Don’t Get Robbed Blind Shopping for Shades

My Mother recently spent over almost $900 on two pleated shades and one bamboo shade for her home. She purchased these blinds from Home Depot and the cost included the dual services of measuring and installation. When I heard how much she spent, I was more than a little bothered. The actual cost of two pleated shades and the one bamboo shade only accounts for approximately one third of the nine hundred plus dollars. I proceeded to tell her that she could have done much of the other steps herself if she would have bothered to ask me and saved quite a bit of money.

Now, I realize that for my Mother, who is going on 70 years old, there is a certain generational apathy about do it yourself projects. And for her, and many of her generation, the breadth of information and online retailers on the internet is not necessarily top of mind. I am not trying to be ageist, just stating my experience.

I decided to put some information together that will help people with their window treatments purchasing. These days there are a ton of low-cost retailers, both online and brick and mortar, that sell blinds, shades and curtains. Home Depot has decent prices but where they got my Mom was all the additional services: having someone come out and measure her windows and then someone to install the blinds. These are things that almost anyone can do themselves. If you are willing, you don’t have to spend so much money, here’s how.

First, you will need to know how to accurately measure your windows for window blinds. The easiest way I have seen are videos that can be found at You Tube and often on the websites of the various online window treatments retailers. I would recommend using YouTube.com. Just type in the search bar, “how to measure for blinds.” There are a couple options that you should be aware of at this stage, do you want your blinds to be mounted on the inside of the window casing or outside the window casing. Most people mount them on the inside, so this is an easy default choice. You will need a tape measure and paper and pen t write down the measurements.

Second, you need to have some sense of what kinds of blinds you want. There are a lot of choices, for sure. Easy choices are mini blinds, vertical blinds (for large windows and sliding windows), pleated shades and cellular shades (good for insulation) and roman, or bamboo shades. If you are having trouble choosing, I recommend calling on of the various online window treatments retailers who usually have expert sales people who can walk you through the process with some basic questions. Just go to Google and type in, “window blinds” or “window shades.” Those are good generic keywords that will bring up a good cross-section of websites.

Once you made your choice, you will need to know how to install your blinds or shades. This is easier than you might think. Most of these same websites have installation guides for every brand they carry. These guides will give you step-by-step instructions and the basic tools you will need, usually a screw driver. If this is something you don’t want to bother with, I would recommend hiring a handyman to install the blinds. This is usually a low-cost alternative to hiring a blinds professional.

The last bit of information I wanted to impart is how to get the best prices. If you are not in a terrible hurry to get your new blinds, I would recommend signing up to receive emails from a few of the websites you liked best. They will send you their latest promotion – they are always running promotions. Usually once a month, these online retailers will offer as much as 25% off on certain order sizes. Also, check to see if certain brands are on sale during the month. Sometimes you can even combine promotions to get the maximum savings. Another thing to consider is to check out the no-name brands that many of these retailers offer, sometimes called signature brands. These are usually the cheapest. There are also a ton of websites that will tell you the latest coupon codes, i.e. promotions. Using Google again, type in “window blinds coupon codes,” this might yield some good deals.