apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have had some success using hot soapy water and a pair of cotton gloves. As I have eczema, I wear a pair of vinyl gloves underneath the cotton ones, and then simply run my fingers along the slats. Good for a deep clean. The rest of the time I simply damp dust with a microfibre cloth with the blinds closed, and if I am feeling energetic, turning the slats to both positions, to get both sides. I managed to bribe a friends 8 year old into doing it for me one time, it was a 'game'. Ha ha.

Cleaning them more frequently will help avoid the sticky dust that forms a kind of dust-paste on blinds. Once they've amassed that crud, I think you've signed yourself up for some hard work; use some elbow grease with some furniture polish.

The blinds in your kitchen see more build-up because of airborne of food particles from cooking. Turn on low ventilation when you cook or heat anything and it will help draw out the moisture and particles that might otherwise drift on to your blinds.

That, and get some kind of microfiber cleaning cloth that dust will cling to and wipe down the slats regularly. You'll definitely see less sticky dust if you take away the moisture and um, the dust.

When it's that sticky city dust, the only way I've found to deal with it is the obvious: damp rag with a little cleaner of your liking, and wiping down each and every slat. Fun, fun...!

A trick I use is lightly spraying a Swiffer duster with furniture polish.

That sticky film is grease from cooking. You need to use your range hood more often when you cook to prevent this buildup in the future. (It's also going to be all over your cabinets, walls, furniture, etc.)

Any commercially available all-purpose cleaner will cut it - or a vinegar/water combo will work too.

bepsf, not all of us have range hoods. I haven't had one in either of the last two apartments I've been in, and the bottom of the line one in my college apartment was barely better than none anyway.

On a side note, if anyone is considering dark wood blinds like the ones shown, be prepared to dust them weekly if not more often. I have them and they look great, but low-maintenance they are not.

Murphy's Oil Soap.

michpc--

A recirculating range hood doesn't cost that much - there are plenty of models available for under $100, and the filter just goes into the dishwasher once in a while.

My apartment didnt' have one either when I moved in - I asked the landlord and they put one in with no problem.

I've had good luck with a specific spray cleaner for blinds. Better than any other generic cleaner (foaming, 409, whatever) I've used. Unfortunately, I can't find a link to it. I used it on the nasty blinds in my condo when I moved in (took them down, put them in the bathtub and sprayed them, left them for about 30 mins then rinsed off) and it worked really well.

Magic Eraser might work well.

An Aussie domestic goddess, Shannon Lush suggests using tea to clean wooden blinds. Steep 5 bags in a pot of tea, add it to a litre of hot water and clean with a sponge. The tea cleans and adds colour back to the wood.

I tried it on mine and it worked a treat!

The trick to Wooden Venetian blinds is in the preparation. When the blinds have been installed and you have finished admiring them, it’s worth giving them a good polish with a wax based polish. This helps to protect the timber and the richness of colour. The wax in the polish builds up a protective layer which will repel any splashes or marks. This means that as long as this is done fairly routinely, once every three months or so, all you will need to do in the meantime is a little dusting.

I use a special blind dusting device on my 50mm wooden blinds. I just slide it along the slats. It can be quite therapeutic! The blind cleaner is available from:

http://www.blinds-2go.co.uk/venetian_blind_Cleaner.htm

Hope that's helpful.