Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Shady



This is a sneeky post, because it is actually about window shades. Not about politics or feminism or anything fun. I'm too exhausted right now to write proper posts. Also, I need some good advice on this important aspect of life: How to cover the windows.

The back story: I need to buy new roller blinds or something similar and the number of windows to be covered is fourteen. They are all narrow old-fashioned windows, three or two making a larger window so to speak, but the narrow windows need separate blinds.

The problem I have is this: I hate the cheapest kind of roller blinds, the vinyl ones. They are the wrong color and shine too much and collapse too fast. But then I hate slats, too, because you really cannot wash them without taking early retirement and spending your life and all your tootbrushes on them. BUT: I cannot afford the new honeycell shades or similar types.

My old ones were cotton-based and not bad ones. They are no longer amenable to my repairs (I got by for a few years by re-sewing them shorter to use up the unrolled good bits at the top), and I cannot find the same brand name in the stores or on the net. All I can find are roller blinds which would look good and do the job but which would cost me around sixty dollars per window. Multiply that by fourteen...

All my windows are slightly different widths so ready-made shades which can't be altered will not really work properly.

Do any of you have some ideas what I could do? What do you have in your windows?