Buying custom shades- why the heck did we wait so long?

Oh, that’s right.  Because buying custom shades and blinds can cost an arm and a leg, plus your firstborn child.

That’s what we thought too.  We lived with the ugliest, nastiest metal blinds (or none at all) for almost two years because we just knew that it would be way too expensive to buy custom.  Because our house is so old, none of the windows are a standard size.  And the length (72 inches) meant that we couldn’t just go to Lowes and have them cut them to fit.  I’d go online to websites for custom shades, and put in our measurements, and it was always upwards of $300.  For one window.

Nope.

And, I’m not sew-ey enough to sew my own without them looking janky.

The master bedroom redo meant that I had to do something nice, though, cause I’m putting it out there for the whole world to see.  Plus, we figured it was just time to invest in what we really wanted, which was some really good quality, custom bamboo shades.  I had pictured them in that room from day one.

I found what I wanted on Blinds.com.  I’m going to warn you, we are so happy with this product that this is going to sound like a sponsored post.  It’s not.  Blinds.com has no clue who I am.  I am just super happy with the product and really wanted to share for those of  you who may be on the fence, like I was.

This was what we got from Blinds.com for the master bedroom:

A close up:

We are head over heels for these shades!  They are the Antigua Natural and can be found here.  As a note, the color in real life has a definite greenish tinge that is not captured well on the website.  We were surprised by that, but it worked for our room.  Just something to be aware of if you are thinking of ordering that shade. Maybe be smarter than me and order a sample (free!) 🙂

We were so happy with the quality, ease of installation, and price, that we immediately ordered another set for the living room.  I didn’t do a good job photographing the installation in the master, so here you go, along with before and afters so you can see the difference they make.

Custom shades for the living room

Michael had some strong opinions about the shades for the living room.  He wanted them to be light (not bamboo), and to not have any binding (an option that Blinds.com offers).  Fortunately, we were on the same page.

The living room gets tons of light.  Although I love it, Michael does not.  Here is how I often find it:

Michael will come in and pull the curtains (which yes, I know I ordered too narrow and short) to the middle of the window to block out some of the light.  I’ll come in and pull them back because they assault my eyes like that.  It’s a tug of war all day long.  And I can’t tell you how many times that curtain rod has come down!

Ordering

We decided on the Woven Wood Shade (same as we had for the master) but ordered it in the Hana Cotton.  We didn’t get the binding or any lining.

Ordering is super easy- just put in your measurements (the website gives you instructions for how to measure), add in any options that you want, and that’s it.  In a couple of weeks, the blinds arrive and it’s like your birthday!

Installation of your custom shades!

Y’all, I can’t even tell you how easy installation is.  It’s literally 3 steps.  We did an inside mount.

We checked our fit before we got started, just to be sure that I had measured correctly.  It was perfect!

First, hold your installation bracket against the window casement and drill pilot holes through the round holes.  Then, use the mounting screws to attach the bracket to the window casement.

Then, once both brackets are attached, see the slot on the headrail at the top of the shades? Slide the slot through the long metal part of the bracket, and then use the wing nut to attach.

Finally, attach the cleat to keep the cords neat.  Just screw it in place.  We probably could have done this a little higher, but wanted it to be low enough to reach while we are sitting on the couch.

It took us less than 10 minutes per window.

So how do they work?

They’re awesome.  They raise and lower smoothly.  The cleat is nice, but definitely not needed to keep them in place.  I wanted it to keep the cords neat, but mostly for a safety measure for Beau and the other littles that may be around.

Here’s some shots with them raised and lowered so you can get an idea of their light blocking abilities. Remember, we didn’t get the liner because we didn’t want to kill the light in here- just block it a little bit (and we don’t need them for privacy):

Raised:

Lowered:

The cost:

Blinds.com seems to always have some sort of sale going on, but here’s what we paid for the Woven Wood Shade:

Master bedroom: $169.47

Living room: $158.87

This cost is for two windows in each room, and includes taxes and shipping.  Our windows were all 32 1/4 in X 72 in.  The Woven Wood Shade is considered their “Budget” shade.  Whatever.  It’s great quality, easy to install, and looks amazing.  Winner winner chicken dinner!

So, we are planning to slowly replace all of our blinds in our house with these.  Maybe once a month, pick a room and update the awful metal blinds with custom ones from Blinds.com.

Have y’all used Blinds.com before?  Feedback?

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