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.