Air Return Vents. Allowing your room breathe!
By Andy Maingam 
As unexciting and often unsightly as they might appear, many home require air return vents in order to get good air circulation around the rooms. But gone are the days or drab old plastic vents of limited colors and styles. Today, it’s quite possible to choose vents which can blend in nicely with the theme and décor of your rooms, and dare I say, they can even look nice!
Air return vents are often one of the most neglected part of home decoration, but they really don't have to be. Air return vents are known to be unsightly, even disgusting looking things clogged with years of accumulated dust, mold, and mildew all clinging to the ventilation slats. The problem is that few folks are really interested or bothered in getting their ventilation heating and cooling system, including the air return vents, cleaned on a regular basis.
Never neglect air return vents and make sure you maintain the regularly. It’s a simple procedure but important nonetheless, because if too little outdoor air enters a home, pollutants can sometimes accumulate to levels that can pose health and comfort problems indoors. It’s also essential to allow fresh air into airtight homes and buildings without wasting energy as this cures the "sick building syndrome" and limits structural damage due to moisture.
There are also ventilation fans which are used to extract moist air or steam out of the room, and these can be found chiefly in kitchens and bathrooms. Whatever, type of ventilation it is, the standard airing or freshening devices that comes with a new house are pretty bog basic to say the least.
But, have them we must, even if the air return vents are usually rather drab, ugly, metal things, covered with unsightly bars, one can't help but understand why they aren't really paid much attention too. But in reality, as mentioned above, there are a variety of options to spruce up the air return vents in your home.
Of course, the easiest solution is simply to get your old air return vents painted with a new coat of paint. You have to be careful when you do this, as if it is not correctly done, you can clog up the air return system with paint, but in reality, there really isn't much too it. Most air return vents are in a position where they can be easily unscrewed, either with a standard screwdriver, or with a socket set. If they are in a hard to reach place, air return vents still can be almost always accessed with a ladder. Then it is simply a matter of taking down the air return vent, painting it, making sure to get rid of the excess paint so as not to obstruct airflow, and returning it to its proper place.
Of course, there are all the fashion options for air return vents that even a Martha Stewart could imagine. They come in wood, metal, and a variety of other designs, sometimes with fancy bas relief or other types of decorations embossed on their surfaces. You can even have one custom designed and built by a carpenter, as they are really just a rectangular frame with slats to keep things from falling in.
If you’re a bit of a Handy Andy around the home, then you might want to think about making your own custom air return vents. This way you will surely get the look you want and shouldn’t have to worry about standing out or conflicting with the room décor.
With a little imagination,
they can be made to match your furniture, artwork, floors, and the layout of your house rather flawlessly, and it can really ad a flavor to your room to have everything including the air return vents match perfectly. And because they are so simple, air return vents really don't require the services of a professional to make or check, or even to install.
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