Saturday, January 29, 2011

#27 ...and Blinds

#27 Recessed Lighting

I couldn't decide what to write about tonight, so my husband suggested the recessed lights.  I love the look of recessed lights.  I wish we would have done more, but I'm very happy with what we're getting.  We're getting 4 in the morning room, 6 in the kitchen, and 2 above the fireplace in the family room.  There's not a whole lot to say about them - they're just lights - but I'm still excited about them :)

On a totally different topic.  I'm still not sure what we're going to do about blinds/window dressings.  Part of me wants to get customized blinds as soon as we move in.  Part of me wants to just use curtains we already have to really give me some time to think about what I want to do with the windows.  And then I think maybe we should get some temporary blinds and eventually replace them with better ones.  I don't know.  JC Penny is having a sale Sunday through Wednesday on faux wooden blinds.  They start at $20 and go up from there.  I'm going to check them out.  Decisions, decisions.

This time four weeks from now we'll be unpacking boxes and getting settled into our new home!  I can't wait!

15 comments:

  1. hey girlie!!!! omg today i added the lights over the fireplace!!!so last minute...oh well:) ur right about the windows....I mean we definitely need em...i dont wanna have paper blinds for too long ya know..Im gonna check out that sale as well :) thanks for the heads up....im not having a good evening....my blackberry crapped out on me...have to wait till monday to get a new one sent...im ready to get the iphone4 and cal it a day....

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  2. I would go with the temporary blinds so you can get to know the house and start envisioning the space.

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  3. I know the feeling KM but I have decided to wait until we are moved in to decide on window treatments

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  4. Check out www.selectblinds.com. We purchased all of our blinds for our old house from here. I just asked our PM today for the window measurements so I could get a better idea of price.

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  5. Thanks for the advice 2011 and Tasha. Megan I will check it out.
    Sorry about your blackberry, India. I'm still a few years behind when it comes to phone technology. I'm hopign to upgrade to an iphone in the next couple of years. Did you go out to the house this weekend?

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  6. As I read all of your countdown posts I am thinking to myself, I am so excited about that too!!

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  7. yeah we went today to sign a change order...we got the lights over the fireplace added....They backfilled the lot...the foundation was covered in plastic and hay :)...Our lumber should arrive on tuesday and we should be under roof by saturday :)

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  8. If you are looking for wood/faux wood blinds try Home Depot DesignView brand. I spent many days and hours looking for faux wood blinds that didn't look cheap or too wood grainy and I am really happy with these (I personally wasn't crazy about the ones at JC Penney) If I remember correctly, Home Depot will trim the blinds in the store to your specifications. Here's a link to blinds I think we bought last year. The price was great!

    http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100048203/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

    We have faux wood blinds in our morning room/kitchen, and family room, no blinds in our front living room, and cellular shades in the bedrooms (room darkening for kids and master closet - all the front facing windows, and light filtering for our room and guest room - back and side facing windows) We purchased the cellular shades from Lowes. They are cordless and also cut inside the store to your specifications. I can't find them on the website but I think they were by Levolor and were called Custom Size Now. We had all the blinds/shades within a week of moving in but I did a lot of shopping and research for weeks before and now, over a year later, I'm still very happy with all that I picked. As for decorative window treatments....those are still a work in progress! Sorry this post is so long but I hope it's helpful!! Happy shopping!

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  9. Thanks, Natalie! I really appreciate your advice. We've looked at the Levolor at Lowes and have looked at home depot as well. I'm just not sure what I want to do. I'm a horrible decision maker! After looking at Lowes a few weeks ago, we were thinking we'd probably be spending around $100 per window. Does that sound reasonable? How much would you say you spent? You can email me at ryanbuilder2010@gmail.com if you don't want to post it here. Thanks again for your help!

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  10. We also went with selectblinds.com for faux wood. They will send free samples of any of their products via mail.

    Our PM suggested getting measurements during our pre-drywall walk through to be exact. Then we'll order on-line and have them delivered when we move in.

    I estimated on the high end about $370 for all the windows in our house. We'll hold off on curtains until after we move in and figure out paint etc.

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  11. Reading this thread has been so helpful! We haven't started looking at blinds yet but now I know where to start, thanks everyone!

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  12. I think we averaged only around $40-$50 a window. The faux wood blinds were $30 and we have those on 5 windows, and the cellular shades were around $50 for the blackout shades and around $60 for the light filtering ones. We bought 9 cellular shades for all of our upstairs windows. We used a 10% off coupon at Lowes when we purchased our blinds since it was one of our biggest purchases and we opened a Home Depot credit card and received 20% (I think) off there. If you are thinking about doing something like opening a store card to get a discount make sure you have a list of high ticket items you need for the house so you can get the most out of your savings. For instance, you could buy blinds and paint (two huge expenses!) and save 20% which will really add up. We didn't even have to put the whole purchase on the card. We paid half cash and have with our new Home Depot card but still saved 20% on the whole purchase. Then we paid the card off a week later! Anyway, we covered all our windows (except for front room and stairwell) for under $600 with the discounts.

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  13. Natalie, Do you have a blog? I clicked on your name but can't view your profile.

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  14. KM.....im clearly waiting for #26 Ma'am!!!!!

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  15. We still have paper blinds up and not sure when we are going to get real blinds. They are on the ever growing list of "things to buy for the house". This weekend we bought a new king sized bed and a twin bed for our toddler who will be switching out of his crib as soon as he is ready. We want to do shutters on some of the windows which are not cheap so that's why we are holding off for awhile. Maybe this spring. Thanks for the advice on the blinds. We have looked at Lowes, Home Depot and Next Day Blinds. So far Lowes was okay and NDB was way too expensive. Great idea about recessed lights in the morning room- that's going to be great. we just went with them in the entire kitchen and the Master Bathroom. Never even thought about doing two over the fireplace- oh well. I do LOVE our fireplace though. We have been using it a lot lately!

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