(Not) Blinded by the Light
When we painted the inside of house, we had to take down all the curtains in the three bedrooms. Since all of those curtains had been there since I bought the house, and quite frankly looked like they might have been homemade by someone with marginal sewing talents, this wasn't necessarily a big loss. We left the pull down shade in the windows in place, but it was clear that M wanted something better.
Eventually, M started looking around and found blinds.com. We ended up ordering shades for all of the upstairs windows except for the small one in the TV room closet. M measured carefully and chose different colors for each of the five rooms covered, which she was gracious enough to let me give my opinion on.
When they arrived the old pull-down shades in the bedroom windows were taken down, as were the plastic Venetian blinds in the bathroom and office. The two curtains that had been rehung in the master bedroom came down as well. All of those joined the old curtains from the crawlspace that I had thrown away in the early cleaning frenzy stages of the pandemic.
M then hung all of the new shades up, The first eight went great. For the ninth, it turned out that M had taken the correct measurements but entered the wrong ones in the website. Fortunately, blinds.com had a free replacement policy in cases like this and sent one that was correctly sized gratis. It arrived this week and went up today, completing the project. We didn't even have to return the extra, which will make a nifty backup if something goes wrong with one of them one day.
M did a good job measuring the shades so there's minimal light seepage around the edges, and we ordered blackout shades so the rooms are actually darker with the shades down than they were with the old shade/curtain combination. The shades themselves go down and up at a touch. There are no cables to pull on or rod to twist. They're pretty much as simplistic a design as you can imagine. They look good too. Of course, all this wasn't particularly cheap, but since we haven't eaten out in 32 weeks, we basically spent some percentage of the money that would gone to restaurants on home decor. I'm not sure I could have convinced M to do that voluntarily, but since we didn't have a choice with the pandemic (or more accurately, it would be a pretty stupid choice), it worked out.
Downstairs, we have no plans to remove the Venetian blinds in the living room, which match the room very well. We may one day do something with the Venetian blinds that are currently in the Florida room or kitchen, or put something in the curtain-less windows of the dining room, but that's a project for another day.
Eventually, M started looking around and found blinds.com. We ended up ordering shades for all of the upstairs windows except for the small one in the TV room closet. M measured carefully and chose different colors for each of the five rooms covered, which she was gracious enough to let me give my opinion on.
When they arrived the old pull-down shades in the bedroom windows were taken down, as were the plastic Venetian blinds in the bathroom and office. The two curtains that had been rehung in the master bedroom came down as well. All of those joined the old curtains from the crawlspace that I had thrown away in the early cleaning frenzy stages of the pandemic.
M then hung all of the new shades up, The first eight went great. For the ninth, it turned out that M had taken the correct measurements but entered the wrong ones in the website. Fortunately, blinds.com had a free replacement policy in cases like this and sent one that was correctly sized gratis. It arrived this week and went up today, completing the project. We didn't even have to return the extra, which will make a nifty backup if something goes wrong with one of them one day.
M did a good job measuring the shades so there's minimal light seepage around the edges, and we ordered blackout shades so the rooms are actually darker with the shades down than they were with the old shade/curtain combination. The shades themselves go down and up at a touch. There are no cables to pull on or rod to twist. They're pretty much as simplistic a design as you can imagine. They look good too. Of course, all this wasn't particularly cheap, but since we haven't eaten out in 32 weeks, we basically spent some percentage of the money that would gone to restaurants on home decor. I'm not sure I could have convinced M to do that voluntarily, but since we didn't have a choice with the pandemic (or more accurately, it would be a pretty stupid choice), it worked out.
Downstairs, we have no plans to remove the Venetian blinds in the living room, which match the room very well. We may one day do something with the Venetian blinds that are currently in the Florida room or kitchen, or put something in the curtain-less windows of the dining room, but that's a project for another day.