cellular blinds (update- love some, dislike some!)

[luvflorida]

I've been going nuts trying to decide on colors and options.

I love the look of cellular blinds and we have an installer coming out early next week to measure our windows. I'm having a hard time deciding on whether to go with colors or to just stick with something neutral, like beige.

All of our walls are a light beige and all of the trim is white. I love some of the darker colors that the blinds come in, but once a color is chosen for a certain room, I feel everything must coordinate with the color of the blinds, so no changing color schemes down the road. However, beige or white mught be too dull and blend in too much.

I'd love to hear from those of you with cellular blinds. Did you go with different colors for different rooms? How about the top/down option? The cordless option? Help!

 

[AKL_Megs]

We've got them in every room of our house (with the exception of our huge front window, for which we have curtains). We have Hunter Douglas and Levelor. Even though the Hunter Douglas are "higher end", I much prefer the Levelor's.

The dining room, one kitchen window, office and bathrooms have a linen-colored blind. Our bathrooms also have the room darkening feature.

Our master bedroom has a light brown color, and our DD's room has white. The bedrooms have the room darkening feature as well.

We picked neutral for the main parts of the house and went more "decorative" in the other rooms.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Oh, and I LOVE the cordless option!!!

 

[Pakey]

I have Hunter Douglas Silhouettes, not quite a cellular blind but similar enough.

I have beige walls and white trim. I went with white. I've had them 10 years and have never regretted getting white.

 

[golfgal]

We have cellulars in our kitchen, bedroom and master bath. The kitchen ones are a light beige, nothing fancy but they look nice and are 15 years old. We have black out white ones in our bedroom and they show dust more than the beige ones and they don't really "go" with our stuff (we have more warm tones) but they were there and they are in great shape. In the bath I changed out the old white aluminum blinds for cellulars about a year ago. They pretty much match the wall color (a sandy tan color--as apposed to beige ). I just love them.

The kitchen and bath ones are the top down/bottom up and I use the top down feature in the bathroom all the time. I never use it in the kitchen. If our bedroom ones were top down I would use the in there.

You can't get the top down/bottom up in cordless but I would go with cordless for any room you don't need the top down feature.

With white trim I would probably get white blinds. I don't like the contrast of the white trim with "colored" blinds. Also, with your house, it will keep things light and airy like you have it designed. You COULD get a pattern on some of them if you want. We have wood trim.

I ordered 10 samples of colors when I bought the ones for our bathroom and the color I thought I would like the most I hated. I am glad I checked out the samples before hand. (I ordered mine online).

We also have a solar shade on our patio door that I LOVE. It blocks out most of the sun but lets us look out into the yard still. We got a medium block out but in AZ I would go up a notch or two.

 

[AKL_Megs]

FWIW, our trim is white and our brown and linen blinds look fine.

Trim IS white or wood. If all windows coverings were supposed to be white, they'd only make white! I say, have fun!

 

[luvflorida]

Even though the Hunter Douglas are "higher end", I much prefer the Levelor's.

We are looking at Levolors. Just curious, why do you prefer them over the Hunter Douglas?


We're headed down to the house in a bit and I'm taking a Levolor sample book with me. I definitely want the room darkening blinds for the bedrooms and bathrooms. Originally, I wasn't going to put cellular blinds in the living room, but after looking at some of the pictures in the sample book, I think I've changed my mind. They really look nice!

I don't want drapes or curtains in any of the rooms, and we thought about plantation shutters, but I don't really care for them. We rented a house when we first got out here and every room had plantation shutters. I thought they blocked out a lot of light, even when opened, and they were very heavy to open and close.

We have a set of French doors that I'm also thinking of putting cellular shades on, or we may not put anything on them for now.

 

[golfgal]

The blinds in our bathroom are not room darkening because I still wanted some "light" to come through. They are still opaque and you can't see shadows or anything like that. When it isn't a million degrees out I leave the tops down about 1/4th of the way to let in more light. Most of the time, even with the all the way up, we don't need to turn on the lights in the bathroom at all. We have two large windows in the master bath.

 

[AKL_Megs]

We are looking at Levolors. Just curious, why do you prefer them over the Hunter Douglas?

They seem higher quality! They pull nicer, hang nicer, and just LOOK nicer. The material seems stronger as well. I think with the HD's, we paid mostly for the name!

 

[tinatark]

I was just looking at these today! I think we are using them - in a neutral color - my walls are neutral, white trim. I want my decor to stand out, not my window coverings!

I looked at Lowe's, Home Depot and a private place - they were about $100 cheaper per window at Home Depot and Lowes than the private place. The Home Depot exclusive (made by Hunter Douglas) was the least expensive - $70 per window less than Levelor Accordia. $118 whole house install at both places.

I'm looking at Blackout, top down, bottom up, cordless.

 

[LuLuO]

I only have them in the living room but they are an ivory color. I have the cordless (not top down). I love them.

ETA: Mine came from Lowes.

 

[RachaelA]

We got them all in white (but not the stark white). All are cordless. Bedrooms have both light filtering and room darkening (I love that they have both in one!). Office and other rooms have just the light filtering.

JCPenny's has a house brand that we liked just as much as all the name brands and they were much cheaper (especially once you added in the cordless options, the light filtering and room darkening options, etc). You can also buy them with one of their discount codes online.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I've been going nuts trying to decide on colors and options.

I love the look of cellular blinds and we have an installer coming out early next week to measure our windows. I'm having a hard time deciding on whether to go with colors or to just stick with something neutral, like beige.

All of our walls are a light beige and all of the trim is white. I love some of the darker colors that the blinds come in, but once a color is chosen for a certain room, I feel everything must coordinate with the color of the blinds, so no changing color schemes down the road. However, beige or white mught be too dull and blend in too much.

I'd love to hear from those of you with cellular blinds. Did you go with different colors for different rooms? How about the top/down option? The cordless option? Help!

We built a sunroom last year. It has 8 windows and a slider. I didn't do cellular blinds but bought these.

The furniture cushions (sagey green and woodsy) and, believe it or not, a grandmother clock I bought at a yard sale (with hand painted white flowers and greenery) drove my color selections. We put tongue and groove fir on the walls and used a semi solid taupe colored stain, which almost exactly matched the zen earth shades we got. Window trim is white. The shades look great and I'm really happy with them. The earth tone flagstone floor ties it all together.

I think it's ok to have beige on the walls (and shades) if you like that look. I think it kind of gives you a blank slate to work with, then you can add color and other visual interest with furniture and accessories. Of course, everyone's style is different and some prefer their color on the walls and the window treatments. It could vary in different areas of the house, too.

I can't imagine having to do this for a whole house. It must be overwhelming.

 

[minniecarousel]

Our current house came with the off-white "duets" by Hunter Douglas. We bought room-darkening ones from 3-day Blinds for the master bedroom.

I love the top-bottom or bottom-top over the master bathtub! It's on the second story and I love leaving about 6-8 inches open at the top.

The thing about sticking with the off-white colors is that if you ever change your mind about your colors, the white goes with everything. We have white sills and window frames, so maybe that makes a difference.

 

[Buckalew11]

I only have one and I wish I had a house full of them! Love them!

I put one on my shop. It is cordless AND top down/bottom up. I can't tell you how much I LOVE this blind! All my other windows have wood blinds. I love them also but in the back of the house that faces the woods (and no neighbors) I never pull them down. That top down/bottom up feature would have been great!

I bought all mine at www.blinds.com and had excellent service and excellent products. I, too, did a whole house--sent my measurements in and did not have one single issue!

 

[luvflorida]

I really wanted the cordless blinds in the living room, but after standing by the windows this evening, I discovered that it would be difficult to raise and lower the blinds because I'm short (5' 0") and all of our windows are tall. Anyone else have this problem?

After reading the responses here, I'm leaning away from the colors and toward something more neutral. I think I just got carried away looking at all the different colors! I'm so anxious to get color in the house, but maybe I should do it through furnishings and not window treatments.

I was just looking at these today! I think we are using them - in a neutral color - my walls are neutral, white trim. I want my decor to stand out, not my window coverings!

I looked at Lowe's, Home Depot and a private place - they were about $100 cheaper per window at Home Depot and Lowes than the private place. The Home Depot exclusive (made by Hunter Douglas) was the least expensive - $70 per window less than Levelor Accordia. $118 whole house install at both places.

I'm looking at Blackout, top down, bottom up, cordless.

Yes, we're going with Home Depot, mainly because of their $118. whole house install. What a great deal! And we lucked out on ceiling fans at Lowes. They're running a whole house lights/ceiling fans install for $149.00. Normally the install for each fan costs almost as much as the fan itself. We're having seven ceiling fans installed tomorrow!

We built a sunroom last year. It has 8 windows and a slider. I didn't do cellular blinds but bought these.

The furniture cushions (sagey green and woodsy) and, believe it or not, a grandmother clock I bought at a yard sale (with hand painted white flowers and greenery) drove my color selections. We put tongue and groove fir on the walls and used a semi solid taupe colored stain, which almost exactly matched the zen earth shades we got. Window trim is white. The shades look great and I'm really happy with them. The earth tone flagstone floor ties it all together.

I bet your sunroom is beautiful!

The blinds in our bathroom are not room darkening because I still wanted some "light" to come through. They are still opaque and you can't see shadows or anything like that. When it isn't a million degrees out I leave the tops down about 1/4th of the way to let in more light. Most of the time, even with the all the way up, we don't need to turn on the lights in the bathroom at all. We have two large windows in the master bath.

I like this! I hadn't really considered the bottom up/top down for the bathrooms.

 

[golfgal]

It's a lot easier to change out some throw pillows or pictures on the wall then it is to change out blinds when you redecorate or want more color in the house--stick with neutral blinds. Maybe if you have a window in a 1/2 bath or a laundry room you can stick one funky colored one in there.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have used blinds.com as well and they were great, blinds went up fine with our measurements, and we've had them for years with no problems (got the faux wood 2" blinds for front windows and door).

I also thought Smith and Noble was great. I waited for a sale, and was shocked when my blinds arrived two days after I called in the measurements (they had said it could be 10 days). The girl on the phone was unbelievably helpful and patient. FYI once I placed an order I got a big discount for the next order (which I didn't have ) so you'd probably want to break up your orders if anyone orders from them. I loved their styles, so many to choose from and a LOT of really nice coordinating fabric styles. Send for a catalog!

 

[luvflorida]

I bought all mine at www.blinds.com and had excellent service and excellent products. I, too, did a whole house--sent my measurements in and did not have one single issue!

I have used blinds.com as well and they were great, blinds went up fine with our measurements, and we've had them for years with no problems (got the faux wood 2" blinds for front windows and door).

Did you install the blinds yourselves? Trust me, neither one of us is handy when it comes to such stuff, especially for an entire house install. I MIGHT attempt it if it was just one or two blinds, but even then it would probably take me three times as long as a professional would take.

 

[Pakey]

Mine have remote control operation. I couldn't reach some of these so we put them all on remotes. My husband just has to change the batteries once every 2 years. The same remote operates all of them.

And we had ours professionally installed. My husband is quite handy but at the cost of the silhouettes throughout the house, I wasn't risking having him damage them.