It's all in the details

[smeddley]

You know what drives me insane? Mini-blinds. In general, I hate them. They're not attractive and impossible to clean. But I hate them even more when people don't shorten them to the window length and leave a huge globby mess of blind piled up at the bottom. Sure, it's a bit of a pain to do, but it's possible and it looks so much better.

But the other day I realized I had violated one of my own rules. I have a bamboo-mat roman shade in one of my rooms and with horror I realized it was far to long and I'd never done a thing about it. I've never shortened that sort of blind before, only the usual slatted type.

But 5 minutes, one pair of scissors and a tube of construction adhesive later, it's the perfect length for the window.

And I have some very sticky hands. Goodness, that stuff is sticky!

Comments

[intracutaneous.livejournal.com]

You're so crafty I'm jealous!

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Ah, I think there's only two reasons people don't do things. Either they're afraid that they don't know how and will massively screw up (which is a possibility, I've done it many a time) or they're lazy. I usually fall into the latter, I'm not afraid to try new things (after all, just about everything can be fixed with duct tape and paper clips~ ~.^) but getting the motivation up is tough.

[intracutaneous.livejournal.com]

I'm 5'1 (just barely actually) so whenever I wear pants that are too long I'm so tempted to just paper clip them up since pins don't really do much. I love paper clips. And I am a firm believe that duct tape should be spelled as duck tape. Hmmph! :p

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I'm only 5'2", so I feel your pain! Though I sew, so I usually will hem things. ;) I was just telling revoked_soul that they do make iron-in hem tape, and there's also fabric glue that'll work. Pins, unless you get diaper pins, are points and icky and I'd jab myself with them too much. :(

Duck Tape is a brand of duct tape. ;) It comes in all sorts of pretty colors now!

[intracutaneous.livejournal.com]

Don't you just love duck tape! They need goose tape, cow tape, cat tape, dog tape, and all the other flavors. :p (You can tell that I'm trying to be funny, right? I know it's not working but hey!)

Hem tape? ... ingenious!

[clare-dragonfly.livejournal.com]

I hate blinds. When I have my own place, I'm only going to have curtains.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I only have the classic 'mini-blinds' in my kitchen, because it's really the only practical way to have privacy in the kitchen (because real curtains would get too greasy and smelly with all the cooking).

The big windows have lined drapes and sheers, and in the bedrooms I'm going for roman shades. I can handle those, they're cloth so they're okay. :) The one room has the bamboo roman shade but it's a rather Asian-themed room so it seems to go.

[revoked-soul.livejournal.com]

What exactly are you doing in the kitchen that you need privacy for? ;)

I'm with clare_dragonfly...hatred of blinds, totally.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Baking naked? (here's a hint, when cooking in the nude splattery foods like bacon should be avoided at all costs!)

No, seriously, if I want to run down to the 'fridge to get something to drink at night in my underwear, I don't want to worry about causing any retinal bleeds in my neighbors. ;)

I've always taken down all of the blinds in my apartments, they don't really care as long as you put them back up when you move.

Details

[ladee-jane.livejournal.com]

Yep, mini blinds can be a pain. However, they can provide the privacy we need (such as baking in the nude).
Hey, have you thought of using a stapler to do a quick hem? Works great.

Re: Details

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Tiny Tot staplers to the rescue!

[elaran.livejournal.com]

omg yes I hate blinds. we have vertical ones in our house and while they're good, they have straggley bits at the ends and the ones in the kitchen are so gross. =( but I'm not sure what would be better window dressing.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I truyly dislike vertical blinds - we had those on our back door and I replaced them with drapes. As for kitchens, that's the tough room, because fabric picks up grease and smells so much. :(

[icecat.livejournal.com]

Ooo maybe I could bribe you to tell me how to do that one day. :)

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

If you have blinds that are too long, I will gladly come over and help you shorten them. It's an epidemic, and it MUST BE STOPPED! ;)

[sv-galena.livejournal.com]

I looked for a solution to my window-dressing needs for years. I settled on plastic dinner plates (http://www.sv-galena.com/GenImg/Portlight2.jpg).