This article examines how the rise of germ theory in the early Turkish Republic of the 1930s profoundly shaped domestic life and expectations around hygiene. Faced with high rates of disease and limited healthcare, the government and health advocates emphasized preventative measures within the home, assigning women a central role in maintaining a "healthy house" for the sake of both family and nation. This discourse, disseminated through public health campaigns and popular media, linked cleanliness with patriotism and maternal responsibility, promoting specific household practices and products designed to combat unseen microbes. The ideal of a sanitary dwelling — incorporating features like ventilation and easy-to-clean surfaces — became intertwined with modern identity and the well-being of children, reflecting anxieties surrounding modernization and the medicalization of the domestic sphere.