Pressing On: How to easily clean wood and faux wood blinds

Spring Cleaning. I love it and I hate it. Even though it's hard work to deep clean the house, I look forward to spring and fall cleaning because it's like a home reset. So refreshing!

Do you dread cleaning your window blinds? I know I do. I love to have them clean, but they are such a pain.

When we moved into this house, the blinds were so filthy, a wipe down just wasn't good enough. I don't think they'd ever been cleaned.

In desperation, I threw them in the bathtub and took a scrub brush to every single slat. When I realized how brilliant this method was, I decided to make it a routine. Now that the blinds don't have a build up of gunk, the subsequent cleanings are a breeze!

I do this process about twice a year during my spring and fall deep house cleaning. In between those times, I quickly run a swiffer duster or a vacuum over the slats to keep the dust at bay.

Since you have to take the blinds down to clean them, it's a great time to really dust the curtain rods, wash the curtains and the windows. I also dust and vacuum under the beds and any furniture as well as washing every piece of bedding (like the dust ruffle and decorative swag over my bed). Because this can be a long process, I usually tackle just one room a day so it doesn't get too overwhelming.

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Now I will add a disclaimer. No company is going to recommend you do this, so use this method at your own risk.

If you leave them in the water for a long time, you could easily damage them. My blinds only stay in there for a minute or two, tops. I am simply dipping, not soaking. Do not soak your wood blinds!

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Now, let's get to the good stuff!

Here is the BEFORE. Nasty layers of dust. This is from a house that is relatively clean most of the time. I vacuum and dust these at least every 2 weeks. If you have blinds, I know you know what I'm talking about.

First Step: Run a bathtub partially full of water with a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid or (ideally) Murphy's Oil Soap (if you have wood blinds). Each bath tub like this will usually do 3 windows for me before I want to drain it and put in fresh clean water.

Second Step: Gently lower your blinds into the water. Be careful with the adjustment rod so it doesn't tangle and hurt your slats. With your hands, swish the blinds and slats around in the water carefully.

Third Step: Pick up the blinds out of the water (using the top solid mounting rail) and then lower back down. Do this 3 or 4 times or until you feel they are clean. The pressure of the water flowing off the slats cleans them really well.

Fifth Step: Drain off excess water from blinds and take them out into the sunshine. I just let them stay out there for a couple of hours, going out once or twice to flip them.