*notcot in home+decor , 12:40

Adventures with Blinds- 08.09.10

shadesmain.jpg It’s moving time! And taking a moment to slow down, pop up north for my college friend’s wedding, organize/clean through all of my stuff to get sorted for the move! BUT, no worries, amongst the much needed breather… inevitably, still finding all kinds of unexpected inspiration to share (while sitting here waiting for the DIRECTV guy to show up)!

…. like BLINDS! I had no idea how much the world of blinds, etc have evolved over the years, and i’m now sitting here in my nearly finished kitchen (waiting for kitchen table to show up tomorrow!) playing with my new silhouette blinds! With a far softer fabric like texture, but still having a horizontal mini blinds look… it softens up the space, and allows for three amazing options. Closed, i still get great ambient lighting… open but down, i get a mesh like look where i can pretty much see everything going on in the yard, but you can barely see in, and the usually fully opened! Then i discovered these other metal reveal blinds with “magnaview” for the office, where the WAY they open is mesmerizing… two to one!!! When you open them, the blinds nest into pairs instead of just angling open… so much larger viewing gaps in between! Honestly, these are hard to describe… the little videos and pics on the next page will have it make more sense! And last but not least for today… PAPER BLINDS! I wish i knew about these earlier, i had no idea that while you wait for your real blinds, they give you fake paper blinds… folded paper stacks that mimic real blinds from afar… you simply cut them to the width you need, pell back the sticky top strip, and stick it to your window! As for the bottoms, or holding it up? Clips! So simple. So genius. And tempting to leave up when you’re just not sure what you want yet… So take a peek at the blinds that have been installed so far on the next page! Hope the vids help them make more sense!

p.s. The guys at Hunter Douglas Gallery dealer, Home: Carpet & Window Treatments, near Santa Monica are super nice, incredibly patient, and will totally let you wander and play with the MANY displays to your heart’s content…. and then wander around staring at different swatches in different lighting… Ask for Ron or George!

First up ~ here are the Hunter Dogulas Reveal blinds with “MagnaView”

Here they are closed… blinds-silve1.jpg

…. then open! blinds-silve2.jpg

Here’s a video of them in action…

Also love that you can flip these upwards ~ which i love when i don’t want the sun hitting the objects on my desk… blinds-silve3.jpg


Next up are the Hunter Douglas Silhouette Blinds ~ which you can barely call blinds, other than how they look… i guess they are more shade/blind hybrids?

Here’s a peek at them closed, and in open shade view (and of course you can also open them fully and just stare out the windows… shades1.jpg

In shade view… staring into the yard! (Great for watching birds, where they barely notice you there.) shades2.jpg

Here’s how the mechanism works! All with only one cord too…

shade view OPEN! blinds-shade2.jpg

Closed! blinds-shade3.jpg

And to see both next to each other… blinds-shade4.jpg

OH! and cleaning these ~ apparently you can just take those compressed air cans to these and blow out any dust/etc!


And here you can see the temporary paper ones!

blinds-paper1.jpg

See, they really are just taped up to the top of the window… blinds-paper2.jpg

… and clipped at the bottom! And if you want to open them, just fold them up further and clip away! Sure not good for long term usage, but amazing for a few weeks, or when you’re in decision making mode! blinds-paper3.jpg

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3 Notes

i love the wooden benches! where are they from?

----- kim 12.08.10 22:01

We used these (in black) for a whole apartment block in a ski resort in Japan. Awesome product. Cool design and very practical all round.

----- Niseko 09.08.10 22:08

Dear Ms. Notcot:
I got into the “world of window blinds” a few weeks ago as part of a home repair th’ang.
The black valance is a very cool touch that I may have to emulate.
But in aw of the silhouette blinds. They are simply the bomb!
Thanks for the ideas, Jean

Your faceless friend,

babamoto aka yellowkid on twitter

----- babamoto 09.08.10 16:01


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