After 10 years in the hot So CA desert sun, our faux wood blinds looked like new. Therefore, there have been installed at our new home. We do have two West facing windows where we hung solar shades because the sun was glaring on the TV and ruining our dinners in the dining area. Well, solar shades don't block the sun when it is big and round in the sky, so therefore, we installed more faux wood blinds inside the window box for extra protection. We now watch TV and eat with no hot sun.

Did anyone see the episode a few years ago in California's wine country? This spoiled, dry, unsmiling couple toured three gorgeous homes, large homes that anyone would consider to be dream homes. The man walked into one of the kitchens, a huge affair with cherry cabinets, granite counters, stainless, etc., and pronounced it very low end. My DH and I were incredulous. If that was low end, what does he consider high end? Titanium appliances? Gold-plated fixtures? Diamond-encrusted cabinets? Sheesh! Also, I don't understand why people need these huge homes. 5000 sq. ft. might seem impressive, but don't you get lost in that? How do you keep it clean? How do you afford the maintenance. Repainting and reroofing a 50000 sq. ft. home is going to be much more costly than a 1500 sq. ft job. Do you really need a separate exercise room, a separate wine room, a separate play room, a separate theater? Don't even get me started on the spoiled 20-somethings who are buying their first home for $500,000 OR MORE and sneer that a perfectly serviceable kitchen or bathroom is a "gut job." My favorite HHI was the one in Slovenia where bees had built a hive in the house (or was it bats?) also the one in Buckinghamshire, England, with the thatched roof.

I just went thru a mess with Bali and Graber both owned by Spring Window. They use cheapo Fedex whose Troutdale hub is a black hole for anything shipped. Endless threads on this on Reddit. Lowes staff is sick of the complaints regarding Fedex too but execs at Lowes still support these brands. I canceled the order since they could never get it to arrive in full. I waited over and over again for delivery based on Fedex lies. Just done. The Graber brand charges way more than the Bali brand but they use the same parts! The quality control is not great since Spring Window has them made in Mexico and shipped across the border and then uses Fedex zonal shipping which is the cheapest worst black hole shipping method. The beads get sucked into the clutches way too easily. On my testing blackout and solar shades I found the blackout had glue on it which made a tearing sound with closing them. I cleaned off the glue but the glue ruined the finish on the vinyl. They sent a replacement and realized they cut the first one wrong and was narrower! Dealing with Lowes escalation department is a joke and they bully consumers when those customers have had it with all the games. They requested that I either donate the only two blinds and want me to drive around and take care of that or they wanted me to cut them up and send a picture and then put in my garbage. I told them have Fedex come pick them up since they caused most of the problems with all this. I also had to say I will then submit a claim with my credit card if they won't give me a refund. Since they want to play hardball with all this. Lowes and Spring Window do not allow you to pick the shipper either. Also with zonal cheap delivery with Fedex neither Fedex or Spring window scan the packages but load them up on pallets and ship them to regional hubs and then they are scanned and then take the slowest method to the destination. I watched how the tracking stopped at three CA cities that were not far from each other before they headed north to Oregon. Talk about your pony express. Then thru all that they lose them. Won't do that gain and won't use any online retailer that uses Fedex. I don't mind if things take longer but I really do mind being lied to over and over. That was the worst of it. I don't like the fact that Lowes knows there is a problem with Fedex and still puts their customers thru that meat grinder shipper. I am kind of rethinking what to do with this but right now this past year with the pandemic and so many retailers lying and not being honest about availability etc I am just tabling anymore buying until things improve. Also Fedex lost the Amazon contract this past year. I know Fedex likes to say they dumped Amazon but in realty Amazon waited till they were able to deliver 50% of everything before they made their insulting offer to Fedex. The offer was so bad Fedex had to turn it down. So I get the frustration Amazon had with Fedex and made their point that way. But I see their stock dropping and top executives cashing out more stock which they tend to cash out when the stock is doing better. So it wouldn't surprise me if Fedex finally files bankruptcy since it has had financially problems for decades. If Fedex can't be valued more during a pandemic when folks are stuck with using shippers that says a lot about the lack of confidence investors have with this company overall. Fedex saves money subbing out workers and trucks and still they can't get things done right. Whereas UPS hires their own workers, owns their own trucks and pay benefits and the staff have a vested interest to getting things done. Plus they make sure the fleet is has regular maintenance done to keep the trucks in operation. I bet they have less stealing too.

Hey, guys! I was reading some of your comments and I share your thoughts on vertical blinds, they are easy to use, practical and you can control the light coming inside. I am actually looking to replace my old ones and I came across this offer, which apparently covers up all aspects: Suitable for floor to ceiling, patio doors, conservatories as well as smaller more standard windows in your home you can control the light or the heat and glare from the sun to enhance your living environment. Our top quality louvre blinds are manufactured from a vast range of fabrics including blackout, voile and flame retardant. Using the quality chain operating system, however, you prefer your made to measure vertical blind will glide easily to the left or right or order your blind to split bunch in the middle. Order one of our vertical blinds today for next day delivery and enjoy a simple, durable window blind for years to come. Don't you think they're trying to oversell it, though?