. For example, since I started keeping a jar of homemade cleaner and washcloths under my sink, I am quicker to give it a quick once-over. Right next to the jar, I have another jar in which I collect dirty washcloths. When the jar's full, I wash them all together.

- Build big closets. If you have enough space to store your items, you won't have clutter around the house ... but don't keep junk you don't need just because you have the space.

- If you're using all hardwood, I don't think central vac makes sense. I'd rather keep brooms in convenient spots around the house ... and have conveniently dust busters ready to suck up the dust. I find a broom lighter /easier than a hose. If you're using carpets, a Roomba is less work (and less cost) than central vac. You'll still need a regular vacuum occasionally (like after you take out the Christmas tree), but the Roomba'll handle your day-to-day needs like a champ.

I keep multiple areas of storage for cleaning supplies so have a lot of duplication- like bottles of Windex. There is one in each bathroom, one in the kitchen, one in my laundry area, and one in the garage with the car cleaning supplies. Ditto paper towels. If I am in a bathroom and see that the mirror needs wiped down everything I need to do it is right there.

I have a vacuum for each floor and another for the car/garage. There's a small rechargeable stick vac hanging on a wall in the kitchen.
The kitchen cleaning stuff is in the kitchen, bathroom cleaning stuff in each bathroom, etc.- everything is where I need it to be.

My house is all hardwood so a light vacuum and a damp mop is all the floor needs. My family room basement has many area rugs (old dogs) so that is where the Dyson lives.
If I did not have so many pets I doubt I would have to clean at all. That's my fantasy and I'm stickin' to it.

Allergies are a major issue in my family so a lot of time and effort has been placed on this issue in the design of the home. Flooring is one issue I've given a lot of consideration to. There will be no carpet since it's horrible for allergies. The downstairs entryway will be a mix of tile and wood. On the first floor the public casual areas, kitchen and bathrooms will be tile while the formal public areas and our master bedroom will be wood. Upstairs the bathrooms will be tile and we hope to use cork everywhere else if the budget allows. My sons' current bedrooms have cork floors I installed because of their allergies and they love them. They are allergy friendly, easy to clean, and quiet under foot.

I've also designed the floor plan for ease of cleaning. The formal areas are segregated by the entry way and have wide French doors so I can close them off to keep out dust and mess. I've designed a generous mudroom that's entered through the garage and the laundry room is right off of that. The kitchen is close to those spaces so it will be easy to carry in the groceries and there is a utility closet close to the closet, mud room and laundry room. We have two old Roombas my husband got free from a coworker and a cordless stick vacuum. I plan to place outlets in the utility closet so that they can be continually recharging when not in use.

The architect wanted to place the downstairs powder room right by the entry way. I put my foot down because it meant that kids with wet feet from the pool would be traversing the length of the house to go the bathroom. I instead made him remove a closet near the pool and turn it into a pool bath complete with storage for pool towels and swim suits. I plan to hang hooks on the back of the door for drying towels.

One thing I was unable to do was make the mudroom accessible to the back of the house. While we won't have a traditional backyard, behind the pool fence is a dry creek bed and woods. I feared the kids tracking muddy shoes throughout the house after playing in the woods. My husband suggested placing an outdoor shower on the patio so the kids can clean themselves off before coming inside. I plan to place a boot tray and a boot scraper outside on the patio for muddy shoes so they don't track mud inside the house.

I placed on the second floor a large linen closet for the guest and two boys' towels and linens and a utility closet for storing a second set of cleaning supplies and another charging stick vacuum for my sons' use.

Brooms? Brooms plus a vacuum? No, thanks. I don't want to put dirt and dust in the air. I don't want to do two steps. I want everything sucked right up and deposited in the central vac bag in the basement -- to be taken out by DH every few months. The central vac has terrific suction. It does both hard and soft surfaces. I can do all the floors in the house in one go, with one appliance.

How much can a Roomba hold? What's the suction like? I'd think if it has good suction, you'd be emptying it frequently.

We recently put our aged dog down. I am *amazed* at how much less often I'm doing the floors. However, prior to this, the central vac would really pull his hair right out of the orientals. It took more time to go over each rug, but the suction was there. (Reminds me of the neighbor who carpeted her house to match her Golden Retriever.) No carpeting for me. It can never be clean through and through, and there is always residue left behind. Wool rugs can go out to be *washed*.

I did tile our Maui condo floors with 'red dirt' color tiles. LOL

The Back Hall is important to catch stuff before it migrates into living areas. I don't know how people live with just a washer and a dryer either. I need a laundry sink. The Back Hall is sort of a Downstairs, vital to the upkeep of an Upstairs.

What I like about my Roomba is that I can put it in my master bedroom, close the door and a few hours later most of the dust and dirt is gone. Many mornings I'll set up a Roomba to clean the kitchen before I leave to drop off my sons at school. I'll be gone for a few hours running errands and when I return all I need to do is vaccuum or sweep the spots the area the Roomba couldn't get to.

I am doing bathrooms with cove tile corners and coved counter tops. Not fashionable but very practical.

Chisue, I'll sweep instead of vacuuming any day -- I despise dragging the vacuum around, regardless of what type it is. Brooms are lightweight and quick. No concerns about dirt /dust in the air, but we are allergy-free in my house.

A Roomba doesn't hold much dust /dirt. I empty mine every time it runs. It's quicker than changing a bag in a regular vacuum: You just pull out a little "drawer" and dump it into the trash can. And about once a month you have to clean out the "beaters" just like you do with a full-sized vacuum.

TcuFrog, Yes, what I like best about the Roomba is that it's completely hands-off. I usually start it when I leave for work -- entertainment for the dog, you know -- and when I come back, the floor's done.

Take a sample of the local dirt/dust/mud when you shop for flooring.

Buy rugs that match the dogs.

mrspete, you might like a hide-a-hose, if you know someone with one who might show you. We have a central vac (unit in the garage) due to allergies and asthma. The six year old loves being in charge of sucking the hose back into the wall. I might like a Roomba at some point but for now I like being able to see what is being vacuumed up since our kids are still at prime Lego age :-)

mrspete -- Have you ever tried a central vac? No deafening noise. Bag is emptied only every few months. The *suction* is wonderful -- no slowing as the bag fills. Mine is 14 years old -- zero problems; just change the bag. This is one of my favorite things in our house -- along with the dishdrawers.

First on the must have list: Concealed trap toilets. Because boys.
Second is hard surface floors. We have 4 active dogs and anything else is simply out of the question.
We also have a parrot, alas we don't use harsh chemical cleaners and try to stay clear of materials with harmful VOCs.

Roombas don't do well in households with long haired individuals, at least that is our experience with them from a few years back. We spent more time cleaning the brushes from wrapped hair than it would have taken to simply vacuum the floor.

somethings we did differently in our custom home to keep things clean are:

we have the two main entrances (front door and garage) come inside close to each other so we could use a single floor grate to service both. Dirt, rain, snow falls into the recessed area with a drain under the grate instead of tracked through the house.

I also have an outside door in my bathroom. No more tracking through the entire house to use the potty, and dirty kids go straight into the tub.

Never found a good way to clean textured drywall, so we have carsiding on the ceiling.

It doesn't matter where I put the cleaning supplies, I'm the only one who can see them.

Yes, I've used a central vac. It's not the noise. It's the dragging of long, nasty hoses that tangle around furniture pieces. I hate all vacuums.

I totally relate to being the only person in my household able to see cleaning products. Ditto for baskets of laundry and overflowing trash cans!

Miele canister vacs have gotten amazing reviews and are highly recommended

We built our home 15 years ago specifically to be easy maintenance - we live on 20 acre horse farm and had 4 dogs (no kids).

Back mudroom entrance with adjacent laundry room with utility sink andmop sink. Kitchen and bath cabinets are slab doors with no hardware. Laminate kitchen counters and smooth cook top. Base mold is "tear drop" profile, no trim around windows except on sill (2x6 construction), plain interior doors with simple trim. No window "grids". All door handles are levers. Master oversize shower and bath surrounds are cultured marble (I know not upscale but can clean with a mop!)

Central vac and vac pan. Cleaning supplies in each bathroom and kitchen. Great room sofas are leather. Not many books or knick knacks.

The exterior is real stucco, no shutters. We were going for southwestern farmhouse look and it's contemporary and clean looking. People say it looks clean even when I haven't ;-) . It's a unique home that everyone loves and seem to really appreciate the low maintenance aspect. I hope this is helpful!

mshahmd - I just got one, which is kind of what gave me the idea to start this conversation. I haven't gone on carpet with it yet, but love it already. Have you been to ikea? It moves like their carts, so smoothly. Several head attachments, weighs nothing, very quiet. Bags immediately close so no dust in your face or difficult emptying. Different settings for carpet, rug, hardwood, couches, etc.

Loving all the tips and appreciate everyones responses. I have made a nice list to keep in my planning book!