When my husband and I moved into our home last year there wasn’t a single window covering in the house. No blinds. No curtains. Nothing!
Since privacy was our main concern, we decided to purchase blinds first and then consider decorative window treatments later.
Purchasing blinds for our entire house.
I’d listened to Dave Ramsey rave about Blinds.com countless times on his radio show, so I decided it was time to see what all the fuss was about. After doing some research, I determined blinds.com would be the best choice. So I measured each window, chose a product from the samples they mailed, and submitted the order online.
I can’t remember the exact timeframe since it was over a year ago, but we received the order quickly; within a few days. The order was perfect and the blinds installed quite easily. It was also the least expensive way I found to purchase blinds for our entire house.
Since we had such a nice experience with Blinds.com, we highly recommended them a few months later to a family member moving into a new house. He ordered blinds and received them quickly, but…one of the blinds ordered didn’t fit in the window.
Looking back at his notes, he realized he sent in the wrong measurements!
But, guess what?
Blinds.com sent him a replacement anyway! Even though it was his fault. They also told him to donate the other blinds to someone in need instead of taking the time to mail it back.
Now THAT is customer service!
I was a fan of Blinds.com from my own experience but I’ll be a customer for life for the way they treated my family member.
Because I had such a great experience with them, and knew I wanted to test a blackout shade, I asked if they would be interested in a review. They happily obliged and one of their design consultants worked with me to find the best one.
Choosing a sun-blocking window treatment.
My house is all one level except for one room. That room is over the garage, beside the attic and it has a large window. Needless to say, when it’s hot outside that room heats up very quickly! Last summer it was a good 10-15 degrees hotter than the rest of the house. I definitely wanted a beautiful window treatment but the main goal for this product was to keep the room cooler and, hopefully, save money on our electric bill.
The design consultent helped me find the perfect sun-blocking window treatment: the Honeycomb Double Cell Blackout Shade. It has two honeycomb air pockets so it’s incredibly effective at keeping your home insulated. Plus, it looks good!
Of course she took the extra step and wowed me again. I wanted to keep the current blinds installed and viewable from the outside so the street view would be uniform. So she asked me to measure and send pictures of the window to determine if both could fit in the window frame. She let me know that both could hang in the window frame if I was willing to reinstall my current blinds closer to the window and if I didn’t mind the Honeycomb Double Cell Blackout Shade sticking out into the room an inch.
I was willing to give it a try so she shipped it out!
Installing the Honeycomb Double Cell Blackout Shade.
I’ll admit the instructions for installing the shade could have been better. They seemed to be generic instructions so the drawings of the installation hardware didn’t look anything like the actual pieces.
Thankfully blinds.com has a great video tutorial area on their website!
I watched the video a couple of times, took a guess at how the hardware should be installed, gave my kids a few toys to keep them busy and I got to work!
With the help of an electric drill my current blinds were a breeze to move. I was then able to screw in three pieces of hardware and the blackout shade just snapped into the hardware. It was pretty easy once I figured out exactly what I was supposed to do!
As you can see from the photos, the blackout shade sticks out about an inch. But you can’t even tell when you are looking directly at the window from the front. And since we now have curtains, you don’t even notice it from the sides.
The Honeycomb Double Cell Blackout Shade cools the room dramatically.
Since our bonus room was unbearably hot last summer, I wanted to see if a sun-shade would lower the temperature. Let me tell you, from the moment I pulled the shade down, the room was cooler. I wish I could adequately convey the sense of relief I felt. All I can say is that the miserably hot room immediately became one of our favorite hangouts.
The shade made the room immensely cooler. When I pulled the shade halfway down, put one hand on the shade and one hand on the blinds below, there was a massive difference in temperature. I’d guess about 15 degrees. At least!
During this blistering summer heat wave, I’ve been keeping the shade down anytime we aren’t in the room and always during the mid-day heat. This shade has made our room enjoyable again, even during this record-setting hot summer!
*GIVEAWAY* Could you use a blackout shade to cool your room? Or maybe just another Blinds.com product?
Well, how about a $100 gift code to do just that?! Blinds.com has graciously offered to give an i Dream of Clean reader a gift code worth $100.
How to enter:
1. Leave a comment on this post letting me know what you would order from Blinds.com. Blinds? Blackout Shade? Curtains? Would you give the gift code to a family member?
If you are reading this via email or an RSS feed, please note that you need to click through to the actual post to leave a comment.
Also, if you’re on Facebook, I’d love for you to “like” iDreamofClean and Blinds.com!
This giveaway begins at 12:45 pm Thursday, 7/12/12 and ends at 11:59 pm CST on Thursday, 7/19/2012. It’s open to US residents, 18 years or older. I will use the And the Winner Is plugin to select the winning comments at random. Winners will be notified by email and must respond within 48 hours of notification to claim their prize or I will choose a new winner. Blinds.com will fulfill the gift code prize with an ARV of $100. No purchase necessary.
iDreamOfClean
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{ 63 comments }
I would get the woven wood blinds! Love those…
So glad you did this post! I was just talking to my boss about your blind on Saturday afternoon when I picked up the kiddo. She and her husband were complaining about how hot his office upstairs was compared to the rest of the house. I meant to ask you where you got it, and now I can just send her the link. :)
I’d use the gift code to order the same thing in Coffee Bean for my kitchen window, which currently has nothing on it and gets sun first thing in the morning.
I think I’d be interested in the blackout shades as well!
Ohhhh… your room problem is exactly the same as mine! Only it’s our living room! I have two windows in the front of that room that get direct morning morning light and heat.. then 2 in the back that get the afternoon heat and light. In 100 degree weather our electric can’t keep up. To top it off my my very anxious dog ripped apart the cheap blinds we had on there. So now we have nothing. (We love our anxious dog and sent him to my parents farm where he is much happier hanging with other dogs and goats. So we desperately need to replace what was ruined) this would be soooo awesome to win!
The dark blue (Marina 3257) would be the perfect accent color and room darkener for the big windows in my new south-facing bedroom.
I have an upstairs bedroom that gets all the afternoon sun and the blinds aren’t doing the trick! I would get the blackout roller shade in white.
I actually think those blackout shades seem like a great idea, but I liked the levolor wooden blinds as well, very attractive!
I would order some curtains for the living room.
I am having a hard time deciding what I would buy with the gift card! We painted our loft/office over a year ago and I need some Roman Shades there. We are about to paint our bedroom and I need the Honeycomb blockout blinds there. I dislike our vertical blinds in the kitchen and would love to have the sliding panels there. So thanks for the giveaway! I could really use the gift card!!! :)
We have a new baby coming in october, and I’d love to replace the broken shade in the baby’s room with a new blackout shade!
I would be interested in the black out shades for upstairs skylights. Thanks for letting us know about this site!
Black-out shades for my son’s bedroom – maybe he would sleep through the night????
I would get blinds! we are in the process of building a new house and would love to be able to put blinds in the windows!
I would be interested in Blinds for my entire house, as we will be purchasing new ones soon. I would also look into curtains for some rooms.
Blackout shades for our upstairs!
I want double-cell blinds to cover the glass in a French Door!
I love Plantation Shutters! My mom had them in the house growing up & I miss them so much & would love to have them in my place now. But it’s just not in my budget…yet! :)
i would get new blinds probably because i have several i can’t easily open and close.
Desperately need blackout shades for my daughter’s room!! Sounds like a good place to get them from!
I would get a solar shade for our playroom to keep it cooler in the summer :-)
This month I plan on painting my bathroom, and
replacing the curtains that have been in there since 1998. Without good coverage, my nosey neighbors have a direct view of my bathroom, so it’s imperative I purchase a high quality window covering. The blinds on this site sound perfect, especially since the window is an odd size, and the blinds are custom.
I have been wanting to order woven wood blinds for my bedroom…my draperies are too sheer and let in the morning light.
Blackout shades. I have a back room that needs some major cooling.
I would use the gift card to purchase blinds. We’re moving into our first house this month and fresh blinds would be one of the first things we need to buy.
I would love to get room darkening shades for my bedroom!
The blackout shade sounds like Just what would help in our sunroom on the full glass door that faces East. We have 1″ wood blinds from blinds.com on the 5 windows.
Don’t really want the wood blinds on the door, so that $100 gift code would definitely be put to great use.
I would love the Honeycomb blockout blinds for my bedroom.
I would love to get wooden shades for two bedrooms.
Honestly, I’d love those double honeycomb blackout shades. Both my office and my husband’s office are on the west side of our house, and we don’t have a/c. They get a mite toasty, if you will, during the summer. Which is tough because all of my sewing is done there! I’d love to have something better than the shades we currently have on the windows.
Thanks for the great giveaway – and heads up on blinds.com! I hadn’t know about them before!
I would love to put some blackout blinds in our guest room. Thank you for hosting this giveaway!
I would love to get some solar shades. I have a 2 story home and the upstairs tends to get quite warm.
I would love to have some blackout blinds for our kids rooms, or my bedroom.
I have a great sunny entry, but would love blinds to close during the hottest summer months to keep the room cooler.
My husband insists he needs total darkness in our room to sleep well. The closed blinds and the light filtering curtains are not enough. We have been shopping for black-out curtains or blinds. These honeycomb shades would be perfect!
Blackout shades. For sure!! My little ones wake up with the sun. I on the other hand would like to sleep a little past 6:00.
I would buy the faux wood blinds in white in the description is says they are heavier than the real wood blinds which is exactly what I’m looking for
I would definately purchase the Honeycomb Blackout shades. Due to some road widening, our trees were cut down around the perimeter of our house (definately not by our choice) and the sun shines through now and heats our house terribly. I would love to have the blackout shades in our house! Of course, my newly retired mom and dad are redoing their sunporch/sunroom. I am sure they could really use that $100.00 to help in that project. They have done so much for me and my family, I couldn’t imagine not offering it to them first. Thanks for the giveaway.
I would order Blackout Shades for my bedroom. My husband works nights so this would help him to rest during the day.
I need blinds for our whole house. It is one of those things we have put off doing since we moved in 12 years ago. I have those cheap apartment blinds…. Yuck! Hated them so much I took the ones that face our backyard off and we have no blinds at all on those windows.
I would be interested in the blackout shades for our master bedroom. I have to sleep in total darkness and we are just remodeling and moving into this bedroom and have no blinds for any of the bedrooms in the upstairs of our house! I would be ordering quite a few (my husband and I talked it over already!)
Excited!!!!!!!!!
I would replace the 15-yr-old blinds in my living room with something more up-to-date. I’d also love a remote control for those blinds, since the window is hard to reach.
black curtains might be interesting for my daughters bedroom
We bought our house three years ago and still don’t have blinds or curtains in our living room, dining room, or den. We remodeled almost every room in the House thus far and I would really like the chocolate wooden blinds to go with my furniture and new floors. With the prices of supplies it takes to remodel a home has gone up, we just haven’t saved money yet for the blinds. This would give us a good start on finally getting to finish our remodeled rooms.
We just bought a foreclosure with lots of windows and NO blinds! I need some!!!
My kids both need new blinds. We never replaced them when we moved in our current home 6 years ago.
Hi…We need a makeover, whole house…Shutters are the bomb….also looking for cool, stylish ideas
I bought blinds for all the bedrooms from blinds.com and we love them.They look great and work so smoothly.
Now I am trying to decide about what to put up in the living room where we have new windows. The blackout shades look like a great solution for the glare problem on the TV! Thanks for the idea!
I need to get a blackout shade show my toddler sleeps later in the mornings LOL!
When we sold our house, I used blinds.com to replace all the window coverings. They were all perfect and our realtor said they were complimented by many at open house. The house we are in now has mostly paper shades. Ugh. Would definitely use it for blackout in master bedroom or new one in living room.
Thanks to this post I am considering the blackout shades that were mentioned in this article. I think they would be perfect in our room above the garage. It, too, tends to be several degrees higher than the rest of the house.
Last year, we bought a new construction home and the only room that came with blinds was the master bedroom. I would love to get honeycomb double cell shades for our guest room so that our guests don’t have to wake up with the sun if they don’t want to. :)
We need the blackout honeycomb shades for our master bedroom. My husband works nights and sleeps during the day. Where we live, summers are around 100 degrees. There are currently cheap horizontal blinds that don’t open or close and curtains over top. The room is soooo hot and bright. He has trouble sleeping unless we crank the AC. I’d love to get new shades that actually can help him sleep!
I’d order the rest of my faux wood blinds. Ordered them for 1 bay window already and needed to save up till I could do the 2nd bay. Love blinds.com!!
We are buying a new house that is still being built. I would get the faux wood blinds. And trust me, I will need them! About 32 of them. Yikes!
I would love new wood blinds to match those existing in my new house. Those old ratty bamboo shades have to go!
My two kiddos and I moved in our post-divorce apartment 18 months ago and it’s finally starting to feel like home. BUT, I only have window coverings on some windows due to my budget. I’d LOVE to create more “hominess” via blinds.com!
Would love a blackout shade plus blinds for my entire house
I would love some new curtains for my boys’ room. We are in the middle of redoing since my youngest is now in his “big boy” bed!
Black outs for the kids rooms!!!
Anything to replace our paper blinds would be nice. And that keeps the cold air out in the winter.
I need to order several double-cell blackout shades : )
We bought a new house and it needs curtains. I could use some blackout shades too. I like the bedrooms dark for nap time.
I would want the blackout shades..
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