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#7836690 - 08/27/14 12:01 PM Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes
furball Offline
Post Master Sr


Registered: 09/24/03
Posts: 9483
Loc: Toronto, ON
It's been ... 6+ months at my new place, and I've still got paper + tape covering up all my windows ...

I bought a whole shitload of Ikea stuff months ago, but never got around to putting it up - such a fucking hassle, and for the smaller windows like doors, I have to cut and hem the drapes.

Anyone have any hookups/recos for california shutters? How do I deal with the window crank getting in the way? (my cranks don't 'fold' in... )

What am I looking at wrt $$? I think I have about 15 windows of various sizes... Probably won't be going with shutters for the patio sliding door...

Also, if going with curtains/drapes, should it fit INSIDE the window frame, or outside? Seems most of my windows only fit 23" inside, but most off-the-shell stuff is 24" ... (Ikea has some off-the-shelf, cannot be modified, roller blinds that I liked, but they're exactly 24". The 23" grey ones were awesome, except privacy was next to nada...)

I also kinda hate blinds, horizontal and vertical... especially when people don't modify them to fit, and you get this bulk of extra slats hanging at the bottom...


Edited by FurBalls (08/27/14 01:47 PM)

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#7836802 - 08/27/14 01:14 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: furball]
4Three Offline
Post Master Sr


Registered: 12/21/00
Posts: 5365
Loc: Markham, ON, Canada
blinds should fit inside the window frame. metal and vinyl blinds can be cut at home depot. if the width is right, then you untie the bottom and take out all the slats that you don't need. curtains/drapes go outside. personally, i like floor to ceiling for that. no idea on shutters. they're nice tho!
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#7836826 - 08/27/14 01:35 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: furball]
fatso Offline
Post Master


Registered: 12/12/06
Posts: 2323
Loc: Ontario
LOL fun

We went through this about 3 months ago. We wanted either roman shades like this:


or shutters. We ended up deciding against the shades for a couple of reasons. First was while they look nice on the front side, the back always seemed a little unfinished as you could see the white strings and rings used to pull the shades up and down. Second reason was price, as it was almost double what shutters cost. Last reason was due to the white bars of fabric going down the sides of the shades - they're all apparently hand stitched on so there was no guarantee that they were going to be perfectly straight.

So as for shutters, lots to choose from here. There's cheapy vinyl ones, not so cheap vinyl ones, and wood. The cheapest vinyl ones are completely hollow inside. So the plastic frame of the shutter has no reinforcement, and the louvers are hollow inside so obviously, the whole system's not as rigid. Apparently, people report that the whole thing may start to sag over time. The not-so-cheap ones are reinforced with either more material inside, or even aluminum. Then finally, there's wood. The wooden ones are supposed to be great as they're lighter weight than the vinyl ones, plus they look nicer, especially if you decide down the road that you want to paint them in a different colour.

hmmm... what to discuss next... Oh, manufacturers. There's Shade-O-Matic, Eclipse, Hunter Douglas, a couple of others that I can't remember right now. Eclipse is the one that manufactures the hollow ones. Shade-O-Matic is the one we ended up going with (http://shade-o-matic.com/polysatin-shutters/). The Hunter Douglas ones not only seemed bulkier for some odd reason, they were also the most expensive - by at least a good 25%!

Check RFD as they've discussed this in quite a bit of detail (http://forums.redflagdeals.com/cheap-california-shutters-766564/). We ended up going with Wintex out in Mississauga. While we were shopping around, we found that each retailer had a certain area that they didn't like going out of. We spoke with maybe 5 or 6 retailers. The 2 or 3 companies outside of Missisauga (Toronto and Woodbridge) all asked for a deposit before wanting to come out - so yeah, that ended the conversation pretty quickly.

I can't think of anything else to divulge so you'll have to ask specific questions if you want more out of me. \:\)

Edit: pricing... We were quoted around $8k for the shades, hollow shutters were around $1800, and ended up paying around $3800 for the ones I linked above.


Edited by fatso (08/27/14 01:37 PM)
Edit Reason: Because I forgot shit.

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#7836833 - 08/27/14 01:38 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: fatso]
Screamin Type ARGH! Offline
High Value Poster
Post Master Supreme


Registered: 02/20/01
Posts: 47632
Loc: T.O. - Canaduh
almost crapped myself when i saw how pricey this stuff can get, such a ripoff but no choice to pay-to-play if you want good quality. but honestly you can find nice stuff for way cheaper.

winners/homesense it is!
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#7836834 - 08/27/14 01:39 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: Screamin Type ARGH!]
Euphoricuck Offline
Post Master Supreme


Registered: 11/05/03
Posts: 92703
Loc: Canadistan
garbage bags. rfd approved
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#7836842 - 08/27/14 01:43 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: Euphoricuck]
fatso Offline
Post Master


Registered: 12/12/06
Posts: 2323
Loc: Ontario
 Originally Posted By: Euphoric
garbage bags. rfd approved


Had a buddy in university cover his windows with taped up newspapers. Thought it was the greatest idea at the time til the next morning. Once the sun hit it and started warming it all up, all you could smell is the paper/ink in the room.

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#7836852 - 08/27/14 01:46 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: fatso]
furball Offline
Post Master Sr


Registered: 09/24/03
Posts: 9483
Loc: Toronto, ON


I was budgeting $15-1800 ... At that price ... Fuuuuuk that. Drapes and curtains here I come. Wat dat home ec class do...

 Quote:
Edit: pricing... We were quoted around $8k for the shades, hollow shutters were around $1800, and ended up paying around $3800 for the ones I linked above.

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#7836856 - 08/27/14 01:47 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: furball]
Senor Eduardo_82 Offline
miataist
Post Master Supreme


Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 38036
Loc: Ca�ada
Bedsheets #Brampton
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#7836864 - 08/27/14 01:51 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: furball]
furball Offline
Post Master Sr


Registered: 09/24/03
Posts: 9483
Loc: Toronto, ON
Fatso:

- Did you provide measurements, or did they come measure, leave, then come back and install? Or can you cheap out and provide measurements, and install yourself? (In reading the RFD thread, looks like they come and quote)
- pics. Show me some pics.
- You got any crank handles that get in the way? (I looked at my crank handles, and they don't fold like some I've seen. I tried yanking on them, and they wouldn't come off either ... )
- Did you also cali-shutter your patio sliding door? (if you have one)


Edited by FurBalls (08/27/14 02:02 PM)

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#7836865 - 08/27/14 01:53 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: furball]
furball Offline
Post Master Sr


Registered: 09/24/03
Posts: 9483
Loc: Toronto, ON
I'm fucking looking at chandeliers and window dressing... Fuuuuk...

I guess it's better than VIPing out my car \:\|

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#7836889 - 08/27/14 02:08 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: furball]
fatso Offline
Post Master


Registered: 12/12/06
Posts: 2323
Loc: Ontario
I provided the measurements initially for the sake of getting a quote. Once we went through the steps of deciding which brand, colour, and other details, they came in and measured everything more precisely. Same day they measured, they took a 50% deposit and submitted the order to the manufacturer. It took about 3 weeks for the manufacturer to fill the order, and we installed the next day. As a heads up, you'll want them to do the measuring. Some of our windows... in fact, most of the windows weren't completely straight i.e. the top would be a couple of mm off from the bottom. Installing definitely looks like something you could do on your own though. The installer came in with a cordless drill to screw everything in. 10 windows were done in 2 hours. Actually, I'm sure you could save on the install front as the installer was just some contractor hired by Wintex.

Pics? So ma-fan... I'll check my phone.

Here's two: that's all you get :P





Crank handles are all okay. If you leave them anywhere between the 8:00 and 4:00 position, the shutters close without issue.

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#7836893 - 08/27/14 02:09 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: fatso]
fatso Offline
Post Master


Registered: 12/12/06
Posts: 2323
Loc: Ontario
Lights? We just ordered some from Pottery Barn - they had a half-off-shipping promotion so shipping up two pendant lights came to $23! The promo might still be on!
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#7836925 - 08/27/14 02:24 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: fatso]
fatso Offline
Post Master


Registered: 12/12/06
Posts: 2323
Loc: Ontario
Oh, missed a question - we have no sliding doors to speak of. Our back door has a full window on it, and our front door has a half window. We opted out for these as the system was very bulky. Looks weird to have these 2"-3" shutters stuck to the door IMO.
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#7839528 - 08/29/14 08:15 AM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: fatso]
Balhar Offline
Post Master Supreme


Registered: 06/16/02
Posts: 16824
Loc: Gee Tee Ay
i hate california shutters. even when the slats are wide open, they still block out a massive portion of the light that should be coming through the window
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#7839637 - 08/29/14 09:13 AM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: Balhar]
furball Offline
Post Master Sr


Registered: 09/24/03
Posts: 9483
Loc: Toronto, ON
What does everyone have for the front/rear doors, and washrooms, wrt privacy film?

Or just walk around all nekkid?

(I grew up with frosted washroom windows built-in.)

Contemplating having frosted film for the front doors + drapes, and the washrooms frosted as well....)

California shutters are starting to look out of reach .... Horizontal 2-inch blinds are also starting to be fucking pricey FML ...


Edited by FurBalls (08/29/14 09:19 AM)

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#7839759 - 08/29/14 10:14 AM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: furball]
4Three Offline
Post Master Sr


Registered: 12/21/00
Posts: 5365
Loc: Markham, ON, Canada
Get this for privacy!

http://www.smarttint.com/
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#7841049 - 08/30/14 08:22 AM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: 4Three]
loudsubz Offline
Post Master Supreme


Registered: 08/16/01
Posts: 11333
Loc: Ontario, Canada
We are a hunter Douglas dealer and even with the discount I won't touch them with a 10 ft pole because they are too expensive for my blood
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#7841191 - 08/30/14 12:11 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: Balhar]
Hatorade Offline
pheggit
Post Master Supreme


Registered: 11/05/99
Posts: 26894
Loc: Toronto, ON
 Originally Posted By: Balhar
i hate california shutters. even when the slats are wide open, they still block out a massive portion of the light that should be coming through the window


+1

Thank god my wife hates them equally. Too bad because it would actually be cheaper for us to do shutters lol. Wife likes the hunter Douglas shit and got quoted $2k just to do a kitchen window that is 4ft by 5ft or so. Can't remeber the measurements.
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#7841259 - 08/30/14 01:43 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: Hatorade]
loudsubz Offline
Post Master Supreme


Registered: 08/16/01
Posts: 11333
Loc: Ontario, Canada
Motorized or just normal? Hunter Douglas is ballet with lifetime warranty but your more likely to replace the shade before having to warranty any issues with it
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#7841276 - 08/30/14 02:08 PM Re: Educate me on california shutters / curtains / drapes [Re: loudsubz]
robbbby Offline
master electrician
Post Master Supreme


Registered: 01/23/02
Posts: 15428
Loc: Canada
I bought cellular shades from justblinds.com for all my upstairs windows. When I finish the basement i'm going to order from them again, wouldn't use any other kind of shade/drape/shutter.
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