Sparkle & Shine: How to Clean Wooden Blinds

Hey there, friend! Ever noticed how our wooden blinds can become a dusty, greasy mess over time? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Grab your coffee, because today I’ll show you a step-by-step tutorial on how to clean wooden blinds and make them look brand spankin’ new. It takes a few minutes to do it properly, but you’ll thank yourself in the end. You’ll be so pleased with the outcome!

The Problem

There’s nothing more frustrating than looking at your dusty, greasy wooden blinds and feeling overwhelmed at the thought of cleaning them.

That’s what I did – for months! (hanging my head in shame…) I’ve discovered, though that avoiding cleaning wooden blinds is a common problem with lots of homeowners. The fact is, wooden blinds are a beautiful and wonderful solution for privacy in our homes, but they are a bit tricky to clean.

They become trickier to clean in kitchen areas as grease can mix with the accumulated dust that naturally happens over time. Such was the case in our home. Since our main living space is an open from the living room and the kitchen, and our current vent fan in the kitchen is absolutely useless, our wooden blinds in the dining and living room had become a greasy, sticky dusty mess.

We discovered, though that with a little bit of time and effort, you can restore your wooden blinds to their former glory. In this blog post, I will share with you some tried and tested methods to tackle even the dirtiest of wooden blinds. So roll up your sleeves, put on some music, and let’s get cleaning! You’ll be glad you did!

How to clean wooden blinds that are just dusty

If your wooden blinds haven’t been neglected as long as ours had, cleaning just dust off of them is much easier. Here is how to clean dusty wooden blinds:

1. Close the blinds all the way so the slats are facing down. Use your vacuum with a soft brush attachment and run it across the slats working from the top down.
2. Then use a microfiber cloth dampened with water (the Norwex envirocloth is my personal favorite) and starting at the top, wipe from the top down.
3. Now turn the slats so they are facing up – exposing the back side of the blinds. Repeat the process, but work from the bottom to the top vacuuming and wiping with the cloth.
4. Finish off by drying with a dry microfiber cloth.

What NOT to do when cleaning wooden blinds

I’d love to say that there is a super quick and easy 5 minute way to clean really greasy and dusty wooden blinds. Believe me, I’ve done lots of research trying to find the “easy button” for this dreaded cleaning tasks.

I’ve heard of taking them off the windows and soaking them in the bathtub, and I even considered taking them outside and hosing them off with the lawn hose.

However, I’ve read many cautions online as to why you should avoid cleaning methods like that.

Too much water on the metal blind mechanism can cause it to rust and prevent them from moving and working as they should. Given the fact that wooden blinds can be very expensive to replace, I wanted to avoid that problem.

Prepare to do some work when you’re going to clean greasy dusty blinds

As part of my new year’s goal of getting our house organized and cleaned in 30 days (yes, I’m already behind!!;)), I started the first week out in our main living spaces and decided it was time to tackle the dreaded job of cleaning the wooden blinds.

My husband so graciously offered to help. I can’t say the job was fun, but when we worked together, the job was finished much quicker than we thought it would be. (There were 6 blinds to clean!)

Gather the Supplies You’ll Need to Clean Wooden Blinds

• All purpose cleaner that has some grease lifting properties. We used a simple homemade solution of 1 part dawn dish soap and 1 part vinegar in a spray bottle, as it is my secret weapon for how to clean glass shower doors.
• Microfiber clothes
• Bucket of warm water

Step by step process to clean greasy dusty wooden blinds (without taking them down)

Here is the step by step process we followed with excellent and sparkly results!

1. Spray on the cleaner and let it sit on the blinds for about 5 – 10 minutes.

The cleaner will start to lift the dust and grease from the surface of the blinds. (I told you…they were nasty!;))

2. With your wet microfiber cloth, squeeze each wooden blind slat and wipe from one side to the other, working from the top down.

I know, this feels labour intensive, and it sort of is. However, it is the only way to get the dirt and grime off both the back and front of the blind slats.

3. Rinse your microfiber cloth regularly (as it will get full of dirt and grease fast). Having a bucket of warm water nearby is helpful. Once you have wiped down the whole blind once, repeat again with just water to make sure all the cleaning solution is rinsed off.
4. Close the blind slats so they are pointing down and give them a final wipe down with a dry microfiber cloth, starting from the top and working to the bottom. Turn the slats to face upwards, and wipe the underside with a dry cloth working from the bottom to the top to dry off the underside.

You did it! I know it was a few steps, and took a bit of time, but now that it’s over, you’re going to be so pleased with your sparkly clean wooden blinds!

Other Tips for Cleaning

• Bathroom glass cleaner you can make at home!
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