. 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
Got the blinds up
July 13th, 2013 at 01:47 pm
July 13th, 2013 at 06:38 pm 1373737083
July 13th, 2013 at 08:18 pm 1373743093
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.
July 13th, 2013 at 08:42 pm 1373744578
All I had to do was change the drill bit from the phillips/regular screwdriver tip it came with. Very easy.
July 13th, 2013 at 08:48 pm 1373744925
July 13th, 2013 at 08:59 pm 1373745583
July 13th, 2013 at 09:02 pm 1373745777
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.
July 13th, 2013 at 10:05 pm 1373749547
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.
July 13th, 2013 at 10:44 pm 1373751874