Venetian blinds

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2009
Posts
18,395
Location
Finchley, London
I've thrown my front room three metal venetians away and am looking to buy wood blinds as they're easier to keep clean. The do it yourself blinds from Ikea and the like don't seem to be the right width or drop for my windows plus I'd rather someone fitted them. But the Ikea blinds are certainly a good price, would have only been about £90 for all three blinds. Is there anywhere that has cheap wood blinds, measured to size and would fit them for me under £200? I've just got three upvc windows in my lounge, it's a typical terraced bay window, approx 78 to 81" drop, with two side windows approx 22" wide each and one middle sash window approx 44" wide. Thanks.

PS. I've got a blinds man onto this, but I think he might be expensive. I originally had in mind that I'd need to spend around £300 or so but I don't need anything that good quality. And after seeing that the Ikea blinds are cheap and decent enough quality for me , I'd prefer not to spend much as I have many other things to buy for the place. I've got black bin liners covering my new upvc windows at the moment. Lovely! :D
 
I bought made to measure from ebay and they've been and are great. Literally the cheapest ones I'll take a pic from home.
 
Don't worry if the drop is too much, you can just untie the bottom and take out the unnecessary slats.
 
If you can buy off the shelf ones then do as you will save a fortune. There is no difference in quality that I can see. They all seem to be pretty similar no matter where you buy them from. They are really easy to trim and fit, just a bit of a boring job, but probably worth doing to save £100-£200?
 
Thanks guys. I'm definitely going to buy off the shelf because I rang a couple of places today and they both quoted me between £500 and £600. So they can take a running jump.
Lopez, that sounds good if it's easy to remove bottom slats. My biggest worry is how to measure correctly. I've watched you tube videos and have an idea how to do it but there's no video I could find for bay windows like mine. If I take some photos of my windows, can you perhaps tell me where I should be measuring from? I'm not sure how much of the upvc frames I'm meant to measure from and to and I'm also not sure where the top should start from. Only definite thing I know is that the drop needs to go to the window ledges.
 
How do you make a venetian blind?

Poke him in the eyes.

Super easy to remove slats from the bottom, just drop it all the way down, take the bottom piece off & slide out the ones that are surplus.
 
Scrutinize said:
I ordered some vertical blinds from here, one of which was 12 foot. They do all types inc Venetian. They were 1/4 the price of non-internet places and came within a couple of days.

http://www.247blinds.co.uk/?gclid=CNeoqo65srkCFXHMtAodDAwAwA

Good quality, got the measurements spot on from the dimensions I have them, have been up a couple of months without issue.
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Thanks, once I have my exact measurements, I'll be onto them for a price since you recommend them.
 
I got ours from here:

http://www.curtains-blinds.co.uk

Bought 2 for the downstairs front first to try them out and was very impressed, good quality and to my dimensions exactly, was happy enough that I bought the blinds for the rest of the house and cant fault them.

One thing I will say is check your window widths all the way up/down as some of ours seem to bow inwards so make sure you take it from the narrowest point if your putting them inside the window/frame.
 
We were lazy and just waited until Hilary's had a sale on and had custom made wooden Venetian's, perfect width, perfect drop.

Granted I probably could have saved a few quid by going elsewhere, but over them the moon with them.
 
Be careful with wooden blinds in any windows that are prone to receiving the mid afternoon sun during the summer months. The IKEA blinds in all three of our front windows have warped due to this. In our case I think it may have been our ageing windows which have now been replaced, but worth keeping in mind.
 
Thanks mjd, didn't know that. Guess I'll have to take my chances though! I do have new upvc windows installed and had rotten old wooden sash windows taken out end of last year, so that might help.


NightShadow said:
I got ours from here:

http://www.curtains-blinds.co.uk

Bought 2 for the downstairs front first to try them out and was very impressed, good quality and to my dimensions exactly, was happy enough that I bought the blinds for the rest of the house and cant fault them.

One thing I will say is check your window widths all the way up/down as some of ours seem to bow inwards so make sure you take it from the narrowest point if your putting them inside the window/frame.
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Thanks Nightshadow. I'm going to take photos and post them here for someone to hopefully help me pinpoint where my measurements should be taken. I'll draw lines where I think they might be. I'm going to check out the blinds on that site. Cheers for that!



Scrutinize said:
I ordered some vertical blinds from here, one of which was 12 foot. They do all types inc Venetian. They were 1/4 the price of non-internet places and came within a couple of days.

http://www.247blinds.co.uk/?gclid=CNeoqo65srkCFXHMtAodDAwAwA

Good quality, got the measurements spot on from the dimensions I have them, have been up a couple of months without issue.
Click to expand...

I've just seen some blinds in a colour I hadn't thought of. Was considering black or white, but these grey ones are just the ticket! http://www.247blinds.co.uk/ecowood-rustic-grey-venetian-blind

With my approximate measurements, it's only about £120 for all three which is fine.
 
We used Blinds2go and fitted Duoshade blinds to all 8 windows in a flat for under £700.00

Quantity Description
2 Duoshade Orchid Mist Energy Saving Blind|
114.8cm width x 130cm drop (recess)
Right hand control
1 Duoshade Orchid Mist Energy Saving Blind|
113.5cm width x 130cm drop (recess)
Left hand control
2 Duoshade Orchid Mist Energy Saving Blind|
58cm width x 130cm drop (recess)
Right hand control
2 Duoshade Orchid Mist Energy Saving Blind|
99.5cm width x 130cm drop (recess)
Right hand control
1 Duoshade Orchid Mist Energy Saving Blind|
172cm width x 130cm drop (recess)
Right hand control


Andi.
 
I'm sorted. I had my builder come over today as I was struggling with how to get proper measurements, plus he's going to fix batons to the tops of the frames to allow the slats to clear the window handles. and then he'll come and fit the blinds. Only £60 for his labour. He's given me the measurements and I'm ready to order! :)

These are the ones I'm going for http://www.247blinds.co.uk/ecowood-rustic-grey-venetian-blind

Works out at £119.61 with their 44% discount before the 15th. Bespoke shops were quoting me a ridiculous £400 to £600 to come and fit their blinds so this is quite a saving. Could press the button now but since they're sending me a sample which I should get in the morning, I might as well wait to have a close up look. But no doubt will order in the morning. Best price I could find of all the online blinds places along with Scrutinize's recommendation. Can't wait to see them up, I've waited ages to get some.
 
Merlin5 said:
I'm sorted. I had my builder come over today as I was struggling with how to get proper measurements, plus he's going to fix batons to the tops of the frames to allow the slats to clear the window handles. and then he'll come and fit the blinds. Only £60 for his labour. He's given me the measurements and I'm ready to order! :)
Click to expand...

He's charging you £60 to fit 3 blinds? It's just a case of screwing the brackets in place and then the blinds clip into the brackets. It'll take an hour at the most even with the battens if they are coming made to measure.

EDIT: Just seen your location, it all makes sense now ;)
 
Mark A said:
He's charging you £60 to fit 3 blinds? It's just a case of screwing the brackets in place and then the blinds clip into the brackets. It'll take an hour at the most even with the battens if they are coming made to measure.

EDIT: Just seen your location, it all makes sense now ;)
Click to expand...

Meh, these sort of 'apparently straight forward' jobs are never that easy for me and I'd probably have screwed up the measurements or drilling the holes. I'd have to find and cut some batons, saves me worrying about what drill bit to use, and getting the holes all correctly aligned. To me, £60 is not much to pay for someone's expertise on something that once it's fitted will be up for a long time. And compared to the quotes I was getting I'm still quids in.

And yes, us Finchleyites are lazy gits. :p

Edit: blinds have now been ordered. Get them a week on Monday. I'll take photos and update this thread when they're up. :)
 
Last edited:
andicole0 said:
We used Blinds2go and fitted Duoshade blinds to all 8 windows in a flat for under £700.00

Quantity Description
2 Duoshade Orchid Mist Energy Saving Blind|
114.8cm width x 130cm drop (recess)
Right hand control
1 Duoshade Orchid Mist Energy Saving Blind|
113.5cm width x 130cm drop (recess)
Left hand control
2 Duoshade Orchid Mist Energy Saving Blind|
58cm width x 130cm drop (recess)
Right hand control
2 Duoshade Orchid Mist Energy Saving Blind|
99.5cm width x 130cm drop (recess)
Right hand control
1 Duoshade Orchid Mist Energy Saving Blind|
172cm width x 130cm drop (recess)
Right hand control


Andi.
Click to expand...

Do you have any pics of these? Just ordered some samples. I've used the company before but they didn't do these back then!
 
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