Blind No More

Finally, after more than two years in our old farmhouse, the last of the aluminum blinds are down from the windows!

The whole house had the exact same old blinds throughout, so I could at least appreciate the symmetry and continuity of the effort. But the blinds were dingy, dusty, often bent, and noisy when operated; and they did very little to accentuate the beautiful wood windows. Due to drafts and light control needs, I couldn't leave the lovely windows bare, but I did want to highlight as much of the molding and wavy glass as possible.

I've tired of seeing the same fabrics and styles of window treatments everywhere, so I went a little vintage in a few rooms. The quality of materials and workmanship in older items often can't be surpassed these days, and what's old is new again in the design world. So why not step back from the mass marketed products of today, score a deal, and keep things out of the landfill by reusing some quality items of yesteryear? In particular, I used 1950's barkcloth panels in the downstairs guest room and retro fiberglass shorty curtains in the gable sewing room (both sourced on eBay).

Here's a sample of the window treatments throughout the house.

Dining room before:

After:

Living room before:

After:

Guest room before:

After:

Study before:

After:

Gable room before:

After:

In the rooms with white trim, I still need to paint all the interior window sashes and muntins, but first I must repair a few of the sash cords. That involves prying off the stops to get to the weights in the pocket, so you can see why I have an excuse to wait before caulking and painting!

Shady Deals

The old aluminum blinds all over the house were getting on my nerves. I appreciated that we had some sort of covering for privacy (I've experienced the difficulty of moving into a new house and having to deal with lots of bare windows all at once). But these were dusty, dirty, and dated-looking. I knew something fresh would really update the rooms quickly.

The dining room windows when we were pulling up flooring

One set of living room windows before we moved in

A JCPenney clearance search resulted in just the right thing: bamboo shades in the perfect reddish wood tone to compliment the moldings. It took me part of the morning Friday to get them all hung, and then the new view motivated me that afternoon to remove the torn storm windows and clean the exterior glass. It's like a whole new world out there now! I'm working on curtain rods and drapery, so that will be the next step in the window treatment transformation.

Current view of dining room windows

Living room windows now

I had to smile at Miss Evelyn (the single woman who lived in this farmhouse her whole life). I think I've mentioned before how meticulous she was about saving and labeling items. Well, the blinds were no exception. Each piece of hardware was labeled as to the window to which it belonged, the direction it faced, etc. The header of this blind had the inscription:

Top line reads: S.E. Den window over air conditioner
Bottom line reads: Blinds restrung and new webbing #3 11-3-'82 Wed. - by Mr. "Frank Price Shutter + Blind Co."

(The #3 must refer to the fact that this is the third in a series of three windows, because the windows to the left are labeled #1 and #2). I wonder if this particular Wednesday in November of '82 was when she got the blinds back from Mr. Frank or if he did them all in one day?

And I used to think it was funny that Jeff dated post-it notes and index cards! This is a whole new level of detail!