How To Remove Stains From Fabric Blinds

With the holidays looming, most homeowners are shifting focus to prepare for large family gatherings and important traditions. If you are playing host to your festivities this year, making sure your home is spotless can be a big priority. Fabric window shades are often overlooked when it comes to sprucing up around the house, but freshly cleaned shades tin can make a big deviation in the overall look of your domicile. While light dusting and vacuuming are sufficient to remove dust, pet hair, and other debris that has a trend to build upwardly on the material and folds of shades, removing deeply prepare stains requires a more intensive approach. Thankfully, near stains can be removed at home with household items and around one hour to spare.

To acquire the best way to clean your fabric shades, whether they're Roman shades, roller shades, cellular shades, or sheer shades, bank check out Blindster's step-by-step guide and tips below.

Gear up a balmy cleaning solution.

The first step is to fix a cleaning solution that you tin use to gently elevator abroad the stain without discoloring the fabric of your shade. To get started, gather the following items:

Bucket
Liquid dishwasher detergent
Sponge
Clean, soft cloth

Fill up the bucket with warm water from your sink and add a small amount of dishwasher detergent. Mix it up until it is evenly distributed in the h2o.

Determine the severity of the stains on your shade.

Before you lot take whatsoever farther action, take the time to check your shade and determine how much cleaning it needs. If merely a minor section of the shade is stained, or if the stain is superficial, you tin can go out it attached to the caput runway and your window. However, if the stain is deeply set up or covers a big section of the fabric, you may need to disassemble your shade from the headrail.

Exam a small patch of fabric before applying the solution to the shade.

Although the mixture of warm water and liquid dish detergent is unlikely to cause stains or discolorations, it's better to be safe than sorry. Employ your sponge and gently dab a pocket-sized amount of the cleaning solution on an camouflaged area of the fabric and expect several minutes for it to dry. If the fabric appears discolored, you may need to take your shade professionally cleaned to avoid further damage.

Dip the sponge or cloth into the cleaning solution and gently absorb the stain.

Make certain to wring out any excess moisture earlier applying the sponge to the stain to avoid soaking the fabric. Press the sponge into the material gently until it is moistened with the warm water and liquid detergent solution. So, employ the clean cloth to blot abroad the backlog moisture. Repeat the process as necessary until the stain begins to elevator away out of the fabric.

Dry the moisture patches of fabric using a fan or hair dryer on a depression estrus setting.

Water spots tin can discolor fabric, and then it'due south best to dry your shade immediately afterward cleaning it by using a fan or hair dryer on a low heat setting. If the stain covered a large area and you lot had to remove it from the head rail, consider hanging the shade to allow information technology to air dry faster.

Check to see if the stain has dissipated.

In one case the material has stale, it's fourth dimension to check the shade to decide whether the stain is lifted. If it'due south all the same visible, consider making some other cleaning solution consisting of ane part bleach and four parts warm h2o. If your shades have a dark fabric, endeavor one part bleach with 10 parts water to avoid accidentally discoloring the fabric.

Before using a bleach-based cleaning solution on your shades, check for cleaning and care instructions located on the shades or in the instructions manual for any warnings against using bleach on the fabric, every bit it can discolor some shades and some materials.

Tips and Tricks

When cleaning, consider placing a towel or sheet underneath the shade to catch whatever water that may drip from the sponge or cloth.
Make sure to avert getting any water inside the headrail, equally it can impairment the moving parts that command the elevator mechanism of the shade or even cause them to rust.
While it's acceptable to fully immerse vinyl blinds in h2o (excluding the headrail), you should never include your shades in this manner, every bit the fabric will soak up the water and may become heavily discolored, stained, faded, or fifty-fifty warped.