Our house gets beautiful sunlight—especially upstairs in the afternoons when the sun hits the front of the house directly. We love that light for everything from relaxing to taking photos. And Burger? He loves it for almost everything: napping, grooming, sniffing around, and more napping.
That bright afternoon light also exposed one downside of the house: no window blinds. We’d grown used to nice white faux-wood blinds in our previous home, so it was a shock the first night here when we realized we had nothing for privacy or to keep the light from creeping in at dawn.
After too many nights of undressing in the dark and waking up at the crack of dawn, we finally bought a stack of blinds. These are Home Depot’s in-stock faux-wood blinds. We spent a bit more on the “premium” version because they have wider slats (which block less of the view when open), offer better light control, and include a break-away cord for child safety (no loops—just pull cords that break away under weight). The extra cost was small, but buying eleven windows still added up to over $350 (coupon included). Gulp.
They were a necessary purchase, especially for bedrooms and bathrooms where privacy is expected. I’ll admit they’re not the prettiest decorative detail—though they do look nicer than vinyl blinds—but function wins out. Once we layer in curtains, the windows look much more finished.
Installation was tedious but straightforward thanks to clear instructions. Hanging eleven blinds and making adjustments took time (about six hours total, split over two days), but it’s wonderful to have privacy and darkness in the bedrooms and bathrooms again.
Hanging them involved screwing two brackets into the window frame and then sliding the headrail into place.
Luckily our windows were standard sizes, so Home Depot had them on the shelf. They offer free cutting if needed, but we didn’t have to wait for anyone to trim eleven blinds. I customized the length for each window after hanging: I removed the bottom slat, cut the cords holding the extra slats, then reattached and tied the bottom slat to secure the shortened blind. This method shortens the blind cleanly and works well.
One unexpected issue: the side trim pieces that come with each blind needed to be shortened to sit flush against our window frames. For some reason they were just a touch too long.
I used a miter saw to trim each of the pieces (all 22) so they would fit correctly at the corners. The scrap wood you see in the photo was used as a block to hold the trim safely in place while cutting.
Much better.
The trims snap together, so shortening the ends didn’t interfere with how they attach. Once installed, the blinds provide solid privacy and light control even without curtains.
They still look a bit basic in rooms where we haven’t hung curtains yet, but the function is there and they blend in nicely once curtains are added.
We did hang the blinds and curtains in Clara’s room, and they look cozy and finished there.
We also moved the curtains Sherry sewed for our previous dining room into the guest room; they were an easy and stylish addition.
We owe you photos of how each room is shaping up, so Sherry plans to photograph the house this weekend and write a “one month in” update. As usual, the first months in a new home feel like bleeding money—someone hand us a tourniquet. Even after a few moves we still find ourselves walking out of Home Depot thinking, “Over $300?! Are these blinds made of gold?!”