Transform Your Kitchen SpaceTransform Your Kitchen Space

Flies can be a real nuisance during the summer months, especially if they congregate in numbers at the windows inside your home.  The pesky insects have a nasty habit of defecating on your blinds, leaving behind a spattering of tiny black dots and ruining the look of your window dressings. 

Here's how to get rid of fly spots from your blinds, for good! 

What you'll need

• clean sponges
• warm water
• household bleach
• washing-up liquid
• fabric cleaner (available from good DIY or hardware stores)
• rubber gloves
• clean, white cloths

Metal and plastic blinds

Fly spots are relatively easy to remove from metal and plastic blinds. 

1. Begin by taking down the blinds and dusting or vacuuming them thoroughly using a soft brush attachment to get rid of any residual dirt and cobwebs.   
2. Prepare a mild solution of warm water and household bleach.  Put on some rubber gloves to protect your hands and then wipe the entire blind over with a damp sponge that's been soaked in the bleach solution.  It's important to treat the whole blind so that you don't end up with small areas that appear cleaner than others when you've finished.  
3. Rinse the blinds clean with a fresh sponge and clean, warm water and allow them to dry completely before re-hanging.

Fabric blinds

Fabric blinds clean much more effectively if you can tackle the fly spots as soon as they appear.  If the left untreated for too long, the fly feces will soak into the material fibres where it will form a nasty stain that can be tricky to remove.

1. Take down the blinds and give them a good dusting or vacuum them using a soft brush attachment.  
2. Make up a mild solution of washing-up liquid and warm water.  Test a small, inconspicuous area of the blind to make sure that the colour doesn't run.  
3. Soak a clean sponge in the solution you've prepared and blot the fly-spotted areas.  You might need to repeat this process several times.  Don't rub the stains as you may cause them to spread.  Blot again with a clean, white cloth to see if the stain is coming out.  
4. If the stains prove stubborn, treat them with a preparatory general stain removal product as per the manufacturer's instructions.  
5. When the fly spots have gone, clean the whole blind using a damp sponge and the washing-up liquid solution.  This ensures that you're not left with a few clean spots on an otherwise grubby-looking blind.  
6. Allow the blind to dry naturally and then rehang it.

In conclusion

You can remove annoying fly spot stains from your blinds relatively easily.  If you live in an area that's particularly plagued by insects during the warmer months of the year, consider fitting fly screens to your doors and windows to stop the pests getting in and making a mess of your window hangings.  You could also try placing a small container of citronella oil on your window sill; flies hate the smell and this natural repellent can be very effective at deterring them.