No, really, do bear with me!
I don’t have a central vacuum system either, but this is just so cool…
Kitchen floors. They’re all about crumbs and tracked-in dirt from kids and dogs and men who were apparently raised in a barn, am I right? Okay, maybe it’s just our place, but the broom never gets put away from the corner of the kitchen because it’s always being used. And then there’s the whole dust-pan hassle… and chasing dust bunnies around the floor…
Solution found!
I’ve been working with a custom kitchen company lately, and these plans came in that called for all the usual central-vacuum system hookups that the high-end new home is going to require…
The cool part was a long narrow slit or vent right at floor level, neatly disguised by the kickplate on the kitchen island.
Know what it was?
An intake into the central vac system!
(Sort of like this one shown by eco-vent — this kitchen, we went with a dark vent that blended right into the black tile kick, but you get the idea.)
So, all the homeowner has to do to keep the floor completely crumb-free and clean at all times, is sweep the crap into this hole in the baseboard. The central vac will suck it down and take it away, when next it’s used. In between vacuum chores, how easy to whisk a broom across the floor ( or kick that coughed-up cat hairball away) and shove the detritus down the magic portal. So very very discrete, you’d never know it was there… and for convenience, right up there with sweeping it under the rug!
omg. My mother in law has these. they are awesome. In fact, I want central vac just because of them!
I love this! I am all about practical and this makes so much sense. Now if only I had a central vac.
I so wish I had one of these right now with all the pet hair fuzzies blowing across my floor that I have to sweep up each morning. *sigh*
Somebody is thinking! I’ll take one, thanks.
oh that would be so wonderful to have in my home indeed !!!
For those without a central vac system I got a neat little gadget called a Sweepeze. It’s an automatic dustbin that sucks up whatever you sweep to it. You do have to empty it periodically but still a great addition to my kitchen.
Ooh, thanks for the tip, Gen — I just looked it up on Amazon and you’re right, that SweepEZE
does look like the poor girl’s ideal alternative to a central vac floor vent.
Hm, so tempting! Because I can’t really see ever installing a central system in this century-old farmhouse… just imagine the plaster dust all over the place, not to mention freaking out all those free-loading mice, just trying to snake the tubes through the walls and put in the outlets… But an electric dustbin for $50 or less? That’s not completely insane… and you like yours enough to mention it here, Gen, so that’s a pretty good recommendation!
ohhhh i am so going to look into the sweepeze! also you asked how i was doing on the whole domain change thing? I’m doing horribly! but thanks for asking!
Oooh…I think I might just buy that sweepeze! I too, have tumbling tumbleweeds from my golden retriever.
@bluepaintred, I just sent you an email about your tech troubles - but no way I’m sending you a sweepeze too, my dear, when I don’t yet have one myself!
@Dana, we feel your furry pain… Sounds like kellypea does too! I wonder if Debbie’s “barking chihuahuas” shed much…
I’ve got an exciting range of pet fluff floating around here, ranging from the few fine thin hairs of the greyhound to the fistfuls of downy undercoat donated by the husky. There may even still be cat hairs around from the last house cat, for all I know (but won’t ever admit it!)…
Ohhhhh….why don’t I have a central vac? We too have tumbleweeds…and plaster walls.
…or we could all just band together and declare that dust bunnies and tumbleweeds are the next hot thing in home decor????
Gawd, no wonder there’s so much consumer debt in this country! Can you guys not use a dustpan and broom? Is it the tricky bending over part or is it the wrist action that is presenting the difficulty? Are you in a religion that prevents you from completing chores without an electric appliance? If you need some retail therapy, pick up a microfiber sweeper.
Nope, sure can’t argue with that, Sandy. And rampant consumer debt is certainly not restricted to Americans — I would never imply such a thing! (Guessing that by “in this country” you meant the USA?)
But I’d just drop a global reminder that many people — like my aunt Kate who has severe osteoarthritis, or my friend Jill who has cerebral palsy — are just not as mobile as some of the rest of us. So yes, in that case, the bending over and/or wrist action would indeed be the tricky part. Not so much ‘retail therapy’ as ‘physical therapy’, one might say… For the rest of us, though, an indulgence.
Thanks for dropping by, Sandy, and for adding another dimension to the appliance discussion.