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Most of us are familiar with Venetian blinds, those difficult to clean, laterally slatted strips of plastic with their annoying dangling cords that constantly seem to be caught up in a tangle. There is nothing that makes a room look messier than venetian blinds that are hanging in a crooked or haphazard manner. Thankfully, venetian blind manufacturers are making this type of window shade more functional, more attractive and easier to clean.
The key to using Venetian blinds successfully as a window covering is to make sure they are hung properly. If they are crooked then the strings will not act as properly as pulleys and create an askew effect. No matter how stylish your venetian blinds are they are not beautiful if they don't work.
In interior design, the old-fashioned plastic slatted Venetian blinds are out of style unless you are going for a decidedly retro look. However even if you are going for a retro look then you are much better off to choose Venetian blinds that are made out of anodized aluminum or painted silver. These tend to harbor less dirt and dust and just look right with some of the more popular 60's and 70's retro room designs.
Manufacturers are now creating venetian blinds in all kinds of interesting colors and textures by painting, coating or anodizing the slats. The most boring Venetian blinds that you could buy would be the nineties all black kind with narrow slats or the industrial looking cream colored ones that have decorated every institutional window treatment for over a century.
Some of the newer neon colors look good with retro sixties and seventies designs, as do metallic bronze, silver or gold blinds. Instead of white or black blinds for an all wood office you can now have rich looking blinds that are textured like leather and come in dark shades of olive, burgundy or brown. Spare industrial spaces, particularly offices also look more sleek and modern with venetian blinds in colors such as cherry red or celadon.
If your room looks dated or out of style then the culprit might very well be your window treatment. One of the most unfashionable looks is that throwback to the nineties - vertical Venetian blinds. They almost always come in one color and they have a way of institutionalizing your home or apartment. Unfortunately many of these floor to ceiling vertical Venetian blinds are difficult to replace with more fashionable blinds with horizontal slats. In this case you might consider concealing them with drapes or sheers when they are not being used to filter light.
Mini-blinds are also very eighties and not really in style although admittedly they do have some functionality when used to cover small or box shaped windows that are commonly found in bathrooms. Nowadays you can mitigate the old-fashioned look of the mini blinds by buying ones in a vibrant color.
To make a truly unique fashion statement you might also consider buying hand painted Venetian blinds. These blinds reveal an image when they are shut. Sometimes you can find these in the Chinatown area of your city or at specialty interior design outlets. Often the themes on these plastic slatted blinds are Asian in flair making them ideal for room with an Oriental or bohemian design scheme.
Venetian blinds are thin sheets of any material that are connected together by a string. Mostly of the Venetian blinds are made up of hard plastics. There are also versions of Venetian blinds that are made up of aluminum or any plastic combinations. Since blinds have very thin blades that shut and open, the strength and durability of the blades is a top priority of the manufacturers. Because of that, they do not simply use materials that do not pass their quality check.
There are two parts in the Venetian blinds that are used to open and close it. One is the hanging stick that is being turned to open and close the blades of the blinds and the other one is the excess hanging string that is used to raise or pull the blinds up together. These two have special mechanisms that are placed on the upper portion of the blinds set. Basically, the one that lets the blind close, open and raise is the string that joins it together.
When blinds are always used everyday, the mechanism embodied in it may lower its function. This may be caused by the dust that can form on the small portion where the mechanism is located. When things like this occur you do not repair your Venetian blind rather what you are going to do is to simply clean it.
Venetian blinds usually have warranties. The warranty may include miscarriage if delivered or mechanism failure before a certain date covered by the warranty. The very common wreck that may occur in a Venetian blind is on the blades. Most of the time, plastic when over-exposed to sun becomes brittle and later on will corrode. That is too difficult to repair since you cannot find any spare to change for several affected blades.
The next common trouble in the Venetian blinds is the string failure. Most of the time, because of the tension on the string during lifting, the string after some time might break. You can easily repair this by connecting the broken string together by tying it up or by using a strong adhesive. When the hanging rod does no longer turn smoothly, the problem maybe on the gear on the upper portion of the blinds set. Just simply apply a little of lubricant in it so it will again turn smoothly.
Always make sure that your blind is free of dust. Dust is the number one factor why the gears and other mechanism in your Venetian blinds do not function. Make sure that when you repair the blind by yourself you do not void the warranty.