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Got the blinds up

July 13th, 2013 at 01:47 pm

Rather than wait for my friend-with-a-drill’s availability, I decided to buy myself a cordless drill ($40 at Home Depot) and drill set ($4 at WalMart) and get my six bamboo shades up myself. I figure it’s about time a woman of my age learned how to use a drill instead of struggling mightily for hours with screwdrivers and such.

Here they are:



Aren’t they great? It still took me twice as long to get them up and to figure out how they work (very simple). They don’t hang perfectly straight, but that’s not a function of how I installed them; it’s because of the way the bamboo rolls up.

I am pretty happy with them but I’m still left wondering what these narrow strips of bamboo are for.



Usually ties like these would be used to tie back fabric curtains to the side, but obviously that wouldn’t work with bamboo shades. They already come with little metal prongs you screw into the side to wrap the cord around. Haven’t done that yet as I’m a little reluctant to install more hardware to the wood trim around the windows. Any idea what they’re for? I also doubt they’re meant to wrap around or otherwise support the shades when rolled up, as there’s no attachment or hooks on these little strips at all. I will have to call paylessdecor to find out.

The drill worked great, although even then, I still had to start each screw with a screw driver til it grabbed the wood, and then hand-tighten as well as I was working in tight quarters.
On the weekend’s agenda:

• Check out a condo open house (something I do frequently)
• Groceries, including one more 6-pak of blueberries at $1.18 at Shop Rite, before sale ends EOD today
• Library book sale tomorrow
• Continue mowing

8 Responses to “Got the blinds up”

  1. Wino Says:
    1373737083

    This is just idle speculation, but perhaps the strips are provided in case you have a cornice over the window and want to blend its look with the bamboo. Just to let you know, you only drill with a drill. You need an electric screwdriver to do screws. The main difference is that you can lessen the speed of the screwdriver, as well as set the maximum torque. Drills are usually one or two speeds and they're too fast to drive screws. Congrats on working with "real" tools! They make the work easier, if you have the right tool and know how to use it.

  2. Jenn Says:
    1373743093

    Looks great!

    I bought the same shades a few months ago for our family room and paired them with lightweight white curtains on the sides. I didn't have those little strips though so I can't help you there.

  3. PatientSaver Says:
    1373744578

    Wino: No, it was a drill AND driver. This isn't the exact model I got, but it was like this, only cordless: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Skil-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-1-2-in-Drill-Driver-2898LI-02/202690995?N=1dk#.UeGtVG2hGSo

    All I had to do was change the drill bit from the phillips/regular screwdriver tip it came with. Very easy.

  4. Wino Says:
    1373744925

    Yep. That's the right tool. I'm surprised you needed to use any manual screwdrivers with that type of driver/drill.

  5. PatientSaver Says:
    1373745583

    Probably only due to my inexperience, Wino. But also if you notice the shape of the drill is fairly fat and when you're working in a corner of the window attaching brackets, it was a bit hard to angle it and still get the screw in straight, so i chose to finish up the last quarter-inch by hand. Smile

  6. PatientSaver Says:
    1373745777

    Jenn, white curtains would go great with these. I'm already thinking how nice similar shades would look in my office, and I'd love to replace my ugly vinyl mini blinds with these in the bedroom and bath as well.

    Also on the same website, they had real wood blinds (2 inch wide) that were actually $2 cheaper per shade than the bamboo blinds. I might like to try them, although the rest of the windows in the house are old double-hung windows with only a 1 inch clearance on either side, so that means i couldn't do an inside mount that would be flush with the window, like they are in the sun room. (Their website says you need at least 2" clearance for the shades to be flush.) I was thinking i could mount the top of it just above the window and measure so they're just the width of the window opening so they would almost appear to be inside-mounted.

    I just think it's a cleaner look than having it overlap the window trim by an inch or two on either side, though I'd done that before.

  7. Wino Says:
    1373749547

    Did you pre-drill pilot holes? What you do is get a small drill bit that's smaller than the "solid" part of the screw (ignore the helical threads of the screw). You then drill the small hole and follow-up with the screw. This also tends to prevent any wood splitting as well as making sure the screw goes in straight.

    What I do is mark and pre-drill the pilot for the first hole. I then install the bracket. Now, I pre-drill any other holes and put in the screws for them. This insures that the holes line up with the bracket every time.

  8. PatientSaver Says:
    1373751874

    Yes, i pre-drilled the holes, which I think makes it much easier to get the thing started. I used a 1/16th inch drill bit, so it was very small.

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