And if you have metal or plastic mini-blinds, consider ditching them for wood blinds.  Wood being the natural insulator that it is – is your friend when it comes to energy efficiency.  Those thin metal slats just aren’t that energy efficient, though better than nothing.  It just may be worth it to invest in sets of wood blinds for your home.  I don’t care if you have slat blinds or vertical blinds, just get some wood blinds!  While expensive at first, in the long run they can save you money on heating bills in the winter, and air conditioning costs in the summer.

Go green!

You might want to try different styles and size of slats depending on whether it’s a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom or living room in order to get more bang for you buck.

An interesting note: there is now a type of certification called “Greenguard”. Most retailers will carry some form of Greenguard blinds, which have been certified to reduce impact on indoor air quality and have been tested for chemicals to improve quality of life.

To recap here are the benefits of using wood blinds for energy efficiency purposes:

• Lower energy consumption means lower bills
• Home temperature will remain more consistent and comfortable
• Greatly reduced fading of furniture and decorations

So winterize, summerize…weatherize your home with wood blinds and you’ll be set.  Check out on how to choose blinds for your home - to  help in saving energy with wooden blinds.

Why Are Wooden Blinds Great For Energy Efficiency? is a post from: Wood Blinds Guidebook

So it’s time to repair your wood blinds and you want to do-it-yourself. We’ll cover a few scenarios in this article depending on what your problem is.

Blinds Won’t Tilt

If the tilt rod gets disconnected from the tilt mechanism – you’ll have problems tilting your blinds. This is the most likely case as to why your wood blinds won’t tilt. This can also happen on shipment of your blinds, so out of the box you might have this problem. If this tilt mechanism has been broken from normal use, then you’ll have to remove your wood blinds from the window. Take a look at the headrail, which is the horizontal housing at the top of the blinds. In your headrail you will see a metal rod that runs inside it. You’ll also see the tilt mechanism – which holds the tilt rod. It’s most likely that the tilt rod has come loose, so push the tilt rod back into the tilt mechanism. Try to push it all the way through to get a secure positioning.

Tilt Mechanism

Blinds Won’t Lower

You’ve probably tried to lower them several times and in doing so, you’ve raised the blinds up to the top position – and now they’re stuck all the way at the top. Or if they’ve come from the manufacturer and won’t open, you’ll have to hang your wood blinds in the window to try this. Try to bring the lift cord parallel with the head rail and pull gently to release the cord lock. If that doesn’t work, remove the blinds and place them on the floor. Find the cord lock mechanism which is inside of the headrail – trace it by following the lift cord. Inside you will see a small pin. Take a Flathead screwdriver and push the pin gently to disengage the cords. The slats should now lower. Make sure the screwdriver is perpendicular to the pin – and watch for fraying or cutting the lift cords with the screwdriver.

Misaligned or Broken Tilter

So you’ve found out your tilter is broken perhaps after seeing that your blind slats won’t open. Bummer. Take the blinds down from the window. Remove the wand tilt, or cord tilt – depending on which you have. Remove the end caps of the headrails. Then slide out the tilt rod all the way out, and try putting it back in. You may have to get an entirely new tilt rod if it is broken. You can order a repair kit from any of the major manufacturers.

For more advanced repair for your wood blinds, you may have to hire a handyman to avoid destroying your blinds! Of course this site is about wooden blinds, but if you need information on cleaning vinyl blinds, outdoor roll up blinds, or skylight blinds just go to the search engines and you’ll find a wealth of information.  But most likely one of the above methods will fix it – most repairs are minor and due to slight misalignment, assuming you are treating your wood blinds well.

DIY Repair For Your Wood Window Blinds is a post from: Wood Blinds Guidebook

This is how we do it:

Dust is not our friend, ever, but especially when it comes to our precious wood blinds.  We want our blinds to live as long as possible, so from the start you should get rid of that nasty dust.  To clean the front side of the blinds, angle the slats completely downward – to clean the back side of the blinds angle the slats upward.  For weekly, even monthly cleaning you can use a duster, so do this right from the start.  Don’t use feather dusters as they just spread the dust around, use a wool or “magnetic” duster, which pulls the dust onto the duster and won’t scatter it.  Using a vacuum is ok, as long as you use the brush extension and are gentle.  We don’t ever want to our lovely wood blinds.  No matter what your dusting or cleaning method of choice – go slat by slat at first, then give a good once over cleaning to make sure no spots were missed.

Wool Duster

But there are times when you might have not been so diligent in cleaning your blinds, and dust has built up.  Or perhaps your wood blinds are in a room like the kitchen or bathroom where water, cooking residue or smoke has interacted with the blinds.  In this case you will want to use a soft cloth and some kind of wood cleaning agent that is not wax-based.  There are many different types of cleaners to choose from, so be careful.  Any kind of wood furniture cleaner will do – but, please, please don’t use anything like Fantastic or anything meant for kitchens, bathrooms or floors.  We want to maintain the life of our blinds, and these types heavy duty cleaners will do more damage in the long run.

Remember – regular cleaning will help maintain the life of your blinds, so dust them often.

If you still aren’t satisfied or have majorly slacked off in your cleaning, you may need to go the advanced route.  That means dismounting the blinds completely.  Find an old sheet, lay it down and place the blinds there.  This way you have the ground as a supporting surface to put a little more pressure (but not too much) on the slats to scrub them clean with your soft cloth and a gentle wood cleaner.  You can also use mitts or gloves made cotton to clean your blinds.  Again don’t use wax-based wood cleaners, that will just seal in the dust.  Never use water!

You can also use a soft-bristled paintbrush for really dirty blinds.  Using a bit of fabric softner on the paintbrush will prevent the dirt from scattering – just make sure to wipe off the dust as you go, and then continue cleaning.

At some point your blinds may also get dried about, especially for those of you that live in desert climates.  Oil soap is a great for both cleaning and bringing life back to your blinds if they are dry.  Just remember to evenly wipe the oil into the blinds when done cleaning.  Always be careful when cleaning your blinds, otherwise you might need to do a little DIY repair on them if you break something or knock it out of place.

So now you’re off to clean your wood blinds!  Get to it!

How To Clean Your Wood Blinds is a post from: Wood Blinds Guidebook

Maybe you are considering new window treatments for your house, or just like the look and feel of wood blinds.  Or maybe you’ve just moved into a new apartment, and really want to upgrade the look of your living space.  So you’d like to know how to pick the set of blinds that’s right for you.

Wood blinds add a special warmth, strength, and elegance to most any room.  They come in many different materials, styles and sizes so it’s important to choose the blinds that fit your decorating style. One thing is for certain, by choosing wood blinds, you are showing the world that you have refined style and exquisite taste. They also pair really nicely with antique chest furniture in your home.  Or in your living room with your ottoman and a nice set of ottoman trays.  In another post I’ll talk about decorating with blinds in various rooms – kitchen, bathroom, living room, bedroom and more.  And of course it’s always important to be up to date on your bedroom decor tips – to make sure you blinds match everything in your bedroom.  Let’s keep that bedroom cozy, comfy AND stylish.

So how do you choose the right blinds for you?  Let’s take a look at the various factors in choosing blinds: slat width, wood, styles and treatments.

Slat width

Slats widths vary from 1″, 1 3/8″, 2″, 2 5/8″, and 3″. Why is this important?  Well of course your style and taste will come into play here for the look and feel you want to achieve.  But there are a few things to know.  When angled open, the narrow slats cause the incoming sunlight to diffuse more, diminishing your view more than the wide slats.  Fewer slats are needed with the wider-style slats, so when fully drawn the wide slats are less obstructive to the light entering from the top of the window than the narrow slats.  But perhaps you prefer the narrower look, so it’s up to your own individual taste.

Types of Wood

There are two primary types of wood to consider.  The first is North American Hardwood.  These blinds are quite resilient in humid conditions, and don’t warp or crack as easily as Ramin blinds.  They are more expensive, but will age better and have a longer lifespan.  The many types of wood in this category include aspen, basswood, maple, cherry, polar, cedar, white oak and pine.  They are often  made from basswood.

Ramin wood blinds are more sensitive to humid conditions due to a higher water content.  These imported blinds are heavier their hardwood cousins.  They may not be protected by the manufacturer if they crack or warp, so please be sure to check the warranty.

Blind Styles

There are several styles to choose from, let’s take a look:

Traditional – cords run through tiny holes the edges, allowing small amounts of light through.

Traditional

Routeless – cords are connected to the edges of the blind, allowing for less light leakage when drawn closed.

Routeless

Cloth Tapes – instead of cords, cloth tape is used to connect the slats instead of holes.  These are more common with the wide slats.

Cloth Tape

When choosing wood blinds there are several brands to choose from, including Hunter Douglas, Bali, Graber, Levelor.  These are the most popular.

The above examples are all of Venetian blinds (horizontal), but you also may want to consider Persian or slat (vertical) blinds for a different look, depending on the room.

Treatments/Finishes

The final important aspect in choosing blinds, is the type of treatment.  Consider what will fit in your budget but note that choosing a better finish will increase the lifespan of your blinds.

Painted – not as popular, they do protect the blinds, but you lose the wooden look

Sandblasted – this finish gives the blind a more detailed look.

Stained – Very popular, gives as smooth and shiny feel, and adds extra protect

Special Note: Energy Efficiency

Wood blinds are an excellent choice for energy efficiency, because wood is such a great insulator.  This will help you in saving energy and lowering the costs to cool and heat your home.  For all the great reasons to buy wooden blinds go to our welcome page for a great list of reasons.

I hope this article was helpful in showing you the factors for choosing wood blinds – happy shopping!

How to Choose Blinds For Your Home is a post from: Wood Blinds Guidebook

Welcome to our site!  We hope this site will help to inform you in choosing, purchasing, maintaining and decorating with wood blinds. It’s important to make the right choices when choosing blinds, so we’ve tried to give you only the best and most applicable information.

In this guide we have information from selecting wood blinds, to how to the right manufacturer. We’ll also talk about repairing and cleaning your wood blinds, and energy efficiency. There are many topics to cover and we hope you will enjoy the information here – and more importantly that it will be useful to you and your family in choosing blinds for your home. It’s important to create an warm, loving atmosphere in your home for family, friends and guests of any type, and wood blinds are the perfect way to do it.

If you have any questions please email me on the contact page provided. My email address is there and I will answer any questions that I can to help you. There is a wealth of knowledge about blinds out there, so I’m glad you’re stopping here to check us out!

We’ll cover topics ranging from how to choose blinds that are right for you, cleaning and maintenance, do-it-yourself repair, reviews of different manufacturers, and more. We put this information together so home decorators like yourself would be informed on all the great benefits wood blinds can bring to your home atmosphere.

Here’s a list of some of the major blind manufacturers to get you started:

Hunter Douglas, Graber, Kirsch, Louverdrape, Levolor, Bali, Kensington, M & B, Alta, Verosol, Arquati, Duette, Delmar, Comfortex, Joanna…of course there are many more!

It’s ok to be confused by the large variety of blinds to choose from when shopping for blinds, that’s why this window blinds guidebook was created. There are many resources out on the Internet for choosing blinds, so it’s really good you’ve landed here to start your search because you never can tell where you’re journey will take you. I’m sure you will find the perfect blinds for you, because those of us who love wood blinds have exquisite taste – whether choosing Venetian blinds, vertical blinds, or your favorite type of wood – we can’t go wrong with wood!

Feel free to post comments and start discussions on any information you find or would like to add. We look forward to hearing from you soon, and let your journey to finding the right blinds for your home begin!

And visit some of our highly recommended sites…

Contemporary Furniture Place

Roller Door Center

Welcome To The Wood Blinds Guidebook is a post from: Wood Blinds Guidebook