Designing a calming environment

If you live on a gravel or other type of unsealed road, you may get a lot of dust in your home. As vehicles drive by or even as you walk over the road and back into your house, that kicks up a lot of dust, and much of it may end up on your blinds. Want to avoid dusty blinds? Check out these tips:

1. Look for vertical designs.

While many blinds traditionally have horizontal slats, that is certainly not the only option. There are also many blinds with vertical slats. Consider installing stylish blinds with vertical slats, as dust is less likely to be able to build up on them the same way it does on horizontal slats.

2. Consider simple roller blinds.

Instead of vertical or horizontal slats, consider looking for blinds that don't have any slats at all. In particular, consider very simple roller blinds. These blinds can be basic and white, or they can come in all sorts of patterns or colours. In most cases, this style of blinds features a sleek, synthetic material doesn't tend to attract dust, and as their design is vertical, the dust has nowhere to sit.

3. Stay away from fabrics.

Whether you choose roller or slatted blinds, also pay attention to the material of the blinds you select. Fabric tends to harbour dust and dirt more aggressively than plastic or wood. Additionally, with plastic or wood, you can simply remove the dust with a swipe of your cloth. Unfortunately, with fabric slats, if you try to dust them, especially with a wet cloth, the dust will turn into dirt and get ground into the fabric of the blinds.

4. Choose machine-washable blinds.

If you absolutely love the idea of fabric blinds and feel they work better with your interior than vinyl, plastic, or wood blinds, consider opting for a style that can be machine washed. In particular, Roman shades do everything that blinds do, but you can easily remove them from your windows and pop them in the wash as needed.

5. Open and close your windows.

The material and style of the blinds you select can have a big impact on how much dust they attract and how easy or challenging the dust is to deal with. However, you can also try to reduce dusty blinds by reducing dust at the source. In most cases, if you live on a gravel or unsealed road, most of the dust is coming from the road through the windows onto your blinds. To stop that journey, keep the windows closed when the wind is blowing from the direction of the road toward your home. Also, close the windows in the morning and early evening when people are driving past your home to or from work or school.