When you are younger, all you want to do is be an adult. Well, they should have a class in school that realistically lowers your expectations about how ‘cool’ it is to be grown, and it can start with the cost and annoyance of paying for window treatments in a house.
I set aside part of my budget when planning for this home to tackle blinds for a good number of the windows throughout the first floor. However, I did not plan on covering up the huge gorgeous windows in our living space because I love them and the molding around them. But when the afternoon hits and the sun starts going down, there is no watching TV or relaxing in that room because you are targeted by the sun. Drew has gone so far as to ask ‘Are we now living on the sun??’. So we found the most economical options for curtains and curtain rods for the 3 sections of windows (7 actual windows) in that room. The cost was under what we’d have spent if we had anyone come out and design or install these for us, but I was still peeved to spend even what I did.
Now with that said, these windows look great. We went with a white blackout curtain and they work like a charm. There is still light coming in from the back sliding doorway, but that isn’t direct sunlight, which is perfect. We get to enjoy the views during the day and then our living room in the evenings (without feeling like we are living on the surface of the sun).
Pairing the cost of these windows up with the cost of materials and installation for the blinds we ordered for the offices and master bedroom puts us in at a cost that most adults would baulk at. And I shopped around for the best deals! I chose stock blinds vs custom (we went with Lowe’s even though they have some of the worst customer service) because the difference was an extra 2 inches of blinds on the stock, shopped Amazon for deals plus free shipping on curtain rods, and used my RedCard to get the curtains at the lowest price plus 5% off and free shipping. After all that, I’m 1. exhausted from having to put in all the effort to obtain these window treatments and 2. out more money than I’d have ever guessed I would spent on windows if you’d asked me 5-10 years ago.
At the end of the day, I love the result of this work. I just wish we’d all known just what we were getting into when we thought being adults was going to be so easy and awesome. It’s more work than it looks like no matter what you’re dealing with!
You can save yourself a headache and shop my window treatments here!
