Alicia’s Decorating Dilema 101- Picture This

Last year after my son’s birth, my husband and I moved out of our large one bedroom apartment to a smaller, more affordable two bedroom space while we save for a home. The biggest challenge we face is less space, and our family photos exemplify the dilema perfectly.  Only two walls in our new home have enough space to hold photos, so I needed to pair down the clutter. I had a huge hodge-podge of frames that were the product of having my pictures spread throughout a large apartment with high ceilings.

The first step in the process was to go through the photos and decide which were the most important. Trimming out old snapshots and moving them to the family photo albums helped a lot. I then narrowed it down to the special shots from specific occasions- wedding photos, holidays, and my son’s introduction to his family.  I still needed some inspiration, so I went online to look at various collage frames. On Target.com I saw a lot of creative and fun frames, but nothing with the flexibility I wanted- many had inspirational phrases I didn’t want to be stuck with for years. What I wanted was the ability to adjust the style of the frame throughout the year, not a one-size-fits-all greeting card phrase.

Enter Crayola. Crayola sells “Window Crayons”- basically non-toxic grease markers in primary colors. You can write or draw on a glass pane and then come back later and wipe the glass clean with glass cleaner, even months down the road, and create a different design. This can also be done with eyeliner, but eyeliner isn’t available in the colors I wanted. I purchased the Window Crayons from a hobby store and picked up two RE Collage Frames with white matting from Target. I three 8″x10″ black frames from my orginal collection. I shifted the large photos into the 8″x10″ frames and put those frames in the dining room.  On the frames with matting, I used the Crayola Window Crayons to create a generalized, abstract winter design that will look nice until spring peeps its head over the horizon and I’m ready to change the design. These two frames will look great and fit comfortably in the living room.

Any space, no matter how small, can be a comfortable home. The key is being flexible and creative, and accepting that in small spaces less is more.

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3 Reasons to Keep Warm with Wood

Looking for a way to add classic warmth and style to any room in your house? Wood blinds are a perfect window covering for almost every room in your home, adding a sense of warmth and style at a lower price than shutters. With so many beautiful stains and paints to choose from and a wide variety of available options, wood blinds offer a timeless elegance to any home.

1. Energy Efficiency

While cellulars get all the credit for this key point, wood blinds are remarkably green in this regard. Wood blinds have an average R Value (the amount the reduce heat loss) of 3.5-4, which is comparable to many single cell and sheer cellulars.  More notably, wood blinds have a U Value (the amount of heat they prevent from entering your home) of .26- meaning they reduce heat gain by up to 74% when closed.

2. High Quality at a Great Price

Ask anyone in the industry who makes the best wood blinds and the answer may surprise you- it’s usually Levolor or Bali that earn the recommendation of pros, not high-profile “designer” brands. Both brands have a wide array of colors to meet anyone’s style, and both individually hand craft their slats. In addition, Bali’s wood blinds are made using sustainable forestry techniques, including replanting all wood that is harvested and only using North American Hardwood.  Don’t want to take the word of the pros? Over 90% of our customers would recommend Bali’s wood blinds to a friend, and 100% say the same of Levolor’s wood blinds. Starting at less than $90 for 30” x 60” blind, you’ll have room to spare in your budget for our third reason to choose wood.

3. Unique Options to Customize Your Space

Features in wood blinds aren’t just about ladder tapes anymore (although both Bali and Levolor offer a wide variety of beautiful options in this regard). Whether you’re out to eliminate
tangled cords, want to increase privacy, or are looking for stylish valance options, wood blinds have you covered. Available free of route holes and cords, wood blinds are a safe, easy to clean, and privacy-enhancing choice for your home. Want a beautiful way to top it off? Try adding one of many available decorative valances and cornices to your window for the perfect finishing
touch.

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Take Me Out to the Ball Game

The only thing easier than rallying behind your World Series pick is picking out shades to support your team. MLB roller shades, available at BlindSaver.com, add the perfect finishing touch to any trophy room, den, child’s room, or “man cave”. Decorating a room in a baseball theme can be as enjoyable as the game itself. These roller shades are officially licensed by MLB and can find their place with fans of all ages. They  are available in all 30 teams’ mascots, colors, and logos, and each team has a shade with a customizable background color to fit any fan’s tastes.  When decorating a child’s room, you can coordinate paint palettes and bedding, such as sheets, pillowcases and quilts. Many department stores offer complete bedding sets in the pattern or logo of major league teams.

Whether decorating for your children or your rec room, MLB shades are a home run. Custom made to your exact specifications, these exclusive shades are available in light filtering and black out fabrics. The light filtering fabrics gently filter sunlight while the room darkening shades will completely block out the light. Both the light filtering and black out fabrics absorb heat and block UV rays. Made with a premium continuous loop control system – a beaded chain that allows the shade to roll up and down easily and precisely – the MLB shades are easy to operate. A fabric wrapped bottom rail adds a nicely finished appearance. For a truly custom look, upgrade to a Cassette or UltraSleek valance.

Your custom MLB shades are made with a durable, 100% polyester fabric, making them convenient to clean and capable of standing up to life’s rough edges. The only thing easier than installing and maintaining these shades is sitting back and letting your team spirit fly out of the park.

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What Window Treatments Would Santa and Mrs. Clause Choose?

Ho, ho, ho, if you traveled up to Santa’s North Pole workshop and home, what window blinds do you think you would see? Every room at the Claus homestead has a need for light control, privacy and a splash of color or warm wood tones to keep that good cheer going year round.

Mrs. C knows beauty and function and keeps Santa happy with blinds that can take the heat and cold like the faux wood blinds she had installed in Santa’s Workshop. Plus, the faux wood blinds keep the Top Secret work that goes on there safe from prying eyes. To solve the problem of 20 hours of sunlight a day during the summer, the clever Mrs. Claus has decorated their bedroom windows with pleated blackout shades. Santa needs his sleep all year long to keep the toy factory going. Adding blackout shades in the elves’ rooms helped keep them focused on their work too.

In Santa’s Study, you will find his trophy sailfish (from his beach house in Acapulco of course), a mini fridge, and his favorite recliner with ottoman. For this manly retreat, Mrs. Claus selected wood blinds to bring a warm, natural look to the room. Wood blinds also provide excellent cold weather energy efficiency and remind him of Christmas trees all year long.

And what could be sweeter for The Doll Room than cellular blinds? With their unique structure, Mrs. Claus knows the pleats in these delicate-looking but sturdy cellular shades provide year-around energy efficiency, and come in a rainbow of decorator colors. For safety’s sake and ease of operation, she upgraded to the free cordless lift for windows near the baby doll cribs.

She selected roman blinds, of course, for the toy soldiers at The Guardhouse. The reindeer almost opted for roman blinds, too, but Mrs. Claus talked them into roller shades because they are easier to use for those without opposable thumbs and easy enough, well, for even Donner and Blitzen to use (there’s a reason they are last in the sleigh lineup).

However, the Most Famous Reindeer of All wanted something a bit different. So Rudolph chose sheer honeycomb blinds– to let his famous glow shine through, why else? And, being Numero Uno, he pulled rank to get a skylight installed for viewing the Northern Lights. So for his stall, Mrs. Claus ordered specially designed honeycomb blinds, which operate on sloped or totally horizontal windows like skylights.

It is not always all business at the Pole. The Clauses do manage to leave the ice and snow behind after the busy season, sneaking away on vacation to some place warm, usually their condo in Acapulco. It is rumored that Santa likes to catch a few rays without his suit, so privacy is a must. This is why Mrs. Claus thoughtfully chose top/bottom roman blinds for seclusion, while letting the sun shine in through the tops of the windows. For their large picture windows, the Claus’s chose solar shades to keep the sun glare out and their ocean view in.

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Featured Brand: Graber

When it comes to picking the right window treatment, whether for the office or for the home, there are certain things that buyers should consider. Probably one of the most important factors that one should look into is the reputation of the company manufacturing the blinds. Today, we take a look at Graber, one of the most trusted names in the industry and see the advantages of Graber blinds.

Graber has been in existence since 1939 and through the decades, the company has made a name for itself for combining form and function when it comes to their wide range of products from mini blinds to cellular shades. The innovative design of Graber blinds have set them apart from the competition.

Brief History
Before Graber blinds became popular, available window treatment products were not as innovative as they are today. John N. Graber started looking for a window treatment solution when the venetian blinds he bought were not the look he desired. He set forth to create a solution that would ultimately revolutionize the industry. Graber invented the “Badger Crane” — a handcrafted, metal drapery crane which would hold the drapery side panels as they hung over the venetian blinds. Before long, Graber booked orders for his Badger Crane with department stores all over the Midwest, and Badger Crane Drapery Hardware went into full-scale production.

Plenty of Choices
With decades upon decades of perfecting manufacturing techniques and exploring design possibilities, Graber now has a complete lineup of window treatment products from the still popular mini-blinds to roman blinds, cellular shades, solar and natural shades, vertical blinds as well as shutters.

Green Commitment
Graber blinds are manufactured to create as minimal a negative environmental impact as possible. Recycled materials are also being used by the company and in case of Graber wood blinds; the company chooses renewable and environmentally friendly-sourced materials.

Graber, a Best Experience Company, offers a 70-year tradition of excellence and a lifetime warranty.

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