The right way to clean blinds and curtains

9honey Living’s The Wash Up: Your 30-day spring cleaning guide is a month-long series aimed at making your annual house clean easier with hacks and expert advice.
Blinds and curtains are a must-have in any home, helping us sleep better, keeping the room warmer or cooler (depending on the season) and, of course, giving us privacy.
But with all that sitting there in front of the window, they pick up a surprising amount of dust, dirt and even mould.
Ideally we’d all be cleaning them more often than we do, but cleaning blinds in particular is one of the fiddliest chores of all.
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Thankfully it’s a very straightforward process, especially with some tips from professional cleaners.
Always check the manufacturers care instructions before cleaning in case there is something that should not be used on them or done to them to prevent damage.
A lot of homes have this type of blind, which Maid For You director Delah Gomasi recommends we clean with cloths and soapy water.
“We make sure to start at the top. We first wipe each blind down with a dry cloth to remove any pent-up dirt and debris,” he tells 9honey Living.
“Then dip our microfibre cloth in the dish soap solution and rinse our cloth until the water runs clean for every individual blind slat.
“We finish by cleaning the window sill and making sure we’re using a drop cloth to catch any falling liquid.”
Complete Blinds recommends cleaning these weekly or at least monthly by vacuuming with a brush attachment and then dusting with cloth.
For a deeper clean, if your blind is washable you can remove the slats and wash by hand in the bathtub with mild detergent.
Rinse them afterwards and lay flat on towels to dry.
“Hang the slats once you are satisfied that they are dry, however, do not crowd them against each other for at least an hour,” Complete Blinds advises on its website.
Roller blinds are another type that you can clean by vacuuming and using a damp cloth (if they are vinyl-treated) after extending them all the way.
But for a deeper clean you can also use the bathtub, according to Carpet Call. The blinds retailer recommends unrolling the blinds slightly before putting them in the bath with warm soapy water made using laundry detergent.
“After an hour check your blind for stains. Examine both sides and spot-clean where necessary using a cloth or sponge,” Carpet Call advises.
Then rinse the blinds to remove all detergent and dry by placing over a drying rack. The blinds can be reinstalled once they’re dry.
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To clean curtains you have a few options according to professional cleaners Kate Croukamp from Clean Like a Pro and Simone Tsigolis from Jetlag Remedy.
“If the care label allows, removing curtains and washing them in the machine is often best for a thorough clean,” Croukamp says.
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“However, if you can’t remove them, use a vacuum with an upholstery attachment to remove dust and spot clean any stains with a fabric-safe cleaner. Be careful not to tug too hard on the curtains as some can be quite fragile and break easily.”
In addition to vacuuming and spot cleaning, Tsigolis recommends steaming curtains to kill germs and remove wrinkles.
“For a more thorough clean, it’s better to remove them and wash according to the care label. Sometimes outsourcing this to the experts at the dry cleaner is the way to go – this can be quite time consuming,” she says.
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