Updated Window Coverings

I’ve mentioned before that our projects are not very well pre-planned or pre-budgeted. And when we need something, we think we need it the minute we think of it. And so it is that we updated some of our window coverings.

Several years ago DF Dona ordered (and installed!) woven wood blinds throughout our home and I couldn’t be happier with them.  As I’ve mentioned before, she is designer-extraordinaire, but she’s in Reno now and I’m here in Arizona.  And I needed some blinds in some new places.

Here are the reasons why:

Master Bathroom

We have only one window that opens to the front of our house and it’s in the bathroom.  It’s better to have blinds on that window that are easily opened and closed and provide total coverage.  We had old wooden slat blinds on there from before we moved in.  Ugly, but utilitarian.

Then.

Darling striped Kinsey started chewing on the cords for some strange reason.  She’s a good cat and rarely gets in trouble, but that was pretty naughty.  Hub rigged them up with fishing line which kept our parts covered during showers, but was a bit hillbilly, if you know what I mean.   It’s a good thing he did it, because the lead time on new blinds is 7 weeks.

Master Bedroom

We are happy with the woven woods in our bedroom, but we have transom windows that I never quite knew what to do with.  We ignored them for all these years, but the past few years, we’ve had neighbors behind us who leave their patio light on all night and it shines right through those windows into our bedroom.

Kitchen Sliding Glass Door

I never like the solutions for sliding glass doors and we have two at 90 degrees from each other.  The one in the kitchen gets really strong morning light in the summer and since we were addressing the other problem windows, we decided to bite the bullet and address that door too.

How to solve all these problems?  Costco to the rescue.  Costco has partnered with Graber and we had a wonderful experience with them.  A designer came into our home, gave advice, pricing and wrote up an order in about one hour.  She is great and has years of experience and an A+ personality.

About a week later the installation man/measurer came out and double checked all the designer’s measurements and checked the areas.

Of note:  Graber charges a $75 ladder fee for folks like us with high ceilings.  I am more than happy to pay that fee and just want to send a gentle reminder to all my DFs that ladders after the age of 40 should be prohibited. 

Our Decisions

In the bathroom we chose vinyl plantation shutters that open out or stay closed tightly.  The top slots are separate from the bottom for privacy and yet let in light.  Our home model has tons of huge windows and I have seen it with all plantation shutters, and while they’re lovely and expensive, it’s really overwhelming.  However.  In this small space, it’s like an architectural wonder and couldn’t be more gorgeous.  Happy dance.

We went with small plantation shutters for the transom windows in our bedroom.  I couldn’t imagine how they would work with the woven woods, but after they came and were installed, they are just like part of the design of the room and look so good. 

Why, oh why, did we wait so long?

In the kitchen we chose cellular shades.  We don’t intend to use these blinds except to keep out the morning light.  So they basically just live at the top of the door frame and are not even noticeable most of the day.  Graber or Costco had a promotion for a cordless upgrade so not even a cord to worry about.  Here’s the rub though.  I cannot reach them to pull them down or to slide them up all the way.  John put a teacup hook on a dowel rod and we now use that.  Ha.

The installation man was so nice and so professional. He had this clean, gorgeous van in the driveway with all the supplies he needed and he assembled everything right there. Luckily, it wasn’t the hottest day of the year.

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We would most certainly recommend Costco and Graber if you need window coverings.

A few years ago, upon the recommendation of a designer who was helping us, we took down all the accent drapes we had in the living room and kitchen/family room.  We just have our backyard to look at and the lovely blinds and I’ve been really happy with this minimalist look.  Again, with our super high ceilings, finding window coverings and hanging them properly was a problem, so I’m really happier without.

Someday, I may make a change but for now our choices look great.

I hope your week was nice.  I admit it’s sometimes hard to think up my blog post content since every day is much like the one before.  But, like you, our life is going on, we’re trying to enjoy it as much as possible, and I’m happy to share the journey with you.

P.S. Please forgive the poor picture quality. I have no idea how to take photos inside of windows with sun shining through. That’s going to be on my to-do list for next week.