JC Pennys often has good sales on blinds and window treatments. Often times you can find a 40% off sale. I have several of the 2" wood blinds in my home which I bought from there and it was no where near what you were quoted. If you are open to using some drapes for your larger windows or sliding doors, many have had success using materials like dropcloths, tablecloths or duvets and hanging them from clip rings.

Have you checked places like Lowes or Home Depot? If you can find blinds in standard sizes, perhaps outside mounting them I imagine it'd be much cheaper than custom sizes.

Google JCPenney outlet, excellent buys there.

Get your measurements together and shop the on-line sellers. They all have discounts and occasionally one will have deep discounts on what you are looking for. Take a look at their own brands and other lesser known brands. Hunter Douglas is a top of the line product. Hunter Douglas owns Comfortex, which makes the Shangri La line and other lower cost blinds.

Some on line sellers are
justblinds.com
blindsgalore.com

Here is a link to an interesting comparison between Hunter Douglas Silhouettes and Comfortex Shangri La by Ace of Shades. (I realize you aren't looking for Silhouettes.)

If you are only going to live in the house for two years and then rent it out, I would not invest in high end window treatments.

Here is a link that might be useful: Silhouette vs Shangri-La

I just happen to be looking for window treatment options and also, and I came across selectblinds.com. I am not sure if anyone has ever shopped there, but they are having what seems like a great sale - buy 3, get one free on certain blinds, 30% off your order, and some of the blinds have a free upgrade to top up bottom down etc. They also don't tell you what brand you are buying, but the reviews on the blinds that I have looked at have all been pretty good. Hope that helps.

Overstock has some honeycombs for a decent price, but limited selection for the top-down bottom-ups.

Here is a link that might be useful: O.co cellular/honeycomb shades

Penney's does have great sales and they carry Bali Blinds. I personally like Bali. They have several different price points and I have found their online tools to be helpful. The quality is good too. Bad mechanicals on cheep blinds make the whole place look bad from the inside and the outside. You can do a little homework online with Bali and even order free swatches. Then hit Penney's when their having a sale.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bali Blinds

Thank you! I will definitely check out JC Penny. And Shangri-La and Bali. I don't want the quality to be really low-end where the plastic looks horrible and falls apart but at the same time I don't want to spend $7K!

The selectblinds website looks really good in-terms of value but I really do wonder about quality even though the reviews are good on their site. It doesn't seem anyone here has experience with them.

I just looked over the SelectBlinds website. It might be a wonderful place to buy things, but I am uncomfortable buying from a website that doesn't give you any information about the owners and where they are located.

"If users have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at:
Mailing Address:
890 W Elliot Rd
Suite 102
Gilbert, AZ 85233

Phone:
888-257-1840
URL:
http://www.selectblinds.com";

If you google that address, also located there are Trend Homes and Select Rugs and a bunch of other businesses. It sounds like a drop-ship operation. They are fine if the product arrives at your house as you expect it, but customer service is likely to be nil.

Good point Graywings.

I hope this doesn't sound too tacky, but I have, in my bedroom, faux silk shantung panels I got at Christmas Tree Shoppes. They are fully lined and I don't think I paid $8 per panel, tops. The kicker is that I love them! The fabric has a lovely sheen. They come in a variety of colors. Mine are something in the ivory/candlelight hue. Sorry, I can't post a pic. One of my kids seems to have gotten their hands on my camera. If you live near one of the stores, check them out.
Also, I used windowtoppers.com for some my former kitchen decor. They were very nice. Very good customer service.

I have used SelectBlinds for my current house and my previous house. I LOVE THEM! They send you all the samples you could ever want and the quality has seemed to match the big names window treatments that my mom has in her house. Great customer service too. I contacted them many times about measurements and questions about the product itself. I had one wood valance get slightly damaged in shipping. They sent a replacement - no questions asked.

I had the double cell blinds, double cell room darkening, wood blinds and one other room darkening (not a double cell). I wouldn't get the non-double cell again, but only bought them because they were on sale. I would buy all the others again in a heartbeat. If you're really interested I could do some digging to find the exact names of the blinds I have used. Let me know.

Ikea!
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/best-products/best-products-ikea-grommet-curtains-good-enough-for-sjp-004167

Here is a link that might be useful: Designer blog

When living in So. Calif., I had roll down dark brown matchstick bamboo blinds in my kitchen and bedroom, with white battenburg valances. I loved them and just priced them for our kitchen in NY - $7 each at Lowes. They usually run 6 ft. long, but can be shortened, with bias binding lightly glued at the bottom.

I still have the valances, but did buy Waverly for here.