T-Molding, Blinds, Drapes, and Hot-Tub Time Machine

I had a productive weekend - working my tail off in the living room/dining room. Friday, my blinds arrived. Because we got a nice tax refund coming back, I took it upon myself to replace the rest of the crappy blinds on the first floor (and also used a coupon where I got the 6th blind free - woo hoo!). Last weekend I removed three blinds on the backside of the house so Saturday morning I started installing new 2" white faux wood blinds.

The first two went swimmingly.


Then I got to the third one.



Or the Bababooey Price is Right Fail sound clip if you like that better.


Now, I've installed many a faux wood blind. This was my 11th one in this house. But I have never thought I had to measure the width in four different places. Generally, the bottom and the middle were enough to get the right blind size. Well, I'm here to tel you to measure the top!!! Good Lord, is that window miles away from square. It was more than a 1/2" narrower at the top. And this blind was nearly 60" so getting another one at nearly $70 was not an attractive option.

Thanks to a post on Apartment Therapy, I decided it was time shorten it myself. Ran out to Home Depot to get a good hack saw (because the one we had was the cheapest option and I'm done with cheap-ass hand tools) and a big clamp to keep all the slats and aluminum track from moving around.



Here it is before the sawing (I used a scrap of baseboard to have something for the clamp to anchor down to since the top is open with all the guts of the blind lift/tilt mechanisms):


My mid-sawing picture got totally corrupted (it's all weird - half the pic is neon yellow). So I don't have a photo of that. The whole process took maybe 15-20 minutes. Surprisingly easy. I only needed to trim down 5/8" so I just did one side. Figured I could shimmy it over a bit to make it look centered. Here is the end result:


Then we went to see a matinee ($8.50 versus $11) showing of Hot Tub Time Machine. I have to say, it was pretty good. Silly, but still funny. "Must be some kind of... hot tub time machine." I mean, if Chevy Chase is in it, it's gotta be good. There were lots of funny references too, even a reference to A Christmas Story little kid fight scene.

Got back home around 2:30pm and I continued the DIY hyper-productive day and removed and installed the three blinds on the windows at the front of the house. Capped it off with installing the drapery rods. Seriously, I was pooped at the end of Saturday.


And the night before I also installed the t-molding with lots of construction adhesive:

(Louie felt the need to be in nearly all my living room shots. HAM.)


The fun continued on Sunday but I don't pics to show you yet. I started on drapes for the room. Broke out the sewing machine that I bought over a year ago on Craigslist. I got two panels 75% done but now realize that I need to shorten the bottom because excess burlap does not drape well at the floor. It's too stiff. So my drapes will just "graze" the floor. The bummer is that means more sewing at the bottom. Oh well. And did you see that terribly ugly printed 60s chair in the the picture of the t-molding and the pictures of the front blinds? The horror of that print. That's my next project - reupholstering that bad boy. Got him for $30 off the List of Craig.

Comments

  1. So impressed! It all looks great!

    OK...I love the chair as is...I was going to comment about it as soon as I saw it and was shocked to learn you hate the print! Crazy.

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  2. The print on the chair looks better in photos. It's dingy and dirty and very 70s in person. Also smells like the 70s.

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  3. I think the dog needs to be in every shot. It's like where's Waldo without the searching.

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  4. wowsas- want to come to our house next?! Great deal on the chair - I can't wait to see the end result. Congrats on breaking out the sewing machine!

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  5. Looks great! Boy you have a lot of energy! Are you going to upholster the chair yourself? You've got some major skills girl. :-)

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