Even tho they are not my favorite window treatment I have quite a few venetian blinds throughout my house. Probably my main reason for disliking them is their tendency to collect dust and how difficult they are to clean. In the past I cleaned them by swishing them in a bathtub of warm water with dish soap and ammonia in it. The problem was they didn't seem to get all that clean. Somehow the dirt and dust seems to cement itself onto those little blind slats, and it won't let go.
If you remember my list for last week included cleaning the blinds in our master bedroom. These were especially dusty because we had done some drywall work in the master bathroom and the drywall dust was thick on the blinds.
I was filling the tub with hot water when I realized that I didn't have any ammonia in the house. I frantically searched my mind for an alternative to wash the blinds in and on a whim I squirted a tablespoon or two of laundry detergent into my water.
Amazingly, the laundry soap seemed to work better than anything else I've ever used-including ammonia. The blinds came out looking shiny and clean.
I thought that I would pass on the tip to all you blind owners out there. I used Tide laundry soap, and I made the water as hot as I could. I let the blinds soak about 5 minutes, and then sloshed them around a little-pulled them out and drained them on a couple bath towels on the floor and hung them while still damp.
When you hang them make sure all the slats are separated and the blind is open otherwise they will not dry fully, and depending on the moisture level in your home they might mildew.
