After a relaxing Christmas and an exciting New Year, things are back to normal at Tuiss HQ and we’ve been thinking long and hard about what our new years resolutions as a company are going to be.

After a few days of brainstorming, these are the promises that we make to you for the coming year…

Our Resolutions:

A wide range of new and exciting products – sumptuous fabrics, beautiful patterns and stylish wooden slats, we promise to bring you even more new designs to ensure you can find the perfect blind, curtain or shutter for your home.

Luxurious products at an affordable price – we pride ourselves on our low and competitive prices and we don’t intend to change them any time soon.

The best customer service that we can offer – whether you have a burning question or need to place an urgent order, we’re just a phone call away, six days a week, ready to help you out.

With these New Year’s resolutions, we warmly welcome you to 2015 at Tuiss…

We’d like to start by saying a big thank you to all our customers for being so understanding over the festive period – you’ve all been exceptionally patient with us while we’ve been closed and we sincerely hope that we’ve managed to catch up with all your questions and queries as quickly and smoothly as possible.

We do have one slight change to our opening times this New Year to inform you of…

Wednesday 31st December –

open as usual from 9am-5pm

Thursday 1st January –

closed all day

Friday 2nd January –

open as usual from 9am-5pm

Our opening times shall then revert back to normal.

Once again thank you for all your patience over this festive season and we hope you’ve had a truly magical time…

Christmas may be over but that doesn’t mean that the festivities have to stop – our Winter Sale is sure to keep you in celebratory spirits!

With incredible savings on selected blinds and curtains, you can create the perfect look in your home for less and welcome the new year in in style.

Think of it as our way of saying thank you for your continuing support this year – whether you’ve read our blog, followed us on social networks or been a loyal and trusted customer, we very much appreciate your support and hope that you’ve had a very Merry Christmas…

As Christmas is drawing ever closer, we have some important information to share with you in regards to our opening times over the festive period…

Christmas Opening Times…

Tuesday 23rd December –

our phone lines will be closing at 12pm, ready for the Christmas period

Wednesday 24th December –

our phone lines will remain closed

Thursday 25th December –

our phone lines will remain closed

Friday 26th December –

our phone lines will remain closed

Monday 29th December –

our phone lines will reopen at 9am and business shall continue as normal

If you do have any questions or queries between these hours then please feel free to email us regarding your concerns – you can find out contact information by clicking here.

So without further ado, on behalf of all the staff at tuiss, we wish all our customers a very merry christmas!

We have a wide selection of venetian blinds made from various materials and they all have different cleaning techniques.

Rather than group them all together, we’ve split them into their own sections below to make it even easier for you to find the perfect solution…

Real Wood

Wooden blinds can be a little more awkward to clean as the wooden slats can soak up moisture quite easily and are prone to twisting and warping out of shape. In order to avoid this, the best ways to clean them are as follows:

• Dusting on a regular basis – the best way to avoid a heavy clean is, quite simply, to give them a quick once over every week. This not only helps them to look fresh and new for longer, it will also save you time in the long run
• Wiping with babywipes – this may seem like an odd trick but believe us, it really works! The babywipes are just damp enough to remove any marks or stains from the wood without leaving excess moisture or damaging chemicals on the blinds

• Using wood cleaner – to ensure that the slats remain undamaged and looking good, always use a wood cleaner when you’re cleaning your blinds, simply spray it on to the affected areas and simply rub any marks with a dry paper towel to remove them
• Grab an old sock – honestly, this isn’t half as weird as it may sound! If you have larger slats, there should be plenty of room to fit your hand between them when they’re open, simply slide an old sock onto your hand and run it across the top of each slat in turn before tilting them the other way and repeating the process

Faux-Wood

These pvc blinds are much easier to clean to to the fact that they are 100% waterproof, meaning that you can get them wet without having to worry about them soaking up the water:

• Soak them overnight – if your blinds have picked up stains or marks over time and they look a little dried in, you can fill your bathtub with warm, soapy water and simply leave the blinds soaking overnight. Any marks should simply wipe off the following morning!
• Give them a good scrub – grab a scrubbing brush and some soap and go to town! You can be as gentle or as rough as you like and this durable material won’t break or wear away.

• Grab the hoover – if your blinds are in an easily reachable position, there’s nothing stopping you from giving them a quick once over to get off the dust quickly and easily
• Babywipes to the rescue – once again, babywipes are an excellent way to give your faux-wood blinds a quick and easy clean

Aluminium

Robust, durable and easy to clean, aluminium blinds are easy to upkeep to ensure that they stay looking as good as new for longer:

• Get your toothbrush – as most of our aluminium blinds feature smaller slats, it can be hard to try the old sock on hand trick, however if you get a toothbrush and a bit of soap, you can give them a nice and easy clean down before rinsing them off
• Hose them down – particularly good when that spring cleaning bug bites you, if you’re blinds are a manageable size, you can take them outside, balance them or hang them in place and give them a spray with your hosepipe. Even better, if the weather is sunny and light, you can even leave them outside to dry off!

• Regular dusting – the aluminium material does have a tendency to attract the dust so keeping them dust free can be a hard job. If you give them a quick dust down on a regular basis, hey’ll look fresher for longer

When it comes to your loft conversion, keeping the windows covered can be quite an important job – whether you’re using it as an office, a bedroom or even just a little hidey-hole to escape into every once in a while.

No matter how you use your loft, you’ll want to make sure that the windows are covered adequately to protect you from early morning light or cold winter winds… And we have an excellent selection of loft blinds to help you do just this.

Essentials Blackout

Pros

Affordable – available at a reasonable price, these blinds are, quite simply, an essential addition to your loft

Fast Delivery – with a 2-3 working day delivery time, you can get these blinds nice and quickly to ensure that your room is ready in no time

Blackout Lining – perfect for loft bedrooms, the blackout lining keeps the bright light at bay so you can sleep better for longer

Fits Perfectly – designed to fit in perfectly to the corresponding window codes, there’s no fuss when it comes to fitting these blinds

Cons

Small Selection of Colours – the Essentials range only covers the basic colours so if you’re looking for something a little brighter, then you’re better off taking a look at our gorgeous range of Thermalux blinds…

Thermalux Energy Saving

Pros

Blackout and Energy Efficient – not only do these blinds feature a blackout lining, they also have insulating brushes along the sides and a rubber seal across the bottom to keep the heat in

Added Insulation – the addition of brushes and a rubber seal give these blinds added energy saving effects that will help control the temperature in your home

Cuts Costs – due to the energy saving properties, your bills won’t be as high, letting you save the pennies for the important things in life

Range of Colours – from bright red to deep green, there’s a huge selection of colours available to help you match your decor perfectly

Cons

Higher Cost – due to the additional features, these blinds are a little more pricey than our Essentials range but, if your room is prone to drafts and cool temperatures, they are well worth the investment

Give your home a timeless touch with these gorgeous Kensington Satin White plantation shutters.

One of the newest additions to the tuiss family, these stunning shutters have so many benefits that we’ve found it hard to narrow it down to the top five reasons that we think these shutters are deserving of our Product of the Month this December…

Sleek and Stylish

Designed with traditional style in mind, these shutters effortlessly combine both classic charm and more contemporary measures.

With a satin white colourway, these shutters will blend in beautifully to any decor scheme, making them a popular and practical choice for the home.

Practically Indestructible

Made from extremely robust material, these shutters also feature an aluminium core along the inside of the slats, helping to keep them rigid and strong. Contrary to popular belief, the strong material is also lightweight, making both the fitting and the use of your shutters nice and easy.

They’re also extremely easy to clean – whether it’s dust, pet hair or the dinner that your toddler launched across the room, these shutters won’t stain and you can be as gentle or as rough as you like when it comes to cleaning any marks from them.

Extremely Energy Efficient

It may seem odd that shutters can be energy efficient but these beauties have been proven to reduce heat loss by up to 60%, saving you money on your bill throughout the year.

It also means that they help to control the temperature in your home – whether it’s keeping your home warmer in the winter months or helping to keep the sun out so your room is cooler during the summer, these shutters will do the job.

Suitable for Bathrooms, Kitchens and Outdoors

The durable material is both UV resistant and waterproof, making these shutters ideal for any room inside your house… And even outside too!

If you want to create a traditional twist in your bathroom or add a touch of style to your kitchen, these shutters are simply perfect.

And if you love the traditional look of shutters on the exterior of your home, you can even use them outdoors as they are practically impervious to the elements.

Made in the UK

The main benefit of UK production is that it guarantees the shortest lead times available.

That means no need to wait weeks and weeks for your shutters to be delivered, meaning you can complete the look in your home for a fraction of the time and the cost.

We’ve had a lot of questions lately regarding the upkeep of our gorgeous plantation shutters.

Being the newest addition to our ever growing family at tuiss, we understand that sometimes you can feel a little intimidated by the addition of something new in your house – especially when it comes to keeping them clean.

Never fear, tuiss is here with a quick and easy guide on how to clean your shutters.

Dusting

If you like to have a quick whip around your home on a weekly basis, make sure you include your shutters.

Giving them a quick dust down or even using an upholstery brush hoover attachment is a great way to keep them looking fresh and new.

Washing

Our plantation shutters are completely waterproof so getting a bucket full of soapy water and a cloth or sponge is a great way to give them a more thorough clean.

If you have them on the exterior of your house, you can even use a hosepipe to wash them down, before having a good sponging and rinsing them off again – it really is that simple!

Scrubbing

If there are any more stubborn stains or if you want to really get in there and give your shutters the most thorough clean possible, you can use a scrubbing brush dipped in a soapy solution and scrub the stains away.

Using toothbrushes dipped in soapy water is also a great way to get into all the nooks and crannies for the deepest and best clean.

Drying

Whether it’s a dry down after cleaning or even if your bathroom shutters have been splashed as you’ve had a wash, you can dry them down quickly and easily using a nice clean, fluffy towel.