Hello friends! Today I thought I’d take a break from the all-fall, all-the-time I’ve been bringing you these past couple of weeks and share an update we recently did here in the house. We recently redid our window coverings in the downstairs and got new woven wood shades and I couldn’t be more thrilled!
If you’ve been following along for awhile now, you know how important I think window coverings are to a space. And I did have some shades here before, but they were definitely a problem. When they arrived they were very different from the sample. I’m sure it was just a dye lot difference but it was a big difference! So shades that I thought would be a pretty, neutral beige ended up always looking a little orange! Sometimes when I would publish photos here on the blog I would tweak the color slightly to try to help. But frankly, even then they didn’t look good! So forget about how they looked in person!! But our new woven wood shades from Blinds Galore are a perfect color!
Ours are the Boutique Natural Woven Shades in Monterey Spanish Bay. In fact, they are made of seagrass (just like my rugs) and are very close to those in color so they are a perfect neutral!
I love woven wood shades! The natural materials add so much texture to a room. They also add some casualness to the living room which I really like. I’m always going for that casual chic mix and this is one way to achieve that. The drapes are linen and a little dressier, but combining them with the shades takes them down a little.
I’m a huge fan of woven wood shades combined with drapes – in fact, it’s my favorite way to cover a window!
And the best part? These have no cord!! I was so tired of having the cords hanging down all the time. These are cordless and very easy to move up and down.
And because we did three across (treating each window separately) I can easily close the other window and blinds (say, in the evening) but still keep one window open and the blind up to let fresh air in.
Shop the Living Room
We did the same in the dining room, using three separate shades to keep it consistent. These two rooms are open to each other so it makes sense to keep the window coverings the same.
The designer at Blinds Galore was super helpful and professional, and really guided us when it came to measuring and making sure they’d be perfect!
Shop the Dining Room
This room was the worst one of all! It had one gigantically long shade and because it was so long and heavy, it was sagging horribly in the center! It’s so nice to have three shorter shades, and to be able to raise and lower them separately – with no cord! (Can you tell that’s my favorite part?!)
Shop the Family Room
The kitchen is my favorite one! I think because this room is so bright, the orangey color of the old one was the most noticeable in here. And it’s the room I’m in the most so it was really driving me crazy! This color is so much better!
We did have them lined with the “privacy liner”. This makes it so less light seeps through the shades (since they are natural seagrass light naturally comes through) but it’s not as dark as black out which we didn’t need. The privacy liner is just enough to make them not see-through and give us privacy, especially in the evenings.
I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out! My orangey toned shades are gone, and these new woven wood shades are in their place 🙂
Shop the Kitchen
Blinds Galore did a wonderful job! You can find their website here. And they do many more types of window coverings, including different blinds as well as custom drapery. Our woven wood shades and color choice can be found here.
Sheila
xo
If you enjoyed this post, you may want to check out some other decorating and design posts below:
My Favorite Paint Colors and What I Have in My Home!
Why I Chose My Home: Location, Location, Location!
How To Get a French Farmhouse Look
Meg says
Lovely!— I just ordered a few swatches from them! My living room window is very similar to yours, with three windows connected. I’ll reach out to their customer service for measurement help, but can you tell me how yours are mounted? Are they mounted to your window frame or wall? Any tips for this kind of window setup would be appreciated- Thanks!
Sheila says
Hi Meg! My shades are outside mounted, right above the window trim but of course, depending on if you have a curtain rod (as I do) it may be higher than that. If you do have drapery then you want them to be right below the drapes – no space in between. If you don’t have drapes, then you can mount just above the trim as I did, or if you wanted to add height, you can go up to the ceiling to create height and make your windows look higher.
Hope that makes sense! Good luck to you!
Sheila