Faux wood blinds seem to last a couple of years. I am no longer a fan of them. They turn yellow from the sun and are a pain to clean. When cleaning I found the "strings" loved to take on any dirt. Even taking them down and washing outside or in the bathtub became more than I cared to fuss with. Perhaps consider inexpensive ones and changing out every two years. Or a film on the windows to keep the sun exposure down. Pricing and quality may be a factor, I don't have recent experience to know.

In my experience, the HD salesperson is probably right. I have had faux wood HD plantation shutters in a house for 10+ years with no fading, discoloration or degradation/wear. I have had less expensive shutters in a house that showed wear and discoloration within a few years. I was never aware of off-gassing from the faux wood.

Recently I was working to install faux wood blinds at two price/quality points in someone else's house and the HD blinds we installed are so much nicer and sturdy than the less expensive blinds we used from Select Blinds. I have never installed blinds in my own home but technicolor's point about the strings getting dirty seems like a good reason to buy cheaper blinds and change them out more often....

I had Levelor faux wood blinds from Lowe's in a vacation home. I did not have issues with dirty cords and the slats cleaned fine. However, I had 4 windows that got constant afternoon sun, year round. The blinds in those windows discolored in a fairly short time.

I have had white faux wood blinds from justblinds.com in a south and west facing room for over three years. They are doing fine. I didn't sense any outgassing. They are Justblinds house brand and they were quite inexpensive.

I have off the shelf faux wood blinds from Home Depot. They are 10 years old and still look fine. No outgassing, no discoloration. But, they are heavy and the cords on a couple of them aren't working quite right these days.

btw, mine face east.

I have previously had Faux white wood blinds which I loved! No fading, warping, or smelling in the 4 years we were in that house.

debrak2008 - Could you post a photo of your Faux wood mahogany blinds and see what manufacturer they are from?

We have real wood blinds (expensive I might add) in our current home. 44 windows and doors! The blinds are 8 years old. All the blinds that stay closed most of the day, and get the most sun, have faded badly. These are in our bedroom and bath...a south facing wing that heats up pretty badly.

I am looking into replacing all blinds with Faux, but have not recently seen any Faux wood tones that I like.

I have off-the-shelf faux wood blinds from Home Depot on the 18 windows in my home, in white. Some of them get intense sun. To date (9 years) they've not yellowed, warped, nor the cords broken. They are easy to clean. I'm moving soon into a new house and intend to use the same product, in brown this time.

I've used JC Penny's blinds for years - both the faux white, and the real wood. Both were reasonably priced (IMO), and both have held up well for years.

I should add I am not hard on the blinds at all, and they are rarely raised/lowered - but still, I'm very impressed with these blinds.

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.

I will post a photo asap. I tried to look for the manufacturers name on the blinds but couldn't find it. Will look again.

It's usually up on top of the header. Thank you!

Ok I will need to get the step stool out to see up there. Can do it after work today. DH really thinks they are Levolor but we will see.

Here are the blinds but I realized they are very dusty. I haven't dusted them all summer and haven't washed the windows either. I will post the brand when I can.

i had the white 2inch faux wood plantation brand levelor for 13 years with no problems with fading or warping or smell of any kind. i take them down and bleach in tub and it works very well every couple years. Updating decor so I'm replacing with the walnut faux wood. The white are in excellent shape and I'm passing them on to my daughter-in-law for her home. Hope this is helpful in making your decisions.

Skip the blinds, faux or real wood, and go with an energy efficient window treatment. Cellular shades ESPECIALLY in Florida is the way to go.

Cellular Shades in Action · More Info

10-25% of heating and in this case cooling costs are wasted out of the windows!

When we did the math, it averages up to $325 going out the window every year!. EEK! Energy saving cellular shades control drafts to keep temperatures at a constant, so air conditioners aren't working so hard to keep the room regulated.

Something to consider. :)

Home Depot Faux blinds less than a month old. Direct sunlight. They will go back to the store tomorrow.

Really? I had faux wood 2 inchers from both HD and Lowe's and they were totally fine. I mean I wasn't looking for 100% blackout, but they were quite functional and I was pleased. We moved and currently on the windows in the new house are cellular shades which work fine but I happen to prefer the blinds. I like to be able to see out without being in full view and I like to be able to control the level of light coming in.

No problem with my faux blinds either and half the windows get direct southern exposure in this hot southern town. No warping, fading, discoloration. Had them 5 years