When was the last time you cleaned your window treatments? From what we’ve seen at House Work, we’re guessing YEARS. They are often neglected and LOVE to collect dust (or even grease if they’re in the kitchen).

While some window treatments are a much bigger pain to clean than others, we’re gonna show you how to clean all of them! Buckle in for the cleaning guide you never knew you needed!

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Venetian Blinds (Horizontal Slatted Blinds)

These are the most common blinds we come across, and they also get the dirtiest. Dust loves to settle on slatted blinds, making them filthy. These blinds come in a variety of materials like real wood, faux wood, or aluminum – and this method will work for all types. 

Start by grabbing a vacuum with a horsehair attachment. We love using the Bissell® Zing (Canada) (USA) which fits the Powerextra® horsehair brush (Canada) (USA). Like everything we do, start top to bottom, left to right. Turn on your vacuum and glide your brush across the top slat. Work your way down and suck up all of the dust. This is a great method on its own if your blinds aren’t too dirty. You can also opt for a Swiffer® duster in a pinch. 

After you’ve sucked up all the dust, check to see if you can remove them. Be careful removing them, blinds are delicate. If you can, remove them and fill your tub with hot water and powdered Tide® (¼ cup). Let them soak in the tub and scrub if needed. Take them out and dry them with a microfibre cloth. 

If you can’t remove yours, get a batch of our hot water (1 gallon) and powdered Tide® (1 tsp) recipe ready. Grab a microfibre cloth and dunk it into the water and tide mixture. Wring it out and start at the top slat. Wipe all the way across the slat, making sure to get all of the dirt. Don’t forget to wipe the bottom side of each slat, and change your water and Tide® mixture if it’s dirty. Keep on re-wetting your cloth as you go and make your way down the blinds.

Tip: If your blinds are greasy (kitchen ones often are), place them in the sink or tub in hot water with a dishwasher tab or two to cut the grease. If you can’t remove yours, spray straight Mr. Clean® onto a microfibre cloth and wipe across each slat. Make sure to wipe them off with just water after as Mr. Clean® can streak. 

This task is super time-consuming, but once you have them sparkling clean, it’s easy peasy to keep up on them with your vacuum or Swiffer®.

Vertical Blinds

Vertical blinds are very similar to Venetian blinds – they’re just vertical! So you can use the exact same method to clean them. Just move left to right, starting at the top of each vane and wiping down. 

If your vertical blinds are fabric, you can vacuum them first, then spot clean them with Tide® and hot water. Just make a batch of our above recipe, but skip the bleach. Grab a gentle scrub brush, dip it into the mixture, then lightly scrub the stained spot. Make sure to test a spot first as Tide® can leave watermarks.  

Roller Blinds/Pleated Blinds/Roman Blinds

These are all fabric blinds, and they are much easier to keep clean because they don’t collect dust the way slats do. A vacuum with a horsehair attachment is all you need. Sadly, you can’t wash most blinds, so a vacuum will have to do. If you have any stained spots, you can use the same spot cleaning method we mentioned for vertical blinds. Another quick way to clean them is using a lint roller/brush to remove any stuck-on lint.

Honeycomb Blinds

Sadly, you can’t really wash these ones either. But you can still clean them. Start by vacuuming them with your horsehair brush. After you’ve sucked up all the dust you can, grab a can of compressed air (like you would use for a keyboard) and blow out any trapped dust.        

Curtains

We get lots of questions on how to wash curtains. But it’s actually really simple, y’all. Just throw them in the wash! 

Always check the manufacturer’s instructions, and if your curtains are very delicate or expensive, you may want to take them to get dry cleaned to be safe. Wash them with powdered Tide® and OxiClean® on delicate to get out any stains. Throw them in the dryer on tumble dry and hang them back up while they’re still slightly damp. 

Tip: If your curtains are wrinkled, get a spray bottle full of water. Spray them down liberally and the wrinkles will smooth themselves out with the weight of the fabric! Don’t forget to clean your windows and tracks while you’re at it! Click here to read our windows article. Window treatments are a time consuming job, folks (as well as one of our team’s least favorite things to do). Be easy on yourself if you don’t get all of the window treatments in your house done in one day. Once you get through that long sitting dirt, though, it’s a breeze keeping up with them!

For a list of our favorite products, click here.

– Georgia @ GoCleanCo