This give away is now closed. Congratulations to:
Kylie Baker
Rose Mowlam
Barbara Fehmel
LilMiss Kibby
Caroline O’Sullivan
Kirsty Ross-Bell
Kirralee
kate @ livinglovinglaughing
Karen
Joanne Emery
This is a review post.
We have lived in our current house for over eight years now. We were able to move in straight away – it is a great family home, renovated some time ago with the exception of the kitchen which is very functional but pretty dated. But the whole house was furnished with very thin venetian blinds!
They are a nightmare to keep clean and have been on my wish list to replace for a long time. The living room ones are especially hard to maintain as they are so close to the kitchen. With the old school exhaust fan that doesn’t really do much else than make a lot of noise, the combination of kitchen cooking residue and dust, means the dust literally stuck to the blinds.
So when I had the opportunity to choose some new blinds from the fab folks at The Blind Factory, I knew I definitely did not want venetians for the living room! I knew I wanted roller blinds, but not much else.
Choosing the blinds
We had Adrian from The Blind Factory come to measure up and he was also a fantastic source of advice and information on the options you can have. He agreed roller blinds would be a good option for us and advised there was different combinations of 100% blockout, sheer and light filtering fabrics which we could choose from, depending on what we wanted to achieve with regard to light control and UV/heat protection.
As you can see the living room is pretty much all glass, so heat loss was a very important issue for us and we opted for 100% block out. And that was only one of the decisions we needed to make!
Adrian clearly articulated the options I had for a range of parts for the blinds, giving me the pros and cons in general and information so I could make a choice based on our room:
- Type of blind – Adrian explained the difference between each type of blind and then asked about what we were wanting from our blinds. Our main concern was minimising heat loss. Seeing outside was not an issue as we have the blinds open during the day. So with these factors it made most sense to choose the blockout roller blinds.
- The roll – the blinds could forward or rear roll. He gave me great advice on how to work this best so we would minimise heat loss and keep the aesthetics right as well.
- Window and door combo – We had one very large window that is almost two as it contains a door. Adrian explained the options I had and also let me know that it is cheaper the less number of blinds you have, so where we currently have one large blind across the door, he felt we could just replace with one roller.
- The fabrics – Adrian encouraged me to feel the difference between the textures. He also gave great advice on the impact the colours would have on the room.
- The controls – we had a choice of plastic vs metal blind controls to pull the blinds up and down. He advised that strength was not an issue as both were very strong and met applicable safety standards, but advised the plastic would blend better with our paintwork.
- The weights – the roller blinds have weights at the end to ensure they stay in place when pulled completely down. They also come in a range of colours.
- The process – Adrian clearly explained the delivery time, what they would and wouldn’t do -they would remove our old blinds from the walls, but it is our responsibility to dispose of them.
Blind Installation
We were given a two hour window for when The Blind Factory would come and install the blinds. Again I was so impressed with the professionalism and efficiency of the work. They arrived 11.15am and had finished and completely cleaned up by 11.55am! That was even with a mini crowd watching and asking questions throughout the installation process.
They were very polite, professional and thorough.
They took down the old blinds and took them outside for me and took care of every piece of rubbish.
Some of our windows weren’t square, so they made adjustments so the blinds would look straight when pulled completely to the ground.
The New Blinds
Love, love, love the new blinds! They make the room look so much more modern – they have given the room a real lift. This was something I hadn’t really expected as I had really chosen the blinds on practicality. So it is a bonus that the living room is so much more warmer of an evening as we close the blinds and the room looks so much better – less cluttered and more streamlined.
We should hopefully also see reductions in our heating bill as the blinds will stop so much of the heat loss from the ducted heating that we were previously experiencing.
I really like the minimalist look and am very happy we chose to go with the white cords as they match so well with the paint work. And as the roller blinds hang straight down, they don’t catch all the dust like the vertical blinds did in this space.
The safety devices which are affixed to the wall are clear and you can hardly see them. These are so much safer than the cords we used to have wound around a knob on our old blinds. While we no longer have a baby or toddler ourselves, we still have plenty come to visit, so it is great to know the cords don’t pose a strangulation threat.
The Blind Factory offer a five year warranty and free consultations which you can arrange by visiting www.theblindfactory.com.au or calling 13 BLINDS (132546)
Blind Factory safety devices giveaway
Unfortunately there have been 15 recorded deaths in Australia from strangulation by looped window and blind cords since the early 1990’s. The Australian Government advise that the bottom of any cord should be over 1600mm from the ground, ensuring small children cannot reach the cord.
The Blind Factory fit all blind and curtain cords with a safety device that removes any slack from the cord, in addition to fixing the device to a height unreachable by small children.
The Blind Factory have 10 packs of safety devices for blinds (valued at $30 each) to giveaway to readers of Planning With Kids. Each pack has 25 safety devices included to secure blinds out of harm’s way.
For your chance to win:
- Leave a comment telling me what sort of blinds you would choose if you were getting new blinds – you can check out the range from Blind Factory here.
- You must have a valid email address to enter. If no response is received with 48 hours, a new winner will be selected.
- This give away is available to Australian residents only.
- The give away will close 9pm AEST Tuesday 30th July 2013.
And you can also have a chance to win one of four $1,000 vouchers for new blinds or shutters for your home, by entering the competition the Blind Factory is running on their facebook page here.
Good luck!