6 Things You Should Know About Window Blinds
Often nothing more than an afterthought for most homeowners, window treatments add unexpected style and sophistication to a room. They often become a necessity, as well, blocking bothersome sunlight or keeping prying eyes from peeking in your home.
Most homeowners also envision window treatments as clanging, aluminum blinds, but modern innovative window treatments are built from different materials, like wood and plastic. They also blend into a room’s overall decor or accent the room in clever ways.
For that reason, a lot of questions pop up when people are shopping for treatments. While an expert at a retail venue like Next Day Blinds can assist, most homeowners are looking for answers to the six questions below.
- Washing Window Blinds
Over time, dust and debris can collect on blinds, making them dull and possibly affecting how they operate. Cleaning blinds is relatively simple. Dab a clean cloth, even a sock that’s no longer used, in vinegar. Run the cloth along the slates. The vinegar acts as a natural cleaning agent and the wet cloth should easily lift dust away. Make sure not to oversaturate your blinds, however. Consider diluting the vinegar if you have any concerns.
- Restringing Window Blinds
There’s nothing worse than when your window blinds’ break a string. It often leaves the blinds resting at an angle, making a room look disheveled. Luckily, if you are willing to take the challenge, you can restring your blinds to give them new life. The process begins by removing the broken string from the blinds and the pulley system it is attached to. Map that path so that you can follow it back as you add your new string.
- Shortening Window Blinds
Not every window runs the same length, and window blinds manufacturers know this. Rather than have the blinds rest bunched at the bottom, modern blinds allow owners to systematically remove slats to shorten the blinds’ overall length. This usually entails removing the blinds bottom, unhooking or untying the string ladder, and then extracting the right number of slats to level the blinds.
In the past, many blinds required cutting to fit properly in the window. When homeowners used this method, they ran the risk of cutting blinds too short, leaving them no choices but to use the short blinds or invest in more, which could be costly. Modern blinds allow for constant adjustment, making them easy to measure and reusable.
- Removing Window Blinds
Some new homeowners will find old blinds still attached to window treatments when they take ownership of a home. Most of the time, removing those old blinds takes nothing more than a screwdriver, a little patience and a big trash can. But there are exceptions. Levolor blinds sometimes come with hidden brackets, adding to the blinds’ aesthetic, but making it difficult for someone to remove the blinds if they don’t know how to find those brackets.
- Recycling Window Blinds
Once you remove old window blinds, take a moment to see what those blinds are manufactured from. Most blinds are made of 100 percent aluminum, which is a recyclable material. Rather than through them out with the trash, either place them in your recycling bin or take them to your local metal recycling facility. Either way, there should be something tagged to the blinds that will let you know if they are recyclable. Another option is donating your blinds if they are in good shape.
- Choosing Window Blinds
There are many different reasons beyond aesthetics for choosing window blinds. You may want to control the ingress of light in a room or help control the room’s temperature, because blinds act as a partial insulator. And you will likely want to do so on a budget.
These are all options that are on the table when you shop for window blinds. Experts, like those found at The Next Day Blinds Company, can answer questions and help you choose the right style to fit your living space.