Budget Blinds – Woven Woods, Style Aftan, Color Frosting

Let me start this blog post by telling you that I am no way a designer and I am heavily influenced by Shea McGee. Much of my ideas and guidance is pulled from Studio Mcgee’s designs. If you’re a fan, you’ll probably feel like there are familiar pieces in my home.

I decided to do a blog post on my window treatments because I’ve received so many questions and compliments on them. Rather than get into it every time someone asks, I figured this would be the best space to share with everyone! I also know it can be extremely overwhelming to choose window treatments so if I can help one other person narrow it down and save time (and money), that makes me happy! This is not a sponsored post.

Select Blinds, Designer Reserve Woven Wood Shades, Color Bali White

How it started

When I first started researching window treatments, I decided to head over to Studio Mcgee’s blog where Shea and her team provide really helpful advice on home design. HERE is the blog post on choosing window treatments. I was immediately drawn to the natural woven shades she uses in many of her homes. As stated on the blog post, she uses Waterfall Woven Shade in material “Seaview,” and color “Dune” from The Shade Store in Northern Virginia. I went to The Shade Store in Mosaic and quickly found out that the color “Dune” is discontinued so the next closest shade was Salt. In comparison to Dune, it’s not as warm but it actually looks slightly warm next to my white walls so I was really happy with that choice. However, when I received a quote for just my main floor, it was going to cost me about $20K !! That’s with 20% off!! I still had an upstairs and walk out basement to cover so that just was out of the question.

Of course after all this research I was obsessed with this woven shade and was determined to find something comparable. I shopped around several popular retailers, large and small, by ordering a ton of samples and receiving quotes. What I found was that many of these companies use similar manufacturers with the difference being the materials they use for the hardware.

Budget Blinds – Woven Woods, Style Aftan, Color Frosting

The WINNERS

Here are the two companies had the EXACT same woven shade and the differences between the two:

– Budget Blinds : This is a full service window treatment company. Similar to Shade Store where they come out to your house, measure your windows, show you samples, and install. They provide a 5 year warranty with their products.

• Pros:
  • Like I mentioned, it’s full service. They come to your house and do all the work. They advise you on what might work best for you and your needs. If you need some guidance, this might be for you.
  • Measurements are precise so the cut is a bit cleaner than doing it yourself.
  • They install for you.
  • Privacy liners and blackout liners do not cost extra.
• Cons:
  • Costs less than Shade Store but more than an online retailer that isn’t full service.
  • It takes longer to produce and install. I believe my lead time was about 6-8 weeks.
  • Although full service, they’re not perfect. Two of my motorized shades had problems and they’re currently being replaced under warranty.
  • If you choose cordless and not motorized, the only option is to do a manual one that does not retract and has to be pushed up by hand – it’s terrible if the window are wide and high.

Left to right: Shade Store, Select Blinds, Budget Blinds

– Select Blinds :

• Pros :
  • Cheapest option.
  • Great customer service despite the number of times I’ve had to call for a replacement.
  • Fast! Takes about 2-3 weeks for blinds to ship!
  • Cordless and non-motorized blinds are retractable,
• Cons :
  • They make A LOT of mistakes. I’ve ordered 18 blinds from them and I’ve had issues with 6 of them and one of those 6 had to have 3 replacements due to repeated mistakes. However, they’re quick to replace and make it right. It’s just really annoying to have to go through the process and wait all over again.
  • Requires more work from you – measurements and install.

Costco (Graber) also had the same exact shade but Budget Blinds beat their price significantly so I removed them from my list quickly.

Select Blinds, Designer Reserve Woven Wood Shades, Color Bali White

Who did I use?!

Both!! I wanted the common areas in my house to be professionally installed and motorized in some areas so I decided to use Budget Blinds for my main living room, breakfast nook, and piano room.

Budget Blinds – Woven Woods, Style Aftan, Color Frosting

For all other windows of my house including my front door and office, I used Select Blinds. You can NOT tell the difference. I do sometimes wonder if I would’ve been better off just doing all my windows by Select Blinds but still very happy with my choice to go with Budget Blinds too for the areas that need to be a little more ‘perfect’.

Select Blinds, Designer Reserve Woven Wood Shades, Color Bali White

Final thoughts

I highly recommend ordering samples. They’re FREE so why not just order as many as you can and compare. See what works with your home. It’s an expensive decision so don’t just base it off other homes and do the work. You won’t regret it!

In the future I hope to add on drapery for a finished look but in the meantime, I’ll appreciate these gorgeous shades!

Questions? Ask away and I’ll try my best to get back to you. 🙂