Linelle, I love the BM Palace White on your walls with the white trim! I am now considering this color for my low light home office room. Thank you! The sample board is very pretty. Which do you like better the BM Palace White or the SW Antique White? I am considering them both for my home office with bright white trim and doors. I think next year I am going to get rid of the three taupe colored (neutral in the day time but at night the taupe design in the off-white blinds makes the blinds look dirty and gray) double honeycomb (wish were single honeycomb to let in more light) top-down/bottom-up blinds with long strings that keep tangling that I have been living with for about 4 years and have disliked the blinds ever since they went in my home office three windows. It was the worst $900 I spent (Alta Blinds ... a division of Hunter Douglas ... bought from Budget Blinds... never went back to him since he did not tell me to test a sample at night or that the strings would be so long they would touch the floor ... wish I got retractible cords). The other windows I love all of my blinds since I learned to get samples to look at in different lighting situations and at night. All my blinds needed to be replaced since they fell off the windows so I had to make decisions and I tried my best. I know if the blinds were off of the windows and were more white, I would love every color on the wall. So maybe I should disregard them for now knowing I will save and next year get something different despite the cost. Unless a different paint color other than the BM Linen White makes them look better to me and I can live with them a a few more years.

Like others, just wanted to give everyone thanks for the ideas and to show my experience (based on everyone’s suggestions). Was always afraid of cleaning my HD’s as they appear so shear. Even though my HD Silhouettes have been up for just over 20 years now, I have been hesitant to professionally clean due to costs (over $1000 dollars estimated-was told it was this or spend over $6000 to replace). Given inspiration by this thread, I decided to do it myself and wanted to “payback” the thread with my experience. Given the cost of professional cleaning, I decided to DIY since it I messed up, I would replace with something else that was not so delicate (called HD and they would not sell “replacement” fabric so would have to replace all units). I could not use the bathtub method as many of my shades are too large (7ft W x 5ft L). Also, did not want to use sheets on the ground or swimming pool method as I did not wish to risk tearing/delaminating the shade vanes and it would have been tough to get to the center of the shades to clean and rinse. I did purchase then returned a cheap $39 inflatable pool but decided it was not worth the effort. Bissel was an option but some said it was messy and I didn’t want to risk dripping onto white/beige carpet if using when shades were still hung. Instead, I hung the shades up on a pergola in my backyard with some bungie cords and 1” nylon webbing with plastic buckles I bought on Amazon for $7. I rinsed the shades (first with the vanes in an open position, then again on each side with the vanes closed) to get rid of as much grime as I could using a variable spray garden nozzle (started with flat spray, and increased to a jet spray). I then sprayed each side (vanes closed) with about 1/2 ounce Dawn (as degreasing detergent) mixed with 1:2 Oxyclean/water in a spray bottle. This was followed by a thorough rinse on each side using the garden hose on jet spray to get rid of all the remaining grime and stains (started from the top, working out from the middle to ”eject” the dirt out to the sides). I followed up by using a leaf blower to dry the Silhouettes so I could immediately hang them back up. I already had a cheap one that I use to blow excess water out of molding/crevices and grill work when I clean my cars but a SunJoe electric leaf blower can be purchased on Amazon for as little as $19. Again, I started blow drying from the top, working my way out from the middle to the sides to expel all the water (and get any excess water out of the headrail and bottom rail). I found that this worked best first with the vanes closed, then a light going over with the vanes in the open position. Because the material (at least of the standard Silhouettes) is some form of polyester, the material dried very quickly, with no puckering nor delamination. A couple of observations. First, much to my surprise, the polyester material (at least on the standard) Silhouettes is not as delicate as I first thought. I can’t speak for any other brand or material, but the Hunter Douglas standard ones are very resilient, just don’t poke the shear material! You can be quite vigorous with the water pressure, much more so than I thought, to thoroughly clean and rinse the shades. They are a quality product (at least the ones I bought over 20 years ago, and the price I guess reflects that). Secondly, I would recommend leaving them in a “down” position with the vanes in an open position once you hang them back up to ensure they thoroughly dry. They will not pucker so you don’t need to roll them up as one person suggested as this may lead to the headrail components remaining wet and the shades not completely drying. From removal to reinstallation, I got it down to about 20 minutes per shade (had a lot of practice, lots of shades, lol). For those that were asking for photos: Before (right side before cleaning), after cleaning (on left) of two adjacent shades, left side started even worse than right side (see second photo) since left side window opens. After is back to original color #128 misty almond: Another before photo of the left side (pretty gross!) Hanging from pergola before cleaning: After cleaning: Variable spray hose attachment: Spray mixture and bottle: Summary: about $35 worth of equipment used (plus the cost of soap and water) vs. over $1000. Can’t imagine that the +$1000 method would have significantly better results. Anyway, sorry for the long post. Hope it helps someone, YMMV.

Okay, here are the shots of my main living space. You can see in the last photo the new color I painted in the foyer/hall area. I was trying to work with that family for the kitchen since it's all open to each other. I just remembered (duh) that my fireplace insert is that dark green/black a couple of you mentioned. So it would make sense if that color was carried into the kitchen. I love the idea of something distressed. I'm not sure if I can get dh to go for white walls - although we have some white doors and windows. I have also considered using wood inserts in the cabinet doors and on the backsplash. Also, there are a couple of posts currently on the kitchen board about cabinets painted to mimic wood or at least the colors of wood. What do you think about that as an option? budge - I totally agree about the counters. Trying to make them work has been the biggest challenge. I'm just not into them...even though I have green trim outside and a huge green metal roof. If I could be sure painted counters wouldn't be a big pain to maintain, I'd go for it. I saw on Color Correction on HGTV recently where they painted over ceramic tile counters with some sort of epoxy. I haven't had any luck finding out on the internet what product they used...but it's still on the back of my mind. patricia - great idea about the bathroom refinishing pros. I hadn't thought of that. I'll have to check into that. Can I say thank you again and not sound like a broken record?

As to your ... empathy extended. You don't want to be reaching up for shades and the newer mini-blinds don't even have strings -- you have to reach up for them as well.. You need to be able to open and close whatever window treatment you have standing at the side of the window. Consider either vertical blinds or drapes designed to pull open and closed from a side cord. Vertical blinds can be vinyl (relatively inexpensive) or wood or faux wood or fabric. Whether they are suitable depends upon your style/decor. Drapes could also have sheers on an inner rod for a bit of daytime privacy but could be closed at night or on a cloudy day when the lights are on for even more privacy. With the right rod, you could open and close them w/o reaching up. https://www.wayfair.com/Symple-Stuff--Bembry-Heavy-Duty-Single-Curtain-Rod-and-Hardware-Set-31131-L6262-K~W002066057.html?refid=GX294078696632-W002066057&device=c&ptid=820037231436&network=g&targetid=aud-354999624471:pla-820037231436&channel=GooglePLA&ireid=87285191&fdid=1817&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhIHjtafy5AIVyODICh0eRQfqEAkYAyABEgJkCPD_BwE