Design

How We Decided on Window Coverings for the Home Office

August 30, 2016

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This post is sponsored by Blindster.com

Now that all the paneling in our home office is done (I keep calling it the “hardscaping” even though I know that’s an exterior term), we’re focusing on bring in furnishings and soft textiles to soften the space a bit. I wafted between curtains and blinds or a combination for so long and finally settled on this cordless roman shade from Blindster.com–a great site that offers premium-quality, custom-made, and handcrafted window coverings–which is kind of the best of both worlds. (Psst. Big discount for all of you at the end of the post!)

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We’ve been getting more requests to go through the process behind our design decisions, so here’s how we decided on this shade in particular. The window looks out into a window well, which is admittedly not very pretty, but we also get a good amount of light from that window so we didn’t want to cover it completely with traditional blinds or use a bamboo kind of blind that tends to block more light at the top of a window–where our natural light source streams through down here. A curtain would add a nice softness to the room, but would also simply frame the window with not a very great view outside. We still may or may not add drapes down the road, but we definitely knew we wanted to add a softness/disguise to the window that still filtered light and allowed all that trim and paneling to shine.

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Out of about 85 color options, we landed on Crepe Oyster which offers up the prettiest texture in a warm color that ties into our carpet color. There will be a lot of white furniture in here, and since the walls are more green-gray, we thought tying in the carpet would work best. And if we did want to add curtains down the road, the neutral shade would blend seamlessly with that addition.

Does ordering blinds online give you anxiety like it gives me anxiety? Am I supposed to get the exact size of my window? Do I need to deduct some space on each side myself? Or if not and I do, will there be big gaps on each side? Anxiety. I’m happy to report, Blindster does all the math for you and explains the measuring process clearly. The fit was impeccable, but if by chance it wasn’t, they offer fit-or-free guarantee, which means they’ll remake your blinds within 60 days of mis-measurement free of charge. No Anxiety.

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I had Chris hold up the shade right at the edge of the window and a few inches in and I liked it set back a little since our sill is so deep.

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I really didn’t want a cord on the shade to distract from the simplicity we were going for, but while I love the idea of cordless blinds but I rarely love the functionality of them. The spring-loaded ones seem to always fail me over time. But Blindster’s extremely helpful customer service assured me these shades aren’t spring-loaded and go up and down so smoothly.

Blinds

They were right. I really love how even when they are down, there are nice folds in the shade–The details! I’m in love. Now just picture art on either side of the window. Can you see it?

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Blindster already has affordable prices far below retail value on most blinds, but our readers can use the code CLJ40 for 40% off your order at Blindster.com through September 18th!

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What do you think?

  1. Sarah P. says:

    Thanks so much for the code. We’d been going back and forth about getting new shades and the coupon sealed the deal. We ordered samples to see things at home and I just placed my order today! Thanks again!

  2. Teri says:

    Did you get the “top down” feature?

  3. Just ordered some samples! I love the soft fold as well. I’ve been looking for some blackout curtains for my son’s East facing bedroom and for his teeny, tiny space, I think roman blinds will fit much better than the black out curtains I have in our other bedrooms. Can’t wait to get the fabric! Ordering samples was super easy — no credit card needed and said will ship in 1 business day. Can’t beat that!

  4. kelsey says:

    Oh man, how I wish you all had done this post three months ago. I just ordered custom roman shades almost identical to this. I love the look of them but 40% would have been nice.

    Yours look wonderful, I have such panelling envy as well.

  5. Nikki K. says:

    I totally just ordered some faux wood blinds for the studio. Thank you for the code!

  6. Kelly says:

    Love these!! Been looking soooooo long for our glass front door. Two questions – are yours lined? and what does the back look like? If guests outside my front door are staring at the back of an unlined drapery does it look good? This has been my constant issue. I’ve ordered from another site (won’t name names) and I was very unimpressed with the plastic clips and stitching that was seen from the underside :|

  7. Lindsay says:

    Did you choose the soft fold rather than the plain fold? This is such perfect timing as this is exactly what I want in our bedroom but was having a hard time finding customizable options that weren’t super expensive.

  8. Erika says:

    It is so pretty ! And soft ! I didn’t wanted to have blind for our bedroom window, only blackout curtain. But these may make my reconsider my decision ! I’m thinking maybe a soft pale blind like yours, so when I want just a little light it’ll be be perfect, with still the blackout curtain for when my boyfriend need to sleep (night worker so blackout is a necessity!)

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