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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
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 ;)
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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. :)
 
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Received the blinds today but I've got a problem with the colour of them. The shade is not what I saw on the website. Certain photos I took do make them look the same, nice and grey



But they don't look grey like that in person. In these two photos below, I've captured what they actually look like in person, more sort of beigy I suppose, and I don't like them. :( They don't go more grey when held up to the light.





Before taking these pics, I rang them and told them the box says Beachwood Haze, not Rustic Grey, but he said that's the production name for them. He's sending me a sample of Rustic Grey tomorrow to make sure I have the right ones, but it looks like I do from my first photos. He did say they're very fair and will endeavour to exchange them for proper grey ones. But what do you guys think, do the last two picture look grey to you? Am I being fair to say to them that I want them to look the same shade as in the photo on their site?
 
Scrutinize said:
Did you not order a sample first, they advise this and its a free service?

You wouldn't get a made to measure local company to come price up and install from cataloger pics, they bring samples.

Looks pretty grey to me on my monitor.
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You're absolutely right, I should have ordered a sample. I was too trusting of the picture on the site and really didn't expect it to look so different. Well anyway, I'll see what happens. First person I spoke to yesterday gave me the impression he might be able to exchange them but the second person I rang was saying they could only give me 25% discount off another set of blinds.

I've just ordered a sample of these http://www.wooden-blinds-direct.co.uk/stores/product/expressions_haze_wooden_venetian_blind

If they turn out to be the right shade, I'll see if 247blinds might take mine back and give me a partial refund and then I'll buy the others. Stupid me, this is gonna cost me more. Oh well, so be it.
 
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I decided to stay with these and put them up. What do you think? :)
Next job is painting door frame and step.

 
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