The Right Ways to Clean Your Window Treatments

You've been looking forward to new window treatments for months! And now they are up and you love them! A few weeks go by, you love them even more, and so does your family. But wait, what is it that you see accumulating on them? Dust?! What! Already?!

That's right. Everything gets dusty. It's just a fact of life. Like gravity. And although dust can be annoying and unsightly, there are a few simple steps that you can take to make it disappear, so that you can enjoy great window treatments for many years to come.

Feather Dusting. Regular dusting is really all you need to maintain a fresh appearance of your window treatments. As you dust your coffee table, sill, mantle, etc, just run the feather duster gently through the folds of your drapes or right on top of the blinds. Voila, your cleaning is complete.

Vacuuming. Your vacuum cleaner came with a brush attachment (or several). You can use it to gently vacuum your window treatments. Ok to do if you feel that your treatments need a slightly deeper cleaning.

Compressed Air. Certain window treatments form cells or cavities. The most common examples of those are Honeycomb Shades and Silhouettes. Dust particles and even various criters tend to get trapped there, making it difficult to get them out. The solution is very simple. Buy a can of compressed air at a local Office Depot, point the spray into the cavity, position the can a few inches away from the shade, and gently press. Shooting air through the opening will force anything that's not supposed to be there out of the shade.

Hair Dryer. Not under any circumstances. Although this happened to me personally many years ago, I remember it vividly. It was Tuesday morning before an important meeting. I discovered a spot on my favorite pair of pants. Hurriedly, I spot cleaned it with water and decided to save time by drying the wetness with the hair drier. Within seconds, in front of my eyes, the fabric disintegrated. Melted away as I stood there. Left a big gaping hole. I was devastated. Don't let it happen to your window treatments - chances are you invested much more than I did in that pair of pants. Sure you can use a cold setting, but why take chances, let things take their natural course and soon enough, your drapes will be dry too.

Spot Cleaning. If you accidentally spilled your drink and it splashed onto a window treatment, there is something you can do to clean it up. Act fast (just as you would if it were your clothing). Use soft cloth or sponge moistened in kukewarm water with mild detergent. Blot gently and don't rub - rubbing can cause damage.

Machine wash. If your curtains are custom-made, please do not wash them yourself at all. If your curtains are store-bought, it is not recommended that you wash them. But if you insist, please only do it by hand and only in lukewarm water. Be careful as the fabrics may shrink, stretch, or get damaged.

Dry cleaning. Every 10 years your custom curtains should be dry-cleaned. Most of your neighborhood dry-cleaners will happily do it for you.

Ultrasonic Cleaning. This is a special service that uses ultrasound and an appropriate solution to clean delicate items (i.e. medical equipment, watches, window treatments). When it comes to window treatments, these services are usually performed on sight - in or right by your home.

So you see, cleaning your window treatments, custom or store-bought, isn't difficult at all. And just as all other cleaning, it has to be done regularly. If cleaned and taken-care of right, your window treatments can serve you a life-time.