Cellular Shades are in The Trailer!

[NW Cat Owner]

Okay, for those waiting with bated breath, here's photos of the cellular shades we put in The Trailer yesterday. Let's just say we won't do this for a living as nobody would want to hire our slow selves for installation. And it's a darn good thing Dirk is well used to my potty mouth as it wasn't pretty at times. My ears are used to it as well.

If you did this all the time, some sort of template would make it far easier. Unfortunately you couldn't put the brackets on the blinds and then screw them all in at once. Dirk used 3 quarter inch screws instead of the much longer ones that came with the blinds. It wasn't exactly easy (for us at least) to get the brackets lined up just so. The center one in the bedroom blind does need some adjustment as the blind doesn't fit into it (although it does fit on the two end brackets).

But they work! And bonus on these blinds. I ordered them from Blinds Galore and ordered the cordless up/down feature. They come with this nifty button system where you push the button to raise or lower the blinds, which our Bali blinds at home don't have. And they stay in place (either up or down), so it appears we won't need to put a velcro strap or some such over them when we travel. I'll carry something just in case.

One of the buttons doesn't work and the blind stays down all the time, so I've got an email in to customer service about what to do. Darn these holidays - I have to wait several days till they're back at work.

But overall, they do the job that we wanted them for. We got the blackout style and they really do block the light. I spent last night in the trailer and not much in the way of light was coming in by the blinds. Granted, it's not super bright around the trailer, but there's still plenty of street light out there. Lots more light came in through the door window and the overhead vent than it did through the blinds. Perfect!

I purposely ordered the blinds much longer and wider than the windows so there would be less chance of light coming in through them and hitting you in the eye while you're sleeping or reading on the dinette.

[NW Cat Owner]

I went for a light green on this blind. A bit lighter than I thought it would be, but it still works. Here you can see it pulled down and the other two photos show you how much wider and longer than the window it is. I don't know if you really would need to do that, but it's what I decided to do.

Ignore the extension cord hanging down. We got some clips we're going to put on in a bit underneath the cabinet to pull it off to one side and then it can fall down in the curve of the wall in the corner.

[NW Cat Owner]

Mod - please rotate the 3rd photo above. I keep forgetting it does that when I turn my camera at an angle, even if I try fixing it at my end.

Thanks!

[NW Cat Owner]

Okay, a bit blurry, but you get the idea. I think the dark blue looks really good against the black countertop and black/grey/white mixed backsplash. And it goes really well with the royal blue screw covers! (yeah, I planned that.)

Note that I can pull the blind down farther if I want. It's probably longer than it needs to be, but that's how it ended up. I didn't pull it down that far last night when I was sleeping in there.

Edit: Bonus points if you notice another new item added that's shown in the first photo.

[NW Cat Owner]

Same color as in the kitchen. Both of us like how it looks against the purple cushions. Dirk rather surprised me by saying how much he liked them and how good they looked. Yay!

Again, the blinds are longer and wider than the windows. I'd been racking my brain, trying to figure out how to keep it attached at the back end, where the wall curves.

VELCRO! I stuck some on the knobs, first making sure I could still use them and stuck the loop side on the bottom of the blind which is solid. The last two photos show the velcro in place. If you want the blind pulled down farther, you can do so since the fuzzy part of the velcro is on the window knob and it won't catch against the fabric part of the blind (or your clothes if you lean against it with the blind pulled up).

One of the photos shows you the button device (note, I did not call it "button thingie" as much as I wanted to ). I don't know if other blind companies have this thingie. (HA! Couldn't resist.)

The style/company of blinds is Comfortex Honeycomb Cellular Shades Blackout. 3/8" double cell. Dark blue is Symphony Marina and bedroom is Tobago Blue (although I don't see any blue in it!) for coloring.

Kitchen is 32" wide by 26" high. Bedroom is 52 by 26. Back dinette is 54 by 26 and the two sides are 36 by 26.

I also made sure the blinds were long enough to rest on the top of the cushions along the side walls and they do that perfectly. I'm quite pleased with that.

So, while they weren't exactly cheap to get, we're very pleased with them. We like how they look. I noticed how much colder it was behind one of the blinds than in front. Granted, the cold will go around the sides, but sitting on the dinette last night reading, it wasn't unpleasant with the side blind behind me.

[Greg A]

Almost identical to the blinds I put in the 17b several years ago. Loved them, blackout worked really well and the cordless is nice.
Nice installation, they look great.

[cpaharley2008]

I'm confused, are these venetian blinds similar to ones in the Casita/Scamp? What keeps them in place while traveling or with the window open and wind is blowing?

[NW Cat Owner]

Originally Posted by Greg A

Almost identical to the blinds I put in the 17b several years ago. Loved them, blackout worked really well and the cordless is nice.
Nice installation, they look great.

Thanks Greg! I was wondering how they compared to yours. And with cats (or any pets), cordless is the only way to go with any blinds.

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I'm confused, are these venetian blinds similar to ones in the Casita/Scamp? What keeps them in place while traveling or with the window open and wind is blowing?

Considering I've never been inside a Scamp or Casita, I could not tell you. But they're not Venetian blinds, but cellular shades/blinds. They're a solid piece of fabric (well, two layers of fabric for the double cell) shaped into a honeycomb shape. They help insulate the place against temperatures and sound. Venetians are just slats of plastic or wood that are absolute crap at insulation.

Note what I said above about the button system. The blinds will stay all the way up, down or part way when you use the button. You press on it to move the blinds and when you release, they stay in place.

Can't tell ya how they are during travel. I think Greg used a loop around his. I'm hoping the button will keep them in place. If not, I'll make some loops to wrap around them while in transit.

[Donna D.]

These are so much niceer than the 'el cheapo curtains Scamp uses! And Casita doesn't use anything similar either. Casita uses aluminum mini-blinds.

Really nice Laura

[Cslcs25]

You are right....I have been waiting for these photos! They look very, very nice. I am going to study these and maybe we will get brave enough to try. We will be modifying (replacing?) the "valance box" as well by making it a bit bigger. Thank you so much for the pics and descriptions.

[NW Cat Owner]

Thanks Donna and Linda.

In reading what I wrote, I realized I wrote out the size of the screws as 3 quarter inch, which someone might think we used 3 (three) quarter inch screws. Nope, actually they're 3/4th". Sorry if there's any confusion there.

Linda - if you need to see other photos, let me know.

When you install them you don't want them right against the wall. We had to move them out a bit so they'd easily clear the window frame. Plus, we didn't want screws against the back of the cabinets as electrical wires might be running up there. None of the screws went through the cabinets - yay on that!

Dirk said these were lots harder to install than the Bali blinds at home as the bracket was different. Plus working in a much more confined space didn't help. Just have patience and do lots of measuring and double checking.

We were in the trailer this afternoon and it was great pulling down the back window blind and it just snugged up against the velcro very easily.

[Nrgtic4]

They look great, Laura. Everything looks bright colorful and happy.

[katzam29]

Blinds look awesome! You're definitely making "The Trailer" your own.

[Cslcs25]

Originally Posted by NW Cat Owner

Dirk said these were lots harder to install than the Bali blinds at home as the bracket was different. Plus working in a much more confined space didn't help. Just have patience and do lots of measuring and double checking.

So do you think the Bali blinds would work in the trailer?

[NW Cat Owner]

Originally Posted by Cslcs25

So do you think the Bali blinds would work in the trailer?

I don't see why not, although I don't remember seeing a button option with that brand when we ordered the house ones through Lowe's over the years. I never knew that option existed until I saw these in person. I read it on the site, but didn't know what it meant.

If you use something without that button option, you'll need to figure out a way for the blinds to stay in place while traveling. I don't know if velcro on the window knob is enough (if you plan to leave the shades down while traveling in hot, sunny weather). I also haven't a clue as to how long these will hold up (literally) with the button for keeping them up while traveling. Only time will tell. And if the button gives out, I'll construct a loop to put around the ends while traveling (which is what you can do with another brand without the button), which is what Greg did. (Unless it's still under warranty and then I'll get them replaced.)

[NW Cat Owner]

Originally Posted by Nrgtic4

They look great, Laura. Everything looks bright colorful and happy.

Thanks Lisa and Pete!

Originally Posted by katzam29

Blinds look awesome! You're definitely making "The Trailer" your own.

Thanks Katrina!

Each room in our house has different colors of paint on the walls. Several rooms even have two different colors! Since I'm not going to even attempt to paint the walls in The Trailer, this is the next best way to add color. With blinds and faux tiles in the kitchen. And the fabric. And the countertop. And the flooring.

Next up - hit the store for some sewing machine oil (machine has sat around for years after I bought it brand new, so, yeah it'll need it) and then start on turning my multiple kitty themed fabric pieces into nifty pillow covers! Yay!

[bsmoke]

Like them a lot.

[yardsale]

Would be nice if Escape offered them as an option.