How to Clean Bamboo Window Shades the Easy Way

Classified as a modern and ‘green’ window treatment, bamboo window shades have become a popular choice among homeowners and interior decorators, cherished for its natural look and texture, convenience, affordability, and easy to install.

No need for professional drapery makers or couture window curtains sewers that not only charge you quite an amount of money to make conventional curtains but also suggest styles that require yards and yards of fabric.

Being a choice window treatment, bamboo blinds are not only modern, sleek, and streamlined, they are also eco-friendly, stylish, versatile, asides being affordable . . . great qualities all rolled up in one.

But how do you maintain and clean bamboo shades?

Things You’ll Need to Clean Bamboo Window Shades

Being made from natural materials, the bamboo blind may be prone (over time) to mildew, layers of dust, cobwebs, or even mould if it’s exposed to moisture or dampness.

To clean, dust, and maintain these types of window shades, you’ll require:

• Soft sponge (or washcloth)
• Feather duster
• Oil soap (like Murphy oil soap)
• Washtub (if necessary)
• White vinegar (if necessary)

Dusting

Dust your blinds regularly, AT LEAST once a week but if you live in a dusty or sandy area, dust every four to five days. A feather brush will do the job quite fine. However, you can use a soft brush to dust off accumulated dust if you haven’t dusted much for a while. But it’s wise to clean it regularly so it always looks brand new.

Make sure you dust between the bamboo slats as gently as you can.

Washing

Wash your bamboo blinds once in a couple of months. Many believe it needs to be washed every month but if you dust your blinds regularly, there isn’t any reason why you’ll need to dunk it in water every 30 days.

To wash, dismantle the shades. Run some warm water in your bath and add some oil soap. If there is mould, you can add vinegar to the water instead of the oil soap. Some use a bit of bleach but bleach can affect the bamboo shade’s . . . the fabric attachment (the string) that holds the blind’s panels together.

But try not to let your blinds degenerate to that!

Ensure the shades are completely submerged in the bathwater. Leave to soak for no more than 5 minutes then scrub gently with a soft brush or washcloth.

When you see that the bamboo shades are clean, remove from the tub and drain out the dirty water in the bathtub. Rinse the blinds with warm water using the shower hose, until all soap is rinsed off. Let it drip-dry out in the sun until it dries completely.

Maintenance

For general maintenance of your bamboo blinds, use a vacuum cleaner with a cleaning attachment to gently suck up trapped particles that dusting may have missed. It’s also good to remove cobwebs (if any) this way.

Further reading:

How to Clean Honeycomb Window Blinds
7 Ways to Change Your Living Room from Drab to Refreshing

How to Clean Honeycomb Window Blinds

Honeycomb blinds, also known as cellular shades, are unique window treatments that are not only modern and popular but an energy saver of sorts too. Before I delve into the ways to clean honeycomb window blinds, let me briefly explain what they are.

Produced from materials pleated into a honeycomb shape, these blinds, also known as cellular shades or accordion blinds comprise of compartments, not unlike honeycombs in a colony of bees. They consist of cellular compartments that actually trap air.

The cellular compartments which come in layers - single, double, and triple-layered cells, trap air, causing it to act as a form of insulation that keeps the temperature of the room cool in the summer and warm in winter. This translates to savings of your household's energy bills.

The more layered cells, the more energy-efficient the blinds are.

Honeycomb window shades are quite popular because they are versatile in that you can use them in any interior space of your home – kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms and living room where they can be combined with soft window treatments to create a dramatic effect.

Cellular (Honeycomb) Shades Explained

All you need is some creativity or a bit of browsing online to help ‘fire up’ your imagination. They are distinguished by a crisp clean style, are designed to roll up and down a window in an accordion fashion.

But how do you maintain and clean honeycomb window blinds?

How to Clean Honeycomb Blinds

In addition to being a lovely window enhancement, one great quality about these kinds of blinds is that they are quite easy to maintain. Asides the fact that they don’t get dirty easily, neither do they stain as fast as soft window treatments, honeycomb shades only need to be cleaned and dusted occasionally.

If you have a busy lifestyle and therefore prefer a window treatment that’s a breeze to maintain, cellular shades are your best choice. But while they normally manage to stay clear of stains and dirt, for longer than the others, it’s good to give them some cleaning once in a while so they retain their clean crisp ‘spanking’ look.

Plus if you keep your windows open very often, they’ll need the occasional dusting. And . . . they are easy to clean if you can just spare an hour or so, twice a year, to do the task.

Maintenance requires some or all of the following, depending on what you aim to achieve . . . either dusting or cleaning:

• Folding step stool (to reach the top of the blinds)
• Lukewarm water
• Very soft brush
• Hand-held vacuum brush (or hairdryer. Yes!)
• Feather brush
• A very mild detergent

Beginning at the top, and working across the layered cells, while moving down gradually, dust the honeycomb blinds carefully from top to bottom with the feather brush. If a lot of dust has accumulated on the blinds, use the vacuum brush but ensure you use it gently.

You don’t want to damage your blinds. Do this on both sides.

If you feel there is a film of dust within the cells, blow out from one end of the blinds using a blow dryer. It is important that you use the ‘no heat’ setting.

You don’t want to ruin or warp your window blinds. Keep the blow dryer about a couple of inches from the edge to ensure the air blast doesn’t bend its shape.

If you have spots of dirt or stain, spot-clean the area. You should dab the spots with a soft sponge dipped in soapy water using very mild soap. A mild fabric washing liquid will do just fine. After removing the stain, dab the spots again, but with clear water and a clean sponge.

To remove any excess water (if any), you should mop up the area (by dabbing), with a lint-free cloth

In the event that your honeycomb blinds have become REALLY dirty, you may have to wash them very gently. To do this, fill a bathtub with lukewarm water, add fabric washing liquid; not too much because you don’t want heavy suds for obvious reasons.

Place the blinds gently in the water. Allow the water to cover them. With a soft brush, clean the cellular shades on one side turn it over and do the second side. Drain the water and rinse the blinds. Air dry; when they are dry, hang them back up.

It’s Easy to Clean Cellular Shades, So DIY

It’s quite easy to clean cellular shades once you get the hang of it, and you’ll find it’s an easy DIY task. No need to call in the expensive “professional cleaners” to do such a simple task of maintaining and cleaning your honeycomb blinds. Just 'roll up your sleeves' and get cleaning!

Articles:
How to Clean Bamboo Windows Shades

7 Ways to Upgrade your Kitchen without Spending a Fortune

3D Home Design Software for Someone with Little or No CAD Experience

Isn't it quite amazing how technology has made life so easy; we can even create our own interior design ideas with easy-to-use interior design software? Half a century ago, who would have thought . . .?

Interior design was not much heard of either. If you had to design an interior, you had to develop the idea in your head. This is not to say that some didn't do sketches on sketch pads, but how many of us had such drawing abilities?

Of course there were the architects, but they designed purely architectural drawings. Interior design in the real sense of the word was not a profession as it is today. We never even dreamed there wll be some software to create drawings at a few clicks of a button.

3D Software, What's That?

Those of us who studied interior design decades ago created our designs using a drafting table, T-square, drafting paper, a set of pencils, and drawing ink. Yes there were the other little tools. . . Those plastic graded triangles, math sets with compass, eraser, rulers, etc. . . . Everyone had its own different function. And our finished layouts, carefully inked onto drafting paper had to be taken to special printers, sometimes miles away!

Things are so different today; we interior designers and decorators are 'over the moon'. To design interior spaces is now a breeze with the advent of 3D home design software, and you can print out your drawings without getting off your seat.

But then technology has gone even further than that. Now there is 3D design software that has been so simplified, even someone with little or no CAD experience can use it.

Don’t be ‘fooled’ though; don’t think because it’s so simplified, professionals won’t find much use of it. You’ll be surprised that even the professional home designers utilize this software for interior design tasks.

Who Can Use Home Design Software?

Now that almost ANYONE, including a novice, can now create an interior layout with very simple design software programs, prices have become very affordable. In fact it won’t be incorrect to say that you’ll find prices are so cheap, every interior and landscape design student, homeowner, interior decorator, builder, re-modeler, etc… should own one. Remember, you don't require any CAD skills to use home design software.

 

1. Home-owners – If you wish to add an extra room or two, but can't afford the pricey services of an interior designer, get one of these home design programs and play around with it. I can bet you; within a few hours, you'd have almost mastered its use . . . and saved a couple of thousand dollars in the process.

2. Interior decorators – If you are an interior decorator, don't limit yourself to conceiving your ideas as thoughts in your mind, without having the opportunity to put it down ‘on paper’ so to say. If that’s the way you operate, only you can 'see' them. And don't rely on scribbling your decorating ideas in a little note book you carry along in your handbag either. Learn to use really simple 3D software like this to create your decorating ideas, and see them materialise right there ‘in your face’. Just devote some hours to learning how to use one and before you know it, you will succeed in impressing your clients in no time. Herein lays the importance of 'visuals'.

3. Students - If you are a student of interior design, home designing software is a must have tool for your interior design training. Many students have discovered that owning one is good step towards learning and being more professional in their chosen career. Besides, being proficient with its use is an added advantage which gives you an edge once you are out there in the real world working as a career interior designer.

4. Interior Designer – As a professional interior designer, you will most certainly find 3D home design software a useful tool to have. You may find you don’t need anything more advanced than these simple programs. Because the program is easy to use doesn't make it less useful than software programs like Autodesk, AutoCAD, or TurboCAD. And though some of us know how to use AUTOCAD, it doesn't work well for interior design drawings because it is more architectural and engineering oriented. Its CAD capabilities will give you real power to create awesome interior and take your design abilities to a new level for you and your clients.

5. Home builder – Because designing a residential home is no more the exclusive reserve of architects . . . thanks to technology . . . computer savvy residential builders must possess one.

What Can 3D Home Design Do For You?

What can this software do for you? Here are a few examples:

• Remodelling your home’s interior
• Adding an extra room or space
• Doing a landscape makeover
• Carrying out any home design projects for local clients
• Giving your kitchen a makeover
• Reshaping your garden; adding a deck, gazebo, patio (you get the idea)

You can easily design elements such as a swimming pool, a spa, a loft (to serve as an additional room), new bathroom design, design a kitchen like a professional, and much more

Features of Home Design Software - Why You'll Want One

Their interior design software has a short and enjoyable learning curve and it has awesome features that will get you "moving" from a blank sheet on the interface to a 3D rendering of your design in minutes.

If you are a first time user, you will find great help in the video tutorials included in the home design program that launches from the help menu. It will take you on a step-by-step familiarisation tour of the software.

It includes a library of common architectural elements - walls, doors, windows, cabinetry, fixtures, flooring, furnishings, furniture, and surfaces. And your finished diagrams can be viewed from a variety of vantage points, giving you the exact way the final designs will be like.

Other features include:

• A pool/pond designer
• A camera path
• Lighting controls.
• Walk-through features.
• Transition effects

Additionally, you can also control material and project costs with the programs estimator, easily edit your materials lists, and print them out to send to your suppliers and contractor.

Spa-Themed Bathrooms: 11 Ways to Make Your Bathroom Look Like a Spa

You can make your bathroom look like a spa if you want the room to look luxurious and feel tranquil; known qualities of luxury spas.

A spa-like bathroom can uplift your spirits, inspire you, and brighten your day. A drab and lacklustre bathroom, on the other hand, can make you feel dull and even miserable, feelings that have adverse effects on our mood. The general ambience of the room must be relaxing and soothing not only to your body but also to your soul.

If you think that your bathroom lacks style and needs an upgrade, consider decorating it to look like a spa. It will be a nice change and one that you can create by yourself. And the cost can be so affordable you’ll wonder why you the idea never crossed your mind in the first place.

Whether you have a small bathroom or a spacious one, a spa-themed bathroom is fairly simple to create. Not only that, what you need to make one are very affordable and easy to find items.

Things You Need to Turn Your Bathroom into a Spa

Have you ever visited a spa? If you have, you most likely enjoy that pampered and coddled treatment. Wouldn’t it be nice to give yourself a spa treatment at home a few nights a week? Well, to set up that luxury space, you will need the following:

Spa-themed wall mural - Magic Murals

1. Wall murals or decals with images typically spa-themed. Decal inspirational quotes can also be introduced on a blank wall.
2. Introduce a variety of greenery. You can either use faux plants or a variety of natural plants that can add a fresh scent.
3. Hang a shower curtain with a minimalist pattern suitable for a spa-theme. This single element can totally transform the entire look and feel of the bathroom.
4. Have a wooden stool placed by the shower or bathtub and use it as a surface to hold at least four neatly folded (or rolled-up) white towels. You can also place white rolled towels in a large basket. And don’t forget adding a white bathrobe and a pair of white terry-cloth slippers.
5. Arrange a collection of matching jars to store bath salts, bath bombs, bath and body oils, cotton balls, swabs, and cleaning pads, homemade body scrubs, and essential oils. These will add a pleasant scent in the bathroom and also create an aromatherapy effect.
6. On a wooden corner stand, place a decorative clear glass bowl with floating scented candles on it. Or alternatively, place a large scented candle on a wrought iron candle holder.
7. Introduce seashells, smooth pebbles, pumice stones, and natural rocks. If you lack enough space to display these, install simple floating shelves or corner shelves on any free wall space and layout all your items decoratively.
8. Use very neutral and natural colours, preferably white palettes and natural wood tones which are typical colour schemes used in spas. You can also complement the mix in warm woods with bathroom accessories.
9. If you don’t have much bathroom space, consider using vertical storage systems.
10. Use a slated bamboo wooden mat for a more zen look. Even though a simple white bath rug is a great alternative for a spa-themed bathroom, a wooden bathroom floor mat is more luxurious and, they are easier to keep clean.
11. It is important to have some soothing and relaxing music with calming sounds of waterfalls while you soak in the bath or just languish in the room. You can listen to music via small Bluetooth speakers.

Further Reading:

Affordable DIY Home Improvement and Repairs for Homeowners and Homemakers

5 Best Kitchen Layouts: How to Design Efficient Kitchens