Blinds ...

Ugh ... I have this chore of picking out blinds for our windows and it seems that what I love is way to expensive. What to do?

Well, I thought, that since all you ladies on here are brillant, and a few of you are going through this too, I'd ask for some help. Any pics or advice or suggestions on how you went through this experience would be most helpful!

I'm leaning towards the wood blinds - I just love them, but I was told that they might make the room to dark? Comments?

I love my wood blinds. Custom ones are really expensive but we got our as Ikea a few years ago. We just happened to have two front windows that were the right size.

The wooden blinds dont make it any darker than plastic blinds do. You can open them up when you want more light.

I too wanted wood blinds for our windows but found out they were way too expensive for us! I have never been a fan of blinds but we live on a busy street and I do not like everyone watching us as we eat dinner or watch tv!!

We were told that the wood blinds would make the rooms darker but it depends on how dark of a color you are thinking of going with. I LOVE the look of the wood!!

I'm thinking of the maple color to go with our cabinets and floors. I'm going to check out Ikea, thanks Stef - do you have any pics, by any chance? Also, if I do go wood, then I'm thinking about the white wood for our bedroom and office.

Lisa - they are expensive but not as expensive of some other blinds that I've seen. To save some money, I'll stay away from Hunter Douglas.

Not a photo of my blinds but you can sort of see them here all the way on the left.

I love them!!!! Thanks! I love the molding too - we have the wood molding in our dining room and kitchen, so I really want them. The only thing is that one of my windows in the dining room is a slider window, so I may have to do verticals. If that's the case, then that messes me up entirely!

Also - I've got another question ... if I'm going to put curtains up in the living room, do I still need to get blinds? I don't think so - my logic is that I will just draw the shades at night - but my dear husband and my mother think that I should get blinds too!

In my case, I would need blinds no matter what. I live in a populated area so I would never want people walking by to see right into my house no matter what time of day it is.

Plus, I think the wood blinds plus nice draperies add a really lovely layered effect.

I have these curtains and im going to be putting them up as soon as my new windows are installed:




In this color


And if I ever get around to it, Im painting the wall behind my couch red too.

I love those curtains too - Restoration Hardware, right? - and that rod and tie-backs, I want - my house is all antique brass, so I want them to be in antique brass too.

I have to think about the blinds and curtains some more - I don't want it to be to layered, but totally understand why you want them. Thanks so much for your help!

Stacedz - JCPenney is not to bad, but I've seen them on ezblinds.com, and they were reasonable. But I'm also going to check out Ikea now.

Edited to add: Red is bold and I think it's great. It would be hard for me to do though!

Cira
Let us know about Ikea, if you dont mind. I am just about ready to start researching window treatments myself.
Thanks

Cira- I got Hunter Douglas faux wood blinds (cost the same as real wood but never warp) in my LR, and custom shades in my BR. I wanted Hunter Douglas Silhouettes for my LR sliders but because of the sheer fabric between each blade (verticals for sliders) I was worried the cat would rip them and you cannot just replace a small piece. Plus they were almost $1K for the sliders.

Then I really wanted Vingettes for my BR but they were $375 per window and that was a lot to spend on window treatments when I still need so many other things.


I used custom people who came to the house to measure and show me fabric samples. The prices were the same as shopping in a Home Depot type place and the quality is top-notch, plus I knew that they were measured properly and installed properly.

Those curtains are from Pottery Barn but I bought them on ebay for a discounted price.

I love red but as you can see, my house is all this really bland boring color. Luke is freaking out about the red b/c he is not so good with visualizing something he has never seen before. So I have to get him used to the idea before I do it :D

I also bought some of these to put on that wall once its red b/c that PB collage frame is just not making the grade right there.


(Of course MS does not make these anymore so I had to buy similiar ones elsewhere)

Sorry to sidetrack your blinds conversation, Im very bored today :D

Oh I love those drapes

Oh, Pottery Barn, my bad!! I confuse the two sometimes, since I flip back and forth with them so often.

Michelle ... does the faux wood look like the real wood? I love the Silhouette - that's what I wanted for our bedroom, but at $250 a window, Rob gave me that 'do we really need those' speech, so I needed to think about other options. Having a house is so darn expensive and we didn't even move in yet - we are starting this weekend!

Stef - Love the frames - I think that would look great. Is there anyway that you could take show Luke a photoshop version of what the room would look like, to help him vision it better. Rob had to use one of the Architect programs to show me the kitchen layout, I just couldn't grasp how the cabinets would look. We painted our house with some colors - I would love taupe walls in the living room and the red velvet curtains - but I'm not that bold yet. I still need to pick out my chocolate brown leather couch!

Hi Cira, did you try Blinds to Go? We got our vertical for the living room window there and they were about $300 cheaper then Hunter Douglas. I know they had a lot of wood blinds there when we went. The only downside is that Rob would have to measure and install them himself.

Did you move in yet?

Cira: I want a chocolate brown couch too but that is not in the budget for this year. Maybe next.

Luke will hate it even more in photoshop...he will just see a big red blob. If it were up to him, all of our walls would be white!

LOL Stef ... If it were up to Rob, it would be linen white. Actually, I was at the paint store for about 4 hours trying to decide my paint colors and that is with me going through tons of paint cards. Rob actually like the colors I picked, so there is hope!
What about Kel's (Rich's Bride) pics that she posted, I thought she had a red and gold room.

Deb - I did try Blinds to Go, and I didn't feel that I got any real help. The girl was sweet, but I was still undecided. But Rob doesn't mind installing them - if it saves us money. I don't know, I'll see!
We are actually cleaning up the house and are going to move in this weekend and by next weekend, I should be, finally, living in our house!!!

I recently got a catlog from Smith + Noble Windoware - you might want to check their website. I don't know how the pricing compares, but they have a lot of variety in color as well as the fabric tape that holds the blinds. They also have pleated window shades, curtain rods & curtains, etc. Lots of colors, stain or paint, sizes - also have wood valences.

They have a special right now - 10 free swatches if you order by May 31

Smith + Noble

Thanks Karen ... I actually have that catalog too! I'll check into that special!