You may have heard the quote before “Prevention is the best cure.” This is true with a lot of things including your home. If you regularly maintain and clean your home, you may find that doing all those DIY jobs around your home becomes less frequent. Another benefit of a clean home is hopefully good health for you and your family. A build-up of dust and mites may cause allergies, asthma, and other ailments, which can be something that you have to live with and suffer for the rest of your life. Having curtains in your home tends to accumulate a lot of dust that builds up. But when you have screen-printed blinds covering your windows, it is a lot easier to see the dust build-up. By cleaning your blinds regularly, you can help reduce the amount of dust in your home, and once you get into the routine, it is quick and easy.
Dusting your blinds
Once a week, or every couple of days, you should give your blinds a quick dusting; and there are lots of things around your home, that can make the job very easy. This is especially true with custom-printed blinds since a thick layer of dust can make an otherwise vivid print dull and lifeless.
- Vacuum Cleaner
- Feather Duster
- Old Socks
- Rubber Gloves
- Damp Soft Cloth
- Anti-Static Polish
If you have the typical metal blinds on your window, then it is quite easy to keep these clean. Most homes include in their cleaning kits a feather duster which is an excellent tool to help collect all of the dust that builds up on your blinds. Feather dusters work on blinds that are made of other materials other than metal. There are also other anti-static cloths available on the market, which will attract all of the dust when rubbed on the surface of the blind.
If you have wooden blinds, you may wish to use an anti-static polish, which will not only make your blinds shine but will also help reduce the build-up in the future. Old socks are also great things to use to help clean your blinds; and if they were being thrown away anyway, then it costs you nothing! Soak an old sock in clean water, wring it, then wear it on your hand. Pinch the blind between your thumb and forefinger, and rub it along the edge of the blind, doing each slat individually.
You can also use a vacuum cleaner. Most vacuum cleaners also come with an accessory specifically for such use, usually a little brush attachment, which is perfect for cleaning blinds. The bristles get into all of the little nooks and crannies, making the job very easy.
Washing your blinds
If you have wooden or metal blinds, then you will not need to take these down and wash them as regular maintenance will keep them clean. With printed blinds in Australia which are made from other materials though, these will need to be taken down now and then to give them a good clean. It would not be advisable to take your blinds down and put them in the washing machine as this may damage them. Instead, soak the blinds in water and detergent, giving them a good scrub as well as a soft brush. With printed blinds Australia, scrub gently to prevent scratching of the prints’ colors. Using slightly warm or even room temperature water may help to prevent colors from running, and also make sure that you use a suitable detergent. If you have not cleaned your blinds for a while, you may be surprised at the dust and dirt that is there when you take them down. What a difference clean blinds can make to a room. Don’t believe me? Go have a go and see the difference!
