Home design inspiration from Downton Abbey

 

 

Who knew that Downton Abbey would be such a tremendous tour de force in the 2012 television repertoire?!  We love the historical setting, the fascinating characters and, most of all, the lavish interior design shots of real life Highclere Castle.

Of course we are not the only admirers - Design Sponge has a fabulous look at 'Living In: Downton Abbey' with lovely show-inspired decor and product ideas. 

 

 

You can wander through a few other enchanting English country dwelling places on Houzz and click through the gorgeous Vanity Fair look at the aristocratic meets downstairs toilers photo gallery.

How to make your windows look like Downton Abbey

Great costumes and exterior shots be darned, of course our eyes are constantly drawn to the window draperies of any room - televised or in person.

 

Laura Ashley swag valance in Casualle Raspberry Rouge

While the lavishly draped windows in the Abbey may not fit into most homes, you can re-create some of the romance with our elegant Laura Ashley swag valances.

 

Fake those tall ceilings by installing your window drapery panels on a decorative rod above your window frame.  Make sure your drapes graze the floor to keep that illusion going.

 

Grandiose wood cornice

 

Make even the simplest window treatment look a million times more ornate by installing a beautiful wood cornice - perfect for a more traditional home or a wood-paneled study to swill bourbon in with a Duke.

 

 

We want to know!  Be super awesome and share what Downton Abbey character you are in the comments below.  I apparently identify with Lady Mary and I'm okay with that.  What about you?

Simple woven wood shades can make a modern room!

Window shades don't have to be fancy to be perfect

Simplicity is good, even if you're not a huge Walden fan.  That's why we're wild about this great beach bungalow breakfast room (found on Houzz) that features a fabulously papered wall, dark woods and a nice light-filtering window shade treatment.

Color by COLOURlovers

Want to re-create this look for the windows in your breakfast room? 

Our bamboo roller shades in Tropical Wood Cinammon are a perfect choice (and keeps your kids at home safer too!).  Another great option is a Roman shade for a tailored window treatment.  Always nice to have options, right?

Pick your room color with Colourlover

 

Levolor 3/8" honeycomb shades in sage (with cream and brown room accents)

Inspiration for color schemes and accent colors is all around us - in magazines, friends' travel photos, runway collections, nail polish lines and beyond.

But sometimes it's nice to have a nifty product do the work for you, whether that means identifying colors for you or just inspiring your eyes with fresh and cool new palettes. 

The perfect solution for your color curiousity: COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

You can search, save and salivate over combos never before appreciated.  Think how cool it would be to have a consistent color palette inspire your blinds at home, logo on your business cards and website / blog template?  Branding through color - we dig it.

 

 

Take that rainbow love of yours to new places with the very cool ColorSchemer iPhone app - it uses the COLOURlovers database of patterns and palettes and let's you document, discover and share wherever the mood strikes.

Design is a life skill - inspired by the Eames

Grab the popcorn and pull up your coziest classic molded plastic armchair, your favorite modernist couple are about to make movie night a bit more beautiful and inspiring.

The Charles & Ray Eames: The Architect and Painter documentary film on PBS is a look into the lives and partnership of the Eames design duo who together made up one of the 20th century's most influential partnerships.

Architecture, film making, painting, designing, manufacturing and more -  Charles and Ray were experimental creators who excelled at solving design challenges with beautiful function.  Talk about an inspiration for trying your hand at unexpected home projects.

As the Eames' grandson says in this great TED talk, "design is a life skill, not a professional skill".  Making your world beautiful and thoughtfully functional is an important part of making a house a home.

Photo thanks to Herman Miller

Whether you're updating a room through DIY window shade installation, refreshing your blinds or adding new pieces to a living room, hold onto that Eames  out-of-the-box thinking and try something a little different next time around (like our cool Laura Ashley flat sheer shading) and see where your imagination can take you!

What movies and documentaries inspire your home design projects?

Welcome Katie Laird as our newest home design lover!

Greetings interior design lovers and window fanatics!  My name is Katie Laird (but you can call me happykatie) and I'm the newest member of the Blinds.com and The Finishing Touch Blog team.

My background is in helping businesses make the world a better place through technology, but now I get to help you make your home a sweeter place through cool products, tips, tools and how-to's.  Love it!

Growing up abroad (any other Belgians out there?), I have long had an interest in older homes and the unique design challenges they provide.  My little family lives in a renovated 1902 bungalow with gorgeous, original windows that bring in lots of sunshine and even more architectural character.

At home, we spend lots of time enjoying fun, cost-effective DIY projects that can involve my young daughter Ella and speak to our colorful eclectic semi-bohemian / Mid-Century style.  If we're not hanging out in the kitchen, we're concocting something from glitter, cool fabric and found objects.  

Some of my favorite design blogs include decor8, Making it Lovely, Apartment Therapy and Design Mom.  When it comes to visual inspiration on the Web, Pinterest is hands down my favorite tool (you can connect with me here) - but I've been known to obsessively search on Compfight / Flickr for images to kick start weekend design projects too.

Thanks to all of you for your warm welcome - don't be a stranger!  

In the comments below, let me know what content you'd like to see on The Finishing Touch Blog and what sites you like to find home inspiration from!

Pajamas at Work!

Earlier this month, Blinds.com participated in a city-wide Pajama Day benefiting the Easter Seals Greater Houston by not only wearing PJs to work, but also by donating dozens of pajamas to families in need. Easter Seals Greater Houston’s clients were in need of pajamas so the community came together to provide PJ’s to families in need in a creative, fun way.  December 9, 2011 was the first officially-proclaimed city-wide pajama day. Blinds.com's CEO Jay Steinfeld was even interviewed about the event by Fox 26 Houston - in his pajamas!

 

"We had a great time with Pajama Day this year. The idea came together quickly and we were all hands on deck to make sure it was a successful day for our client, Easter Seals Greater Houston. With over 20 locals businesses and schools getting involved, we raised over $2,500 and 200 pairs of PJ's for the clients and families in need of warmth this holiday," said Allie Herzog, President and Founder of IntegratePR, the public relations agency for Easter Seals Greater Houston. "We look forward to keeping this tradition going with Easter Seals Greater Houston for years to come ­ because who doesn't love wearing PJ's to work?"

Easter Seals Greater Houston offers a full range of services for individuals of all ages, with all types of disabilities, and their families. Through therapy, training, education and support services, Easter Seals Greater Houston is the only agency in Houston that provides comprehensive services to individuals living with cerebal palsy, autism, and developmental disabilities, and their families.

What's the difference between wood blinds and fauxwood blinds?

Blinds.com UX Designer John S. has been spending some time exploring the different products available at Blinds.com in order to get familiar with what we carry. Here's what he found out about wood and fauxwood blinds!

 

As a recent home buyer, I had to think about blinds for the first time in my life. Genuine wood blinds versus faux wood blinds: who really knew the difference? After some extensive research, I'm here to break it down for you.

 

Faux wood blinds are great alternatives to genuine wood blinds. First of all, they're more affordable than genuine wood blinds.  Also, they're usually made of PVC or vinyl, thus scratch-resistant, moisture proof, and UV protected. Because they can withstand humidity and extreme temperatures, faux wood blinds are good for bathrooms or places exposed to direct sunlight. Made with wood-like stains and finishes, faux wood blinds also look great. Their resilient materials make for an easy clean: just use soap and water. Faux wood blinds are long lasting, great looking, easy to maintain, and affordable.

 

Although faux wood blinds can look like genuine wood blinds, you can't beat the classy look of the real thing. Wood blinds are made from various hard woods and the materials are lighter than those used for faux wood blinds, thus requiring fewer ladder cords and making it easier to lift. With fewer detracting from the aesthetics, the focus remains on the blinds themselves. A down side to wood blinds is their natural material; they're more prone to scratches and can warp or crack when exposed to high humidity—this makes them more suitable for dry areas. While real wood blinds may cost more than faux wood blinds, they are more energy efficient and are available with many more natural stained colors.

 

Both faux wood and wood blinds are great window options. Figure out where the blinds will go and in what sort of environment. If you have children, maybe resilient faux wood blinds would make the most sense. If it's a room not in direct sunlight, maybe genuine wood blinds would class it up. Look at the factors in your life. I hope this quick comparison helps you in your blinds selection.

Style Finder: Layered Window Treatments

Sometimes just drapery panels or just blinds won't cut it. You need two treatments to complete the look. Dining rooms are a great example of spaces that sometimes need a little extra umph to make them stand out from the rest of the house. I love this window because it's both texturally and visually pleasing. The color of the drapery panels complements the color of the hobbled roman shade without being too matchy-matchy. And no one wants that.

An added bonus of using two treatments is that you get double insulation, especially as we head into the cold Winter months. Consider layered window treatments in rooms where your windows are the biggest to prevent Detrimental Energy Loss.

Installing blinds in my own home

Ever heard the old saying, "the cobbler's children have no shoes?" That applies to blinds as well. "The Blinds.com blogger has no blinds." I meant to get around to getting new blinds for our home, but it kept getting pushed off, as so many home improvement projects do in favor of prime time TV & surfing the internet.

Like many of you, we are having houseguests for Thanksgiving, which we're really looking forward to. My husband's cousin Tiffany will be staying with us, and we wanted to make sure her stay was as comfortable as possible. Although our guest bedroom is cozy, it's had light filtering shades in it since we moved in, which are not always ideal for bedrooms. They filter light instead of block it, and make it impossible to sleep late. I think anyone who's stayed in that room before can vouch for how bright it gets in the morning. So to prepare for her arrival, we set out to buy some blinds.

I've installed blinds many times, but I've had a few mishaps over the years. In college, I ordered a blind for our college dorm room and accidentally cut the strings that run through the blind, making it impossible to raise and lower. On the plus side, since the blind never raised, it allowed us to sleep until 3 pretty much every Saturday and Sunday, like any good college student. This time, I wanted to make sure we ordered the right product and installed it properly.

We decided to go with Blinds.com 3/8" Double Cell Blackout shades with Top Down/Bottom Up upgrade. I requested expedited shipping, which is an additional $5, and they arrived speedily, in TWO days. They were packaged well and came out of the box easily. I loved the color I chose; they matched the crown molding nicely. The instructions were clear. We set out to install.

We drilled the brackets into the ceiling, which took all of five minutes. The blinds came wrapped in a rubber band, which we left around them while we installed, so they didn't hang down. As soon as they were snapped in place, we cut the rubber bands off and lowered them. They looked fab. One was a little shorter than the other, but I think it was because it needed some time to breathe. I checked on it this morning and it had relaxed a bit, making it the same length as the other one.

We noticed that the pull cords used to lower the blinds were REALLY long, so we cut the excess string and moved the tassel up about a foot. That took another two minutes.

All in all, the time it took to order the blind, take it out of the box, and install it was about 30 minutes. Even I, as am emloyee of Blinds.com, couldn't get over how surprisingly easy the process was. If my husband and I can do it, you can too!

My First Week at Blinds.com

Today's post is a first-hand account of what it's like to be "The New Guy" at Blinds.com, from new UX Designer John.

Before I'd come to work here, I did a fair amount of research on the company. I knew they nurtured employee growth, that they loved cake more than anyone, and that they'd been named the number one place at which to work in Houston. After reading so many good things about the company, I had to find out for myself. I've always valued company culture more than company perks—organizational chemistry and staff synergy are very important to me—and I believe Blinds.com has met if not exceeded those expectations. It has been an incredible experience so far. Here are a few of my observations on why Blinds.com is a unique place to work.

Most companies are too busy to focus on getting new employees up to speed; new hires are often put to work immediately without an understanding of the business as a whole. I've frequently been thrown into the midst of company chaos, and even though I've always managed to figure things out, it takes time to grasp a company's culture, goals, and overall business. Blinds.com, on the other hand, has the most detailed and in-depth "on-boarding" process I've ever experienced. People here take the time to explain things and answer questions; they've helped me figure out where I fit in and how I help paint the larger picture. Different department heads have met with me to show me their roles, their goals, and how they contribute as a whole. This has helped me understand how the company works inside and out, bottom to top. I've yet to experience this level of on-boarding at any of my previous jobs, and I'm very appreciative of those who've made the time to meet with me.

On my second day at Blinds.com, as a team-building exercise, the creative team went to Mad Potter to paint. This gave my teammates and I the opportunity to get to know each other outside the office environment. I learned that my team is an eclectic mix of sci-fi geeks, sports lovers, and bicycle enthusiasts. The few people that I have met in different departments are also filled with musicians, photographers and many other interesting backgrounds.

I've been here for a little over a week. I've learned that we here at Blinds.com put the customers first; we strive to be the best blinds company in the world by offering the best possible customer experience, and that's my job to make it so. I'm glad to be part of this exciting company, and I'm looking forward to what lies ahead.