[ home ] :: the story of the blinds

We have a beautiful townhouse that was our first "starter home" together. The Hubs bought it while we were dating and it was a great place to live, but within a few years of being married it felt too small.

How gorgeous is this? This was our "backyard" for our old neighborhood.

Long story short, we bought a new house. We decided that financially for us, and with how the housing market was going in our area, that it was better to rent our sweet little townhouse.

Well, the best way to make your townhouse not so beautiful and sweet is to put a renter in it. We have been putting off getting new blinds for two of the windows for over a year after a dog ate them. When we originally installed the blinds we had to custom order them because they were a totally wonky size. Can you say $$$$$? But now we have a nice renter and they requested new blinds.

This made me want to vomit. I seriously thought I would be shelling out $300+ for two new sets of blinds. For two windows. Holy crap. So I got to looking for blinds online.

The best deal on blinds, hands down, is at Home Depot. I searched everywhere. Specialty stores, local stores, Overstock, Amazon, and Lowe's. Let's compare:

 

 Lowe's: IPG 30-in W x 60-in L White Vinyl 2-in Slat, 64 in. Length. 30 in. Width. $40.00

Home Depot: Home Decorators Collection White Faux Wood Blind, 2 in. Slats, 64 in. Length. 30 in. Width. $27.80

Now don't get me wrong - I love me some Lowe's, and I prefer to shop there for many of my home-improvement projects. I actually have the IPG blinds in my kitchen at home and they are quite nice (but although they say they are "room darkening" they don't make too much of a difference). But when I'm fixing up our rental property I have to take cost into consideration.

Home Depot: 1; Lowe's: 0

After it was all said and done, I spent less than $100 on blinds and got free shipping. As an added bonus, I got SwagBucks since I ordered online! I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that we don't have to shave 0.25" off each side, and that they just slide in perfectly!


- Maggie White