Happy Halloween!

Well I was going to post about our window blinds but this seemed more appropriate. Happy Halloween!

(One quick addition on a home improvement sort of topic - we learned that a drywall saw is excellent at carving pumpkins!)

A Blind Saga

Our new room overlooks our driveway and feels pretty public, especially at night with the light on, so one of our first priorities was to install blinds. We wanted very simple window dressing, just enough to give us privacy but still allow a lot of light. We opted for blinds on naked windows instead of curtains or other drapery. You may remember we even started planning before the room was actually done. We chose our fabric from blinds.com, sent off the order, and waited.

And waited, and waited. The blinds had an arrival estimate of late August through September 6. They arrived exactly 1 week AFTER the estimated window, on September 13. Strike 1.

The instructions for the blinds were written originally for corded blinds, with installation of cordless blinds a sloppy and inaccurate afterthought. We were so confused that we thought we had been given the wrong hardware and called customer service for help. The person had no idea how the blinds were supposed to be installed or what our hardware kit should look like, so we eventually ended the call in frustration. Strikes 2 and 3.

OK, but perhaps if we could figure it out ourselves then we would be happy with the final product.

First thing to notice - the rolling fabric is very minimal but the cassette that holds it is giant and generic, which looks sloppy given how much we paid for it. In fact, we paid extra because it was supposed to provide a finished look at the top of the window.

Eh, nope - it sticks out from the window (despite having to give them the precise depth when ordering) and sits a little crooked.

The bottom of the blind is pretty  low quality too. Some kind of plastic strip glued inside the (cheap and vinyl/plastic feeling) fabric.

In the end, after over an hour of two people trying to figure out installation without the help of instructions, we were just thoroughly disappointed by the bad quality of the blinds (which were not all that cheap). If we wanted cheap blinds, we figured, we would have run to Lowes or Home Depot and at least gotten them immediately, and not a week late.

Fortunately blinds.com did not try to "fix" their order with suggestions of upgrades or recuts. They asked that we donate the blinds to Habitat for Humanity or other non-profit building organization and scan the receipt in, and then they would reimburse us. We did and they did and that was the end of it.

Except that our room still felt horribly on-display once it got dark out (which, given the advancing calendar, started at about 6:30pm). So it was back to the drawing board with all that time wasted. To be continued....

What is to be done?

I'm trying not to hyperventilate when I look at the toy disaster in the office and trying to find it funny that one of the only times I got no comments on a blog post was my last post when I asked for help on how to organize it. I take this to mean that no one has ever found a good solution to the chaos created by small children (except making one room a "play room" and just ignoring the problem).

We had one or two ideas since then, turning, as usual, to Ikea. We thought about using a Kallax (successor to the ever-poplar Expedit) and baskets, to as least corral the small toys, books, and craft items. Since we also want to make this a usable standing desk space, we are considering getting this unit (plus a few more to each side two or three squares high).

The problem then is that the desk sticks out into the room. D has argued that we could put larger toys underneath, but that doesn't keep them out of sight (my goal) and takes up an awful lot of the floor.

I suggested sticking just to the Kallax, on its side, and then a converting standing desk for a laptop like this:

But D thinks they are ugly (I don't really care how they look, but I appreciate that he does).

So, toy storage plus standing desk. No more ideas. Between that and the linen closet upstairs that is a complete mess, I've been debating paying money for professional help, like this from the Container Store. I'm still not sure how I feel about that though - paying someone else to come up with an idea that I can probably do myself (eventually) with the help of Pinterest and other internet decorating sources. Has anyone ever paid professionals to help them organize? I'd be interested to hear about your experiences. Also still seeking ideas for the problem area itself, if you have any thoughts.