Looking after curtains and blinds through a Lucknow year

Soft furnishings in a north Indian home face three separate problems across the year. None of them needs much work — but they do need different work.

Through the dusty months

Dust is the everyday enemy, and it settles into the weave long before the curtain looks dirty.

Once a fortnight, run the brush attachment of a vacuum down each panel, top to bottom, on low suction. That is genuinely it. Curtains that are vacuumed regularly need washing far less often, and washing is what wears fabric out.

For blinds, wipe slats with a barely damp microfibre cloth, then dry them. Water sitting on a roller blind can leave a mark.

Monsoon

Damp is the season's problem. Curtains that stay drawn against a wet wall can hold moisture and develop a musty smell or, at worst, mildew spots.

• Open the curtains during dry spells and let air move across the window
• Keep fabric away from a wall that is actively damp
• If a panel does smell musty, dry it fully in the sun before washing — washing damp-smelling fabric without drying it first tends to set the smell

Summer

Sunlight fades fabric, and the west-facing windows get the worst of it. If you have a pair of curtains on a bright window, swap the left and right panels once a year. They then fade evenly instead of one going visibly lighter.

Washing, when you do

Check the care label first; the honest answer varies by fabric.

• Cold water, mild detergent, gentle cycle
• No bleach on coloured fabric
• Hang damp rather than tumble drying — the weight pulls the creases out, and you will barely need to iron
• Rehang slightly damp if the fabric allows it

Heavy blackout curtains with a coated backing are often better dry cleaned. The coating does not enjoy a washing machine.

What not to do

Do not soak an embroidered or heavily worked curtain. The threadwork and the base fabric shrink at different rates, and the panel puckers permanently.

When to call someone

If a track is sticking, a bracket has worked loose, or a blind mechanism has started to catch, get it looked at early. Those are small jobs until the fixing pulls out of the wall and takes a lump of plaster with it.