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palimpsest

Anybody still make blinds like this?

palimpsest
9 years ago

These are 40 years old and in perfect condition. This is a cell phone photo, so the flash is a little harsh on the dark woods. I can remember wood blinds being a pretty colorful option at one point but now they are kind of like the Model T. The customer can order any color as long as it is [tan].

Comments (12)

  • emmarene9
    9 years ago

    I like woven wood blinds but..................they do not seem popular. I see that they now offer blinds that are almost all wood with very little weaving material. I prefer the type as shown. Our woven woods had so much weaving that I don't remember what color the wood was. They still work as well but show a lot of wear.

  • palimpsest
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Not popular at all, I think. But things that you can't get at all will never gain popularity. I can remember a sample book with white painted slats and various colored yarns from white on white to very colorful. The white painted could possibly have an market today if it was available.

  • jannie
    9 years ago

    I'm having great trouble finding horizontal mini or micro blinds. I used to get them easily at JCPenney, but they stopped carrying them years ago. Anyone have any suggestions?

  • palimpsest
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    The smallest at Levolor seems to be 1". My growing-up bedroom had the above first (with a different yarn) and currently has Levolor in 3/4" it seems like.

  • Fori
    9 years ago

    I had some groovy orange ones like those in my last house. I think I left them because they didn't fit the new house anywhere. They were incredibly dated, but in a good way.

  • dirtyshoes
    9 years ago

    OMG....those are the ones I had many moons ago in S. Florida.

    Fori....I actually had the orange ones too and left them when we sold the house. They were a decent quality too.

    I haven't seen anything like them in years.

  • marcolo
    9 years ago

    They're so dated I like light and airy clean lines very neutral open concept pop of color

  • vasue VA
    9 years ago

    I remember these! They were considered a tailored, streamlined alternative to substantial pleated drapes at a time when picture windows in rooms (besides LR) became popular and dens/tv rooms were evolving into family rooms. "Bring the outside in" was a new theme of substantially increased exterior glass. Outdoor living with furnished screen rooms & patios needed easy access, and sliding glass doors arrived bigtime. (Mind you, this was also the time when triple track aluminum self-storing window screens & storms were state of the art, replacing wooden storms & screens that were put up & taken down seasonally.) Glass surely opened up the views & gave a sense of spaciousness, but at night all those dark mirrors needed covering for privacy, heating/cooling considerations & simple coziness. Matchstick blinds and bamboo shades traditionally used for screen rooms were an option, as were wooden Venetian blinds with decorative woven tapes. Later, plastic slats became an affordable choice, along with side pull vertical full length slats, both available custom-laminated with fabric for a more traditional drapery effect. Please pardon my stroll down Memory Lane...

    Find this wonderful example very handsome & upscale, likely a decorator made-to-order item. Remember some like this in a room with thick wood paneling lined with matching bookcases atop cupboards, used as a study by the man of the house. On the opposite interior wall, its twin covered a recess with a console tv, file cases & shelving for storage. Another in a family room covering a wall of glass doors leading to the garden & again in a bedroom overlooking the ocean.

    These were so practical compared to drapes. Easily vacuumed or dusted, flexible to roll up & down easily with the vertical cord threaded through a ring cleat near the floor, operating smoothly with much less weight & effort than thick slat wooden blinds yet hanging straight & not flapping in a breeze. Not surprised that these have endured all these years in great condition having been cared for routinely & well. Expected with quality, built to last items from days past. Current offerings don't hold a candle to the ones you show, though similar new may still be available somewhere at exorbitant cost. Hoping you've found these for sale & will make them yours!

  • marcolo
    9 years ago

    You can find blinds in saturated colors on Alibaba and at a number of Asian manufacturers. I have no idea who they are exporting them to.

  • chijim
    9 years ago

    I think if somebody such as Mile Redd used the blinds in a space it probably would be lauded as a new and fresh look

  • palimpsest
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    These are actually in my parents' basement which is circa 1975. It was a game room, party space and my dad's home office is at one end. Very dark paneling, very intense plaid carpeting and furniture to match. There has been a movement away from dark rooms, but this was a basement (albeit walkout) used primarily at night and it was going to be dark no matter what. So I think dark and saturated worked, much along the lines of how color was used in the Georgian/Federal periods: super saturated to show up visually in dark spaces.

    Its hard to take pictures of because the flash does unflattering things, but maybe I will post some before it is emptied out completely.

  • kswl2
    9 years ago

    Great scott, let's hope not!

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