I dunno, but I want to watch (from some hornet-proof enclosure, obviously)
5 Likes
Only if I can join you with a bottle of gin and two straws…
4 Likes
I need an bottle of Vodka & 1 straw please.
I have managed to go out with the Tumbril & get supplies, as the cupboard was bare.
I tried going out last Friday, but had to cross the road & get the next ‘bus back, as I had overestimated my strength after an Bluddy Ruff week.
Hey Ho
Onwards & Upwards.
Carinthia.xx
5 Likes
And today the kitchen blind has died.
Again.
In a new and unexpected way!
Gosh, we really know how to enjoy ourselves here. Who knew that it would be so difficult to find a wooden Venetian slatted blind with 25mm slats instead of 50mm ones? Last time I was looking I don’t think they had yet worked out that 50mm took more space, weighed more and were generally less desirable and everyone should therefore be compelled to have them…
5 Likes
Oh no! Also bah!
[cautiously] What did it do?
5 Likes
The string-bits between the front and the back of the blind, which control the angle at which the slats sit (so you get more or less light, more or less visibility from outside) broke in two places up at the top, with the result that the slats at the top are sagging more on one side and staying close together on the other, and I foresee the sagging side gradually getting worse and worse until the whole of that side falls down altogether.
In an ideal world I would work out some way to replace them, but it looks very complicated and fiddly to do, and I am not at all sure it would even work. So a new blind seems to be the best idea, if only that were possible with the resources (or shops) I have available. Buying on line is all very well but if what you get is in some way wrong, you’re in for a world of aggravation sending them back: 120cm wide by 20cm deep is an Unwieldy Parcel.
4 Likes
NALL, Fishy
Risking your wrath here, & wondering if Ikea have such an beast?
Carinthia.xx
5 Likes
Good question.
I wish I had thought of it three days ago!
5 Likes
Also NALL. Drat, in fact.
4 Likes
Poor Fish
I have a theory that anything with moving parts is just waiting to break at the most inconvenient moment
It works as a theory in my mind
I will not try to risk remembering them all
4 Likes
Luckily for my sanity, Ikea do just one sort of Venetian blind and it looks incompatible with the fixings already drilled into the wall. Phew.
4 Likes
Izzit bamboo or wood, Fishy?
Carinthia.xx
4 Likes
The one we have seems to be wood, but honestly, since in wood they now only seem to do 50cm wide I will settle for pvc or aluminium if it’s the right size and shape with regard to the fixings.
5 Likes
Look at Blinds2Go & Blinds4You, Fishy
Terrys, & Dunelm also have a good selection.
Pour yourself an Normous Minnow End & get thee down the rabbit hole… 
Carinthia.xx
4 Likes
Ha! I also had just found Blinds2Go. Not everywhere is 50mm only.
4 Likes
Hillarys Blinds seem to be able to do anything. We’ve used them for many years (they’ll be fitting our conservatory blinds, soon) and they have never fallen short of expectations. The venetian blinds in the old hive kitchen windows were faux-wood and were really pleasing.
Soo xx
4 Likes
Then I look at the prices… Anywhere which says “from £8.85” in their banner but whose actual price for the size we want is £72.17 is somewhere I am not going. So that’s Blinds2Go out of the running… And as for “From £8.94” and actual price £150.99! Give over, I dislike that kind of dishonesty. Bye Bye Blinds4You. Sorry, Carinthia.
4 Likes
Thing is, Soo, I don’t want “anything”! I want a very ordinary 120cm width x 150cm drop blind such as one used to be able to buy anywhere with no trouble but which no longer exists in any of the local shops. And buying from the internet is all very well but if it isn’t right returning it is a complete pain – I want to be able to look at the thing before shelling out.
4 Likes
Fair enough, dear Fish.
Soo xx
4 Likes
No skin orff my nose, Dear Fishy. I was merely passing on the names of companies I had heard good things about.
They can say “prices from” because that’s the price of their smallest & flimsiest blind, & they aren’t, technically, telling lies.
Sigh
Try Dunelm or The Range, but you might have to change your fixings to accommodate current styles.*
*I made Roman blinds for one of my friend’s twins, & the Noo method is with very flimsy fibreglass ‘rods’ which didn’t suit the heavy fabric/lining chosen, so I went back to the good old wooden doweling (sp?) for the rods.
The fixings suggested were entirely different too, with all sorts of fancy things on the cords so that a passing child didn’t strangle itself.
Terry’s Fabrics are usually very reliable, & you have had table covering from them before.
I have no idea about Bee & Poo or the Homebase type places these days.
JL will, sans doute have something, but at a price.
Have another Minnow End, & research local blind/curtain places.
Bonne Chance…
Carinthia.xx
4 Likes