Sliding doors, patio doors, French doors and windows within both homes and workplaces can often be ignored, and allowed to look lifeless and uninviting. However, colourful fabric vertical blinds can make a significant and valued addition to the workspace, or at home, especially where large windows or doors open onto other living or natural spaces. The advantages of vertical blinds includes their cost, their flexibility, their ability to fit any size window, and the fact that they can be easily manufactured from a wide variety of materials and colors.
Generally, most vertical blinds are made from a woven fabric based material - this helps with weight, and allows a certain amount of air through, so that even with a breeze blowing, the vertical slats stay reasonably still. This is another advantage of vertical blinds - allowing plenty of fresh air into the room while at the same time reducing the amount of bright sunlight which may make working, concentrating or looking at a computer monitor unbearable. These are all not simply important factors when designing the office space, but essential from the point of view of health and safety and the policies which will undoubtedly govern any work place. But in addition to the simply practical advantages of vertical blinds, they offer enormous flexibility and freedom of choice when it comes down to choosing color and style. The vertical blinds can be manufactured using a wide variety of shades and colors, meaning that blending in with or complimenting any color theme or style currently in use in the workspace can be used, either providing pleasant and positive atmosphere in the office, or providing a unique corporate identity, helping to liven up the public image and emphasizing the nature of the business, its identity and known style.
Through careful and considerate planning and designing, the style of vertical blinds chosen can have a significant impact on the atmosphere created within a room. As the sunlight filters through the colored material, an atmosphere will pervade the whole room. For example, green vertical blinds can create a natural, lush feeling, excellent for positive, well balanced minds, whereas a rich red can create a warm, vibrant and energetic atmosphere. Blues help to engender a feeling of coolness and calm, whereas lighter creams and whites help to filter the sun's own light, taking away the glare and reflections whilst still providing a natural illumination.
Although vertical blinds are most popular in offices, shops and other workspaces, they are by no means exclusive to these environments, and many people choose vertical blinds as part of their home décor, helping in exactly the same way to cut out the heat and glare of sun whilst at the same time providing an economic, stylish and flexible solution within rooms such as studies, conservatories and patio or French windows. In exactly the same way as in the workplace, careful choice and selection of colors and styles can help to compliment the styles and themes within the room, and at the same time, helping to filter the daylight to create a subtly colored atmosphere across the living space, promoting well-being and positive feelings. Guests coming in to your home will at once feel that they are entering a vibrant, energetic living space, or a calm and subdued place of tranquillity, or a lush and natural home that is in touch with its outdoor surroundings.
In addition to the fact that the use of vertical blinds can be slid so easily and conveniently to one side when needed, yet closed for privacy or protection, vertical blinds can help to connect the outside with the inside. Where a room opens onto a garden or patio, through the use of patio or French doors or a balcony perhaps, vertical blinds can help to link the two spaces and create a feeling of much wider spaces and larger rooms. For example, a room with a few red or terracotta accents, opening onto a patio or garden with terracotta plant pots or stands, with terracotta vertical blinds in the doorway or window space between, will help to frame and thereby connect one living space with the other, creating a sense of harmony and flow within the home.
How To Vertical Blinds
Vertical blinds are exactly what their name implies, a blind that is designed as a vertical product and somehow functions in this manner. Vertical blinds should perform as designed, in other words, they should traverse from side to side, rotate open and close and look as pleasing as they did when they were new when the vanes, either fabric or pvc, were shiny and clean and the components function properly in order to provide all the benefits they were designed to do. And one more thing of great importance - has the vertical blind remained properly installed? A vertical blind that is not properly installed will not operate at its full capacity.
If your vertical blind does not meet all of the aforementioned factors, then it can be said your vertical blind is suffering from what is commonly known as “wear and tear". This situation is a common part of the life of any product and can easily be corrected. However, this situation can be postponed longer into the future if the issue of quality is taken into consideration when making the original purchase. Quality vertical blinds may have hidden features that the average consumer would not realize and also higher quality vertical blinds may be easier to maintain and repair. These facts will not only prolong the life span of the vertical blind but will continually give the user pleasure.
Vertical blinds can be fabricated using fabric vanes and in this case the consumer should inquire about the wash ability of the fabric. Higher quality vertical blind fabric vanes are washable and thus can be kept looking clean over longer periods of time. Normally, vertical blind fabric vanes are not machine washable but the fabric can be spot cleaned by hand using a mild detergent and then having the area dabbed dry with a clean rag. The manufacturer of the fabric should always be consulted when the need arises. Careful consideration should be given to the proper and recommended cleaning instructions before proceeding.
Due to the vertical design of the product itself and the lack of horizontal surfaces where dust can accumulate, most vertical blinds can be maintained looking “fresh" by simply dusting often. Static electricity oftentimes contributes to the adherence of dust to the vertical blind vanes and in this case the use of an antistatic cloth is recommended. This action will reduce or eliminate most of the static in the future and thus lowering the maintenance required.
Vertical blind vanes made of PVC have gained popularity over the years and if this is the case, PVC vanes can be easily removed from the vertical blind track and washed with detergent either in your bathtub or in the yard using a water hose. Be fully sure that your blinds are fully dry before reinstalling onto the track to avoid unsightly water spots. Be extra careful whenever removing and reinstalling the vanes that the track carriers are not damaged as this may cause you to have the track repaired and result in a necessary monetary expense.
Should one or more of your PVC slats be broken or missing this is a sign that your vertical blind is suffering from “wear and tear" and replacement of the complete blind should be considered. This is not only a sign of wear and tear but also could be a display of age of the blind.
The mechanical function of all the components of the vertical blind is critical to the operation of the product and they should be tested and periodically maintained. This would simply require the pulling of the cord to insure the blind is smoothly traversing and the chain to check on the rotation of the louvers. If the louvers do not properly align when rotated you may simply need to pull the chain to a limit point and then exercise a greater than normal pulling force to bring the misaligned carrier(s) into synch with the rest of the carriers assuming that the carrier system in your vertical blind track is of the self-aligning variety found in higher quality vertical blinds. Spraying a light coat of silicone inside the vertical track will improve the movement of the carriers, ease the operation of the product and improve the quietness of the traversing operation.
One more thing often overlooked is the proper installation of the cord pulley to the wall surface. When the cord pulley is properly installed and the correct amount of tension is put on the pull cord, the carrier system will operate efficiently and much more smoothly.
Regardless of the product, there is no substitute for proper and regularly scheduled maintenance as this will maintain the smooth and safe operation of all products especially those products with which we interact on daily basis. This fact applies to vertical blinds regardless of what is said during the sales/purchase process. If your vertical blinds look old and worn, go forward and replace them with new ones bringing a bright and shiny look to that room and thus rewarding yourself with the pleasure and enjoyment that every room in your home should bring to you every day!
Judith Persit has sinced written about articles on various topics from Family, Interior Design and Home Management. Judith Persit studied bamboo shades for her interior design degree, and writes about bamboo shades. Learn more about. Judith Persit's top article generates over 368000 views. Bookmark Judith Persit to your Favourites.
