Opinions on blinds

[beerman]

I live in a colonial styled house and my wife has purchased all matching curtains for the downstairs. They look great. Now she would like to do large white blinds for the upstairs windows, no curtains at all. I've never lived with that arrangement before and I will admit to some uncertainty. Anybody out there who has went with blinds and no curtains?

[Rick-o]

Yes. I don't need curtains, as I'm now single again, and to me, it's just another home maintenance chore that I can do without.

Besides, I'm in a very rural area and it's pretty much all woods around my house.

One more thing, I have those vertical type blinds, and I think they look a lot better than the ordinary type.

[AlphaDog]

I haven't had curtains since I moved into this place in 1991. In a couple of rooms I've chosen to add valances at the top of the blinds.

However, the truth is that washable curtains are much easier to maintain than blinds. You might want to remind your wife of that! With curtains, you just take them down, toss them in the washer and dryer, and put them back up. Blinds require having each slat dusted on a regular basis, with a thorough periodic cleaning at least once every year or two. The vertical blinds would be easier to maintain, but they don't work well in my house.

[beerman]

How do you perform a "thorough cleaning"?

[AlphaDog]

[quote beerman]How do you perform a "thorough cleaning"?
It is truly a long and painful process. I've been going through the house working on mine, and I use soap and water to clean each slat. Even though the blinds get dusted regularly, over a period of time there's a "residue" that builds up. I assume it comes from air circulating through the heating/cooling system, cooking, etc., and, in the bedrooms, there's probably some moisture that creeps in from the bathrooms. There's no smoking in my house, and I have good exhaust fans, but something creeps in to make them dirty. I said every year or two, and later I realized I probably can go closer to three years before I look at them and decide "it's time."

[The UnDoug]

Believe it or not, I actually worked for a guy after high school whose business was cleaning blinds. We'd remove them, bring them to his shop, hang 'em up, and power wash them.

[AlphaDog]

[quote The UnDoug]Believe it or not, I actually worked for a guy after high school whose business was cleaning blinds. We'd remove them, bring them to his shop, hang 'em up, and power wash them.
I've often wished I had a place where I could hang them and use some other method for cleaning. It would be a whole lot easier.

[graylocks]

i only have mini blinds in my house. no curtains at all.

[Bill in NC]

We just dump the blinds in a tub of water, add some detergent, wait, rinse, dry, rehang

[kap]

I read somewhere that suggested using sliced breads to clean the blinds.