Friday, August 11, 2006

Restyling Vertical Blinds

Nowadays, vertical blinds are thought of as unfashionable with the current preference and resurgence of new Venetian blinds style. No matter how much the average homemaker may want to take down and replace her vertical blinds, this is not an easy nor inexpensive task. But there is still hope for these vertical blinds, much more if they're made of fabric. Updating and restyling blinds is the cheapest solution to refresh outdated and unfashionable vertical blinds.

There are several tricks to update fabric vertical blinds, and the most foolproof is the use of starched fabric. Pick a fabric you like or that matches your new design scheme. Measure the width and length of the vertical blinds' slats. Divide your fabric according to this size and starch them. Starching fabrics make them more dirt-resistant. Insert these on the slats when they are dried, and you got yourself a cheaper alternative to branded fabric replacements. One useful and practical tip if you intend to use this method: pre-shrunk your fabric by soaking it in water and drying it. Your fabric could shrink during the starching and ruin your measurements. A less tedious fabric solution which would work with any blinds including vertical blinds is draping the blinds with a sheer curtain or cloth. It'll still allow the light in, while giving your vertical blinds an ethereal and fresh look.

If there is too much dirt on your vertical blinds, inserting fabric or adding sheers won't work. Clean vertical blinds as clean as they could possibly be and dry thoroughly. This trick will change the appearance or design of the vertical blinds so choose a wallpaper design that is classic and would go well with most themes. After choosing a wallpaper, measure the width and length of the vertical blinds' slats and divide the paper accordingly. Stick the paper strips to your vertical blinds by using "Wonder Under" or some paste and glue. Use a brush to put on the glue evenly and a rolling pin to prevent air bubbles from forming. Using dyes is a tricky process because it uses water which could deform the blinds. But they do give a nice tint effect to the color. The trick is to dye-brush the slats and not soaking them in dye pools. This way, the amount of water is reduced considerably.

Vertical blinds are also a great opportunity to exercise creativity. Spray painting and airbrushing vertical blinds create a different texture and feel from ordinary paint jobs. The variety of paint textures available today gives you a wide range of choices to experiment with your vertical blinds. Adding patterns through stamps and sponges is also a creative trick. No matter which method you choose, you'll end up with fresh looking, updated, and stylish vertical blinds for the fraction of the cost of buying new sets of designer blinds.

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