Friday, January 21, 2011

a WHITER SHADE of pale

How awful are these shades? Almost the most embarrassing, disgusting mess in our house:
Finally, FINALLY, I ordered new shades from JCPenney. They sell the cheapest and nicest shades to exact measurements. Don't judge. I had to buy 7 of them:
They are actually really nice. Especially for $20 each. You seriously could not get something like this for less. And they are supposed to be thermal, and cut down on our energy bill or some other such nonsense.

Sure it took me an hour of wrangling with the power drill just to hang one but after I figured out what I was doing, the rest came very easy.

But wait! And this is the most annoying thing...
The three side windows (one on the left and two on the right and hidden from view) are a few inches wider than the front windows. And JCPenney has that particular size on back-order until April.

Fahrvergndoodles!!!

The one thing I hate is when I finally work up the energy to place an order for something (I know, reaching into that wallet to grab my credit card and type in the numbers on the screen is an agonizingly horrifying task) it ends up being back-ordered, and now my office is half done and I'm starting to downwardly spiral into JCPenney.com hell*.

Also, if you notice the sad face on the radiator it's because he's next up on the to-dos. I hired a contractor to build something like this for that spot:
Can you imagine how awesome that will look? When I have a nice cover for the radiator and 7 matching shades?

* checking every freaking day and stalking the catalog people

2 comments:

  1. Hey there! I have no idea how I landed on your blog, but you've got a really nice house - I'm especially intrigued by your ambition to cover up those radiators. I have seen that done and it's lovely, but it didn't even CROSS MY MIND as something that would be nice to have done. By chance, from working with a professional, do you know if there are restrictions for how close the wood structure can be to the radiator itself? And, my only thought has been, does the heat come out as well as when there's no top on it? AND, maybe, perhaps, is it more efficient since the heat is being forced out the front and not out the top and right out the window that's so often above the radiator?

    emily (emily@merrypad.com)

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  2. Hi Emily,

    I don't know if you have radiators in your home, but I find that when the steam is running through them they are REALLY HOT.

    Most of our radiators have metal covers. They came with the house. I always feel it when the heat is coming up. I don't think they hinder the heat in any way.

    Our bathroom radiator cover we had recently made from wood. I think it "clears" the radiator by an inch or two in front. I also asked the guy to make it about a third taller than the radiator, so the hot air could escape forward and not be trapped at the top.

    I'm hoping the front room, as pictured at the top, will function just as well as the others. I'm going to ask the contractor to make the cover so it comes just under the window sill.

    I'll post pictures when it is done, however it may be a few weeks as our contractor is currently tied up in another project!

    Thanks,
    Amy

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