dreamfish

Vertical blinds - yes, you know the ones with the little plastic 'weights' in the bottom (currently strewn across the garden) and the little beaded string that joins them together (great for tripping up the kids when they go charging through the blinds out onto the deck).

I hate these blinds. I despise them with a passion. Each day since I have lived here I have been planning their demise - usually when i have had to sit and reattach the beady string to each flippin flappy thing. But with 39 windows in the house, all with these ruddy blinds, I just wonder whether there is some sort of benefit to having these things before I go and take them to a deserted beach and do wicked things to them.

Why cant they have those pulley ropey things at both ends of the blinds? I timed myself the other morning. Took me half an hour to open all the blinds. See its not just an easy pull and they are open. Oh no. See I want to be able to open the windows without getting the afore mentioned beady string stuck in the window handles and then my hands get tangled up in the blinds where the kids have detached them and they just whip around in the breeze and AGHGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! :curse:

Yes they're great for when the sun is shining through onto the TV - but could I live without them? HELL YEAH! But on a more serious note, I read about that four year old girl who accidently hung herself with a hair band attached to her bunk bed and it brought home to me how just about anything is a potential hazard to our children and blinds with the pulleys are just asking to be swung from.

So I want to take them out of the girls room and replace with nets and curtains I brought with us from their old rooms.

So thanks for reading my rant - I just need to know if they are some special NZ invention for combatting all those hazards of living in wooden houses with no double glazing etc etc. If you agree they are pointless and I can go buy some curtains, then thats good news to my ears.

BTW where can you get curtain lining from? Havent seen any in Warehouse and I am not sure which shops sell lining.

Thank you.

Ted Logan

Don't think we need windows at all


Kerry and Donna also think that

Nerine

They have them here too and they're every bit as useless. Spotlight's good for curtain lining.

lardyl

Harveys....?

http://www.harveyfurnishings.co.nz/

We have curtains in our (green!)house, aka the rental, and they might be better at preventing trips but most neighbours (in better houses) have verticals or venetian/roller blinds. Out curtains are mouldy and keep the heat out OK (thermal liners) but are a pain if you want a bit more light/heat......plus the kids swing on them and wrap themselves up in the drapes......

lardyl

oops Harveys is mainly north of NI, maybe help one of my kids when they hook their brain up to Google in 20 years!!

dreamfish

thats interesting - i didnt know that. thought they just sold light bulbs!!!
i really ought to go investigate all these shops and see what they sell. we have one here in parirua so i will go check tomorrow perhaps. thank you!

dreamfish

hmm thats a good point, about mould. The only thing i like about these blinds, well ok there are three things. They are streamline and neutral, and they are great for redirecting the sun rays away from my eyes.

i dream about carrying out that jeremy clarkson experiment - pop them in the microwave and watch them writhe around in agony and melt and dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

P2L

We have them too in our living area and in our bedroom, and can well understand your frustration with them

I have lived with them for 12 months now & have to say they are actually quite efficient here for keeping the sun & heat out in the summer & warmth in in the winter, so for now at least, mine are staying

All I need to find now is a way of repairing the buggers when the clips break

dlmckay

Hi dreamfish,

Spotlight sells linen, fabric, crafty bits and pieces and sewing machines. An modern haberdashery if you will. I can lose myself for hours in that shop

I don't like vertical blinds either - what a nuisance they are.

Curtain fabric can be bought with a thermal backing already sprayed onto the back of the material and Spotlight also have a curtain making service (which I think Harveys may also have). I made my own and found it substantially cheaper than buying ready mades but a great deal more work!

Net curtains are cheap as chips to buy by the metre, ready to string on the wires.

However, condensation is not your friend. Every spring, when the house is dry enough to put the dehumidifiers away, I find myself taking the nets down and soaking them in Napisan to bleach out the dingy effect that lying against wet windows has.

HTH

Batty

And has done!

Yep, Spotlight is great. I made all my curtains too. www.spotlight.co.nz

dreamfish

thank you for that - was just this minute talking to Donna about spotlight. I really did think that they sold lights

But now i have discovered they sell all kindsa crafty things - guess where i will be this afternoon!!!

Wonder if you can buy spray on lining in a can?? That would save me having to make up liners.

I know what you mean about just losing yourself in a shop. And they do buttons too? I have just crocheted a jumper for number 1 daughter so thats another job i can get done down there.

dlmckay

Why would you bother spraying it on? Just get thermal curtain fabric

And yes... buttons, zips, fringing et al

Nerine

Also have a look on trademe, there is a lady there who sells off wodges of spotlight lining and curtain fabrics at really good prices, she used to do free delivery too.

dreamfish

a fantastic store indeed - not particularly cheap though. Needed curtain lining, and the only stuff they had for the job was just under $30 a metre - and i need 6 metres.

so trademe watching again to see what i can get,

lots of nice buttons thought - bought some ladybirds for the jumper i have made

Nerine

Wow that's a bit steep, I used to pay a lot less than that for their white, thermal blackout lining.

This is the trademe link
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living...08318.htm?p=13

Looks like they're charging $3 for postage now.