Venetian Blinds

One hardly ever hears the term Venetian blinds anymore. Once, however, they were all the rage. Blinds as window treatments, whether you call them Venetian blinds, mini-blinds, or something else, have been around since the 1700s. Wood Venetian blinds, which originated from the concept of shutters, were very popular in the Georgian era, and came to the US colonies at about this same time.

The concept of covering windows for privacy, however, dates back even further. Ancient Egyptians made blinds for their windows by weaving reeds together. In China they used bamboo.

The history of blinds in this country has come full circle. The original blinds used by the colonists were made from wood. Then, the aluminum Venetian blind became very popular in this country. They were sturdy and served the purpose, but you could sure get a nasty cut from their edges! Next, vinyl blinds, most commonly called mini-blinds became popular, and are still widely used today. Vinyl blinds are very inexpensive, can be found at almost all home decorating, discount and home improvement stores, and they last virtually forever.

However, wooden blinds are very popular in this country once again. Wood blinds have a timeless appeal that works well in any décor. They’re significantly more expensive than vinyl blinds, but really give your room a high end look.

One of the problems that people have with blinds is cleaning them. I mentioned that aluminum blinds can give nasty cuts. Well, most of these cuts come about when trying to clean the blinds, one slat at a time, by hand. Wood blinds are best cleaned this way, too. Using a cleaner you’d use on other wood surfaces, you must simply dust each slat.

Vinyl blinds, however, are a different story. There is a very easy way to clean Venetian blinds that are vinyl. You can simply fill your bathtub with soapy water and dunk the blinds right in, letting them soak for a bit. Then, drain the tub and refill with clean water for rinsing. Now, here’s the only tricky part…. When they’re clean they should be hung up to dry. If you have one of those folding clothes drying racks, simply set it up in the tub and drape the blinds over it so that they can drip dry. Or, you can take the blinds outside to dry in the sun. It’s as simple as that! No cleaning each slat one at a time. This is one of the reasons that vinyl blinds remain so popular.

Regardless of your choice in material, there’s no better way to provide privacy to your rooms than with blinds. They’re low maintenance, have classic styling and are a simple way to cover all of your windows.