No Dust Here! How to Effortlessly Clean Blinds

HOW TO CLEAN BLINDS

No Dust Here! How to Effortlessly Clean Blinds

by Sarah Lipoff 0 Reactions 426 Shares Print
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Along with keeping out the sun and offering privacy, blinds are a big collector of dust. It’s smart to add wiping your blinds to your monthly to-do, which keeps them free of debris. Not sure how to tackle this task? It’s actually so easy. Here’s what to do.

Quick Dusting

Open the blinds so you can easily reach between the slats. Dust the area with your favorite duster or a microfiber cloth. You can also use the hose attachment on your vacuum cleaner to suck up any cobwebs or dirt that has made the space its home since your last cleaning.

Get Clean

Mix together a solution of equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle to use as an eco-friendly blinds cleaner. For really dirty blinds, you can also add one-fourth teaspoon of dish soap to help bust through buildup. Give the container a shake to distribute. Turn an old athletic sock inside out, and place it on your hand. Spritz the sock with the cleaner, and then gently wipe the top and bottom of each slat of the blinds. If you don’t have an old sock, a microfiber cloth works just fine too.

Final Step

Pull up the blinds, and give the window a quick cleaning using the same solution you used for the blinds. Wipe around the frame of the window, removing any last bits of dust or dirt. Then return the blinds to their original position, and enjoy the clean.

10 Ways To Keep Your Home Cool.. Without Touching The Air Conditioner

1. Keep your blinds closed. As simple as it may seem, the Family Handyman notes that up to 30 percent of unwanted heat comes from your windows, and utilizing shades, curtains and the like can save you up to 7 percent on your bills and lower indoor temperatures by up to 20 degrees. In other words, it essentially prevents your home from becoming a miniature greenhouse, which is especially the case for south- and west-facing windows.

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Read the complete article here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/25/ways-to-cool-your-home_n_5516182.html

Sunderland blind firm joins safety campaign after death of Sophie Allen

homefair blinds

A COMPANY is joining calls to raise awareness of potentially deadly blind cords after a toddler was tragically killed.

Steve Ellithorn, whose Sunderland-based blinds company did not supply those which strangled little Sophie Allen, wants to raise awareness of how blinds can be made safe.

The firm’s showroom in Fawcett Street hands out information leaflets to potential customers and also provide safety devices for making older blinds more child-friendly.

But there are still millions of potentially deadly blinds in family homes across the country.

Sophie’s devastated parents, Peter Allen and Danielle Hudson, have joined the Echo with our campaign For Sophie’s Sake, to raise awareness of the dangers of blind cords.

They watched in agony as medics at Sunderland Royal Hospital and the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, battled to save Sophie in April.

Tragically, all efforts failed and Sophie’s life support was switched off in the early hours of April 26 after scans showed there was no activity in the toddler’s brain.

Homefair Blinds refuses to fit blinds unless they comply with new safety regulations, which came into force in February, and is offering free advice to anyone with concerns.

Steve, a 44-year-old father of two, said: “When I read about Sophie, I felt sick. It’s just the normal human reaction. I have children aged seven and nine.”

He added that new measures had been welcomed by the industry, but some customers still object to their blinds being fitted with safety devices.

He said: “People say, ‘I haven’t got any kids’, but if you buy a car, you can’t say you don’t want seatbelts because I’m not going to hit anything.

“What happens when you sell the car to someone else? If you move, your blinds are still in the house.

“People think it isn’t going to happen to them. We thought people would be more resistent when the legislation came in, but thankfully they were in the minority.”

At the two-year-old’s inquest earlier this month, the city’s senior coroner Derek Winter heard that 28 children in the UK have been strangled by looped cords since 1999 – 15 in the last four years.

Sophie’s parents said: “Too many children die because of blind cords. They have been banned in America and other countries.

“The reason being, children still have accidents with blind cords when safety devices are fitted.

“Devices have failed in the past – cord breakers have not snapped and clips on the walls have been able to be pulled off.

“Basically, these safety devices still don’t prevent blind cord accidents.’’

They added: “Our campaign is to make people aware and make them safe for the millions of people that already have blinds fitted in their homes.’’

 

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/sunderland-blind-firm-joins-safety-campaign-after-death-of-sophie-allen-1-6686906

Safety campaign: Parents release heartbreaking final picture of daughter killed in blind cord accident

safety campaign

A GRIEVING family has teamed up with the Echo to launch a campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of blind cords.

 

Toddler Sophie Allen died six days after her mother found her tangled in the looped blind cord in the bedroom of her Sunderland home.

At the two-year-old’s inquest last week, the city’s senior coroner Derek Winter heard that 28 children in the UK have been strangled by looped cords since 1999 – 15 in the last four years.

New safety regulations governing the manufacture of blind cords came into force in February but there are still millions of potentially deadly blinds in family homes across the country.

Now Sophie’s devastated parents, Peter Allen and Danielle Hudson, have joined the Echo in trying to prevent future deaths with our campaign For Sophie’s Sake.

The couple watched in agony as medics at Sunderland Royal Hospital and the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, battled to save Sophie in April. Tragically, all efforts failed and Sophie’s life support was switched off in the early hours of April 26 after scans showed there was no activity in the toddler’s brain.

They said: “Too many children die because of blind cords. They have been banned in America and other countries.

“The reason being, children still have accidents with blind cords when safety devices are fitted. Devices have failed in the past – cord breakers have not snapped and clips on the walls have been able to be pulled off.

“Basically, these safety devices still don’t prevent blind cord accidents.

“The design of the looped cord is wrong – there is no need to continuously pull a corded blind round and round on a loop.”

The parents, from Redhouse, also have a son and daughter, Jayden and Ameila.

They added: “Our campaign is to make people aware and make them safe for the millions of people that already have blinds fitted in their homes.

“However, our view is that eventually we need to get rid of them altogether.

“Cordless blinds are sold for next to nothing in some places, so why are manufacturers still producing corded blinds?

“We have heard that some blind companies are still fitting blinds without the devices, because the customer is refusing to have them in fear of compromising the warranty on fitted windows.”

Echo editor John Szymanski added: “Sophie’s death was a tragedy which could have been avoided.

“We are fully behind Sophie’s family in both raising awareness of this, and helping to stop it happening again, so no other parents have to go through this kind of grief and agony.”

On the morning Sophie died, her parents heard her playing with her brother in their bedroom at their home in Ramillies Road.

Her mum got up to go to the toilet and saw Sophie’s brother standing on his bed and that a storage unit in the bedroom had tipped over.

He told her Sophie was stuck and Ms Hudson assumed she was hiding.

But when she opened the child gate, she noticed a shadow behind the curtain and realised Sophie had the blind cord around her neck.

Her frantic parents tried to resuscitate the unconscious toddler before an ambulance was called.

An inquest in Sunderland heard that Sophie was “a very inquisitive child” and her death was a tragic accident.

 

New measures are welcomed

 

NEW safety regulations governing the manufacture of blind cords came into force in February.

But safety charity the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) fears there are still millions of the potentially-deadly blinds in homes across the country.

Charity spokeswoman Sheila Merrill said: “The arrival of the new blind cord standard is a welcome development, because it will help to strengthen the safety of all new blinds and save children’s lives.

“But it is important to stress that there are 200 million blinds already fitted in UK properties. This is why it is important to continue to raise awareness among parents and carers of making sure that looped blind cords are kept out of the reach of children. This can be done by fitting a safety device such as a chain/cord-break connector, chain/cord tidy or cleat.

“We urge people not to place a cot, bed, playpen or highchair near a window and only install blinds that do not have a cord, especially in a child’s bedroom.”

 

Support for cause

 

DANIELLE and Peter are supporting another mum who lost her daughter in a blind cord accident.

The couple, who have set up a Facebook page called Blind Cord Safety in the UK, in memory of Sophie, are also in the process of creating a website for their cause, are in touch with Amanda O’Halloran, who lost her 17-month-old daughter Sophia a year ago.

Amanda, from Tirley in Gloucestershire, launched a campaign and petition called Sophia’s Cause, which calls for a ban on all corded blinds being sold.

So far, it has almost 8,000 signatures in support.

 

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/safety-campaign-parents-release-heartbreaking-final-picture-of-daughter-killed-in-blind-cord-accident-1-6666640

‘Inquisitive’ two-year-old girl strangled to death by blind cord after it wrapped around her neck as she looked out of the window.

  • Sophie Allen, 2, was found hanging from a cord in her bedroom

  • Inquest hears cord wrapped around her neck while she looked out of bedroom window

  • Coroner Derek Winter demands more to be done to prevent future deaths

  • Says millions of families could have deadly blind cords in their homes

A coroner has demanded the government do more to improve the safety of blind cords warning millions of homes could still have deadly blinds after a two-year-old girl was strangled to death.

Sophie Allen suffered brain damage after she was found hanging from the blind cord in her bedroom at her home in Sunderland.

At an inquest into her death, it was heard that the inquisitive toddler, who was playing with her brother, is thought to have climbed on to a storage box to look at her pet rabbits out of the window.
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Two-year-old Sophie Allen from Sunderland, who died after she became entangled in a blind cord in her bedroom 

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Sophie was found in this bedroom at the family’s home in Sunderland after looking out of the window to see her pet rabbits

But the box tipped over and Sophie got her head caught in the noose of the cord and when she slipped, it cut her air supply off.

She was rushed to hospital but despite doctors’ best efforts scans showed there was no activity in the toddler’s brain and her life support machine was switched off.

Now coroner Derek Winter has urged the Government to do more to prevent future deaths.

New safety regulations governing the manufacture of blind cords came into force in February.

But Mr Winter said this would mean there are still millions of potentially deadly blinds in family homes.

He added he plans to use his powers to write to the Government to see if more can be done to prevent future deaths.

Recording a conclusion of accidental death, he explained: ‘I will ask that they reply within 56 days as to what additional measures can be taken to highlight public awareness, so those people who have existing blinds fitted can take immediate action to take away the risk of those blinds, and the regulations that are in place from February are brought to everyone’s attention and the number of deaths from blind cords can be eliminated or almost certainly reduced.

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Sophie, pictured with her brother Jayden, right, who she shared a bedroom with, and her baby sister Amelia

 

At the inquest in Sunderland it was heard that Sophie lived with her parents Peter Allen and Danielle Hudson, along with her siblings Amelia and Jayden, with whom she shared a bedroom.

The hearing was told that Sophie, who would have been three in December, was ‘a very inquisitive child’, and enjoyed looking out of her bedroom window to keep an eye on her pet rabbits.

NEW REGULATIONS ON BLIND CORDS

 

In February, new safety regulations came into effect covering cords on most types of blinds.

The new rules means that blinds must be ‘safe by design’ and supplied with an appropriate child safety device.

These devices break the cord or chain under pressure or provide the facility to store the cord out of reach.

 

Detective Inspector Shelly Hudson, from Northumbria Police, said at about 8.30am on April 20, Sophie’s parents heard the two children playing in their bedroom.

Her mother got up to go to the toilet and saw Sophie’s brother was standing on his bed and a storage unit in the bedroom had tipped over.

 

DI Hudson said: “Sophie’s sibling told his mam that Sophie was stuck, but because she was an inquisitive little girl, she assumed she was hiding.

 

‘She went quickly to the toilet and went back to the bedroom and as she opened the child gate, she noticed her brother was looking concerned and standing on his bed.

‘She asked him again where she was and he pointed at the storage unit next to the window.

 

‘She noticed a shadow behind the curtain, moved the curtain to one side and realised Sophie had the blind cord around her neck.’

The frantic mother freed the unconscious toddler and carried her downstairs where they parents tried to perform CPR.

 

When it did not work they went to a neighbour’s house to call an ambulance as Miss Hudson could not get through on her phone.

 
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At an inquest, Sophie was described as an ‘inquisitive’ child who liked to look out of her bedroom window to keep an eye on her pet rabbits 

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The two-year-old was treated at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, pictured, after being transferred from Sunderland Royal Hospital but doctors were unable to save her

Sophie was rushed to Sunderland Royal Hospital before being transferred to a specialist children’s unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle.

 

But despite efforts of medics, her life support machine was switched off in the early hours of April 26.

 

DI Hudson said that 28 children in the UK have been strangled by looped cords since 1999, with 15 of the deaths in the last four years.

 

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accident (RoSPA) estimates there are more than 200 hundred million unsafe blind cords in the UK.

 

The charity has handed out more than 50,000 free ‘cleats’, which tie up blind cords, as part of an ongoing safety campaign.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2651357/Coroner-demands-action-inquisitive-two-year-old-girl-strangled-death-blind-cord.html#ixzz342LpkzHo
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