1. Why buy blinds?
Besides improved privacy, there are some other benefits gained by installing window blinds:
Reduced heating and cooling costs. Window treatments give you year-round savings on heating and cooling costs. The more heat loss and heat gain they prevent, the more money will be saved in keeping rooms warm in winter and cool in summer. Most blinds, when closed, stop about 75% of heat loss that would otherwise occur through an uncovered window when the outside temperature is below room temperature, resulting in substantial and continuous savings in energy costs. Likewise, most blinds, when closed, stop about 75% of the heat gain that would otherwise occur through an uncovered window when the outside temperture is above room temperature.
Reduced damage from the "Invisible Enemy". Ultraviolet light, entering as sunlight, damages furnishings. In time it fades wood floors, furniture, upholstery, draperies, carpeting and artwork. Prolonged exposure to sunlight causes natural, undyed fabrics to turn yellow, weakening their fibers and making them look old and worn prematurely. Window blinds are very effective in blocking ultraviolet rays. Such effectiveness is measured in terms of a "% UV blockage" rating. The higher the rating, the greater the UV protection. Our window blinds, when closed, score a UV blockage rating between 90% and 99%.
Sound absorption ratings measure the amount of sound absorbed by the window covering. Our blinds are rated at between 20% and 30% sound absorption when closed.
2. Why order samples?
Not all computer monitors display colors the same way. We cannot offer refunds or exchanges over color related complaints unless samples were ordered in advance. To see an exact color you must order a free sample.
Real Wood - Both paint and stain on natural slats are subject to variation. If you must order blinds at different times we recommend doing so by room. Order all the blinds that are going in the same room at the same time.
Stained: It is normal for Basswood from different individual trees to take stain differently. Even a difference in color across the grain is normal. If you are planning to order blinds for your whole house we recommend ordering them all at one time. Your order will be filled using slats from the same batch. If you order the same color at a later date it is likely that it will come from a different die lot and will not match exactly. We cannot guarantee color matching a previous order.
Painted: It is also normal for painted Basswood (white) slats to vary slightly in shade from one batch to the next. We cannot guarantee an exact match if you order blinds at separate times.
Faux Wood
- Faux wood (polymer) blinds also vary slightly in color from one die lot to the next. If you must order blinds at different times we recommend doing so by room. Order all the shades that are going in the same room at the same time.
After a long period of time, exterior and, and to a lesser extent, interior discoloration will occur. The colors will become more yellow after long exposer to the strong sun light. Please keep this in mind when ordering new blinds for a room that already has some blinds from a previous order. Exact color matching between old and new blinds may not be possible.
3. What kinds of blinds can I buy at WindowShadesDirect.com?
You can buy our 2 and 2½ inch wide slat real wood blinds, and 2 and 2½ inch wide slat faux wood blinds.
4. What can you tell me about your real wood blinds?
Our real wood blinds are made with American Basswood slats milled and expertly kiln-dried in Indiana. Basswood is superior to the cheap "Ramin" wood slats used to make blinds for the big box stores.
Basswood is the top choice for high quality real wood blinds produced by the top blinds factories such as ours. It is the ideal wood for use as slats in real wood blinds because it offers the perfect combination of lightness, strength, and naturally heat, humidity, and UV resistant.
The real wood slats used to make our Elite™ brand blinds are further impregnated with the strongest UV block compound available to ensure years of “look like brand new” appearance.
There are ten paint and stain finishes to choose from for 2" slat blinds, and five paint and stain colors for 2½" slat blinds.
As an upgrade, there are ten decorative tape colors available to cover the cord ladders for both 2" and 2½" slat blinds.
The routeless options for both 2" and 2½" slat blinds eliminates the cord ladders and their holes for maximum privacy and minimal light leakage. The extra privacy routeless option is often preferred for ground floor windows.
2" and 2½" blinds come standard with cord tilt control. A wand tilt is optional on 2" blinds.
Our wood blinds are a true wood products. There will be variations in color, grain and texture that are characteristics of real wood. These variations will be especially visible in blinds with light color stains. The variations are normal and natural.
5. What can you tell me about your faux wood blinds?
No Big Box blinds here!
Our Millennia™ faux wood slats are made with 3mm thick polymer with maximum polymer and less air blown in. These slats have 10 times the UV protection of the Big Box blinds so they will not yellow or warp.
Millennia faux wood blinds come in 11 color choices, can be fabricated in 2 or 2½ inch, with a flat or trapezoid bottomrail, and with a matching 3½ inch valance with a hidden clip.
6. What do the blinds come with?
Our blinds come standard with 3" crown valance, and all mounting hardware and installation screws.
7. What are the options on blinds ordered from WindowShadesDirect?
We call our real wood blinds our Elite™ brand. Our Elite™ line blinds are made from 100% American Basswood (the best of all Basswoods), offered in 11 painted and stain color to match decor. Real wood blinds have wooden safety tassels. A tapezoid bottom rail gives better slat closure. Real wood “Elite” blinds come standard with 3" crown valance with magnetic strip for inside or outside installation.
We call our faux wood (high-grade PVC polymer) blinds our Millennia™ brand. Our Millennia™ line blinds look and feel like real wood but are priced lower. Faux wood Mellennia™ blinds are extremely UV resistant and will not yellow. Our faux wood blinds have anti-static stop dust attraction to the blind slat. Faux wood Millennia™ blinds do not warp or crack and are very resistant to moisture and humidity. Our faux wood Millennia™ blinds comes in 11 colors with a trapezoid bottom rail for better slat closure or flat bottom rail.
Cloth tapes cost 15% more.
Routless blinds (no holes in slats) cost 15% more.
Routless blinds never come with tape.
All blinds are available with cord tilter or color coordinated wand tilter at no extra cost.
Two blinds on one headrail cost an extra $45.
Three blinds on one headrail for wide and long windows cost an extra $90.
8. Why choose Faux Wood?
Faux Wood blinds will not warp in high humidity areas (bathrooms) and sub-tropical environments of the Deep South and Florida.
They are a little easier to clean.
They are more resistant to cracking and breaking under very heavy use compared with real wood blinds.
Faux Wood slats are thicker in the center of the slat which allows them to close a little more tightly compared with real wood slats, minimizing light-bleed and maximizing privacy.
9. Why choose Real Wood?
Though real wood blinds cost more than faux wood blinds, there are several reasons why you may wish to choose real wood:
Our real wood blinds (both painted and stained) are carefully assembled in our Georgia factory using slats that are milled from the highest quality kiln-dried American Basswood (Tilia americana). The Basswood slats we demand for our Elite™ brand blinds come from an Indiana mill famous for its supreme quality kiln-dried Basswood. The slats they mill for us have the perfect combination of lightness, strength, and resistance to warping, cracking, and fading.
Real wood blinds weigh 40% less than faux wood blinds; so raising, tilting, and lowering the slats is easier - an attractive feature on very long and/or very wide blinds, and, also, for children, the elderly, and those with arthritis.
Raising, tilting, and lowering the lighter slats is less taxing on the headrail mechanisms, which can extend the life of headrail mechanisms on blinds subject to heavy use.
The lightness gained using real wood is a very attractive feature on long wide blinds. Real wood blinds can be built with longer end-routes. It may not be necessary to split the blind into two-on-one-headrail or three-on-one-headrail. By choosing real wood, you may be able to put a single unsplit wide or long blind on a headrail that will still carry our lifetime warranty.
Real wood is more rigid, so real wood blinds are constructed with wider ladder spacing, which gives wide real wood blinds a cleaner, “classier” look compared to wide faux wood blinds. As with the long blinds mentioned above, likewise, it may not be necessary to split the wide blind into two-on-one-headrail or three-on-one-headrail. By choosing real wood, you may be able to put a single unsplit wide blind on a headrail that will still carry our lifetime warranty.
10. Why choose 2½ inch blinds?
Blinds with large slat options have become very popular. The wide slat construction gives you a more open view because there is more free space between the slats.
11. What is “routeless”? How much does does it cost?
Routeless blinds are made without route holes in the slats (also called "privacy" blinds). Standard blinds have small holes in the slats for the ladder strings to run through. Routeless blinds have small notches in the back side of each slat which replace the route holes. This option adds 15% on all wood and faux wood blinds.
12. Why choose routeless?
Routleless blinds have no holes to peak through, so the routeless option may be used on the ground floor for improved privacy.
Routeless blinds have less light-bleed, so the room is kept darker when the blinds are closed.
Routeless blinds offer easy slat removal for cleaning.
13. I want to order 2 blinds on 1 headrail but I want the lift and tilt controls to be on the outside? Can you do this? If so how do I order?
Yes we can do this. To order simply specify "left blind tilt/lift left & right blind tilt/lift right".
14. What are inside mount and outside mount?
These terms refer to the way in which the blind will be hung; either inside or outside the window opening. Inside mounts are mounted inside the window opening that is recessed from the wall. Outside mounts hang outside the window opening either on the wood frame or above and beyond the wood frame. Inside mount is a somewhat more common way to hang blinds and provides a clean look. Outside mount is preferred for windows with a shallow windowsill depth and for doors. Outside mount is also used to make a window appear larger or to hide an unattractive window. And it is used for windows that are out of square in old buildings where the unsightly gaps between the square window blind and the warped window frame would be clear to see if the blind were mounted on the inside. Outside mount hides the imperfections in the window frame.
15. How do I measure for my blinds order?
Click here for measuring help.
16. Is there a minimum window sill depth for an inside mount?
Yes. The minimum window sill depth for an inside mount varies depending on the product. We list the depth required under the specifications for each product.
17. Why do you recommend that some blinds be made as two or three blinds on one headrail?
If the blind is too heavy (as determined by height and width, and heavier Faux Wood vs. lighter Real Wood) it will be difficult to operate and will put stress on the hardware mechanisms. We recommend splitting large faux wood (over 72" wide) and real wood blinds (over 84" wide) into two, or sometimes three, blinds on one headrail. If it is recommended that your blind be split, you can still choose to have it manufactured as one single blind, however, that blind will not be covered by warranty.
18. I want to order 3 blinds on 1 headrail but my center window is wider than my left and right windows. How do I order this? Also how do I specify the controls I want for each blind?
Order the overall width then specify the widths for each (example: left=24"; center=48"; right=24") in the notes section of your order. The 3 widths together must total the overall width ordered (do not make any deductions). You can also specify the controls for each blind in the notes section. Please call us at 1-800-819-2726 if you have any questions.
19. How do I install my blinds?
Installing your blinds is relatively easy and can save you a lot of money. The average rate for a professional installer is $50 an hour. Installation instructions will arrive with your order. If you'd like to get an advanced look at what's involved,
please click here. Please, call us at 1-800-819-2726 if you have any questions or problems.
20. Do I need to register?
You only need to register on this WindowShadesDirect.com if you order something or create a wish list. Otherwise, feel free to browse our site, look at our products, and browse pricing. When you are ready to make a purchase you will be prompted to register.
21. How do I update my account information?
You can update your customer account directly through our web site. Just have your email address and password ready, and click on the following link to change your billing address, phone number, and/or e-mail address: account management.
|
21. What do I do if I lost or forgot my user ID and/or password?
Send us an email from the email address you specified when you set up your account.
22. Is my information secure?
WindowShadesDirect.com uses the industry standard security protocol Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encode information that passes between you and our servers. We use 128-bit encryption technology in all areas of the site which require you to provide your personal or account information. This means that the credit card information you send is encrypted by your computer, and then decrypted again on our side, preventing anyone from accessing your private information in between. So, when using an SSL capable browser, shopping on our web site is actually safer than ordering by phone where an actual person sees and records your credit card information. While on our secure pages, such as the order form, the lock icon on the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer changes to a locked padlock icon, as opposed to unlocked, or open, when you are just ‘surfing’.
23. Do you charge sales tax?
Payment of sales tax is only required for residents of Georgia. Our order system adds sales tax to Georgia order automatically.
24. Do you charge shipping?
Shipping is free for most orders. Some oversized orders (blinds that measure more than 84 inches wide) require a $45 shipping surcharge which is automatically added and displayed in the ordering process.
25. How do I place an order?
WindowShadesDirect has a custom shopping cart system specially designed to make ordering custom window blinds as simple as possible. To order, go to our products page and select the product your are interested in. Once you have made your selection you can then begin choosing the various options available for that product such as color, style, and height and width. After the final option is selected our system will generate a custom price quote. You now have the option of adding the item to your shopping cart or adding it your wish list for purchase at a later date. When you are finished shopping you can check out online. You may also choose to move all items to your wish list while you think about your order some more or discuss it with your spouse.
26. What is a wish list?
We know that you may no be ready to make your purchase today. You may need to discuss it with your spouse or you just might want to sleep on it. If this is the case, don't worry! Just add you items to your wish list and they will stay there for up to 30 days while you make your decision. If you already have the items in your shopping cart you have the option to move them to your wish list before you abandon the cart.
27. What are my payment options?
We accept a VISA, MC, Discover, AMEX, and PayPal. We will also accept personal checks or money orders by mail. If you choose to pay by check or money order your order will be held until funds clear the bank (2-10 working days).
28. When is my card charged?
Your credit card is not charged real-time on the Internet. All orders are processed at one time within 24 hours after they are received except on weekends. Your credit card will be charged before your order is filled. Once your card has been successfully billed and your order verified you will be contacted via email. Orders may not be cancelled once this takes place. If you wish to cancel an order you must do so within 24 hours.
29. When will I get my order?
You will receive your order in, at most, 10-15 days. All orders take 24 hours to process and one week to fill. All products you order are custom made to fit your windows. Orders are then shipped UPS or FedEx ground, which takes 2-7 business days depending upon your location.
30. How can I check my order status?
To check the status of your order you must log in to your account. Order tracking and status information will be displayed for all your orders.
31. Will I be a able to track my order?
Yes. To track your order you first log in to your account. If your order has shipped you will see an option to track your order if tracking is available for your product. If tracking is not available (oversized orders) you will see a ship date. FedEx and special freight both take 2-7 working days to arrive. Please do not call for tracking information. If there's no tracking information on your WindowShadesDirect.com page, our staff will not have received tracking information from the carrier.
32. Can I make changes to my order?
Yes, BUT orders must be changed within 24 hours of ordering (prior to processing). If you realize that you forgot or miss measured a window and your order has not been processed you may contact us during normal business hours to make the necessary correction.
33. What if I need to cancel my order?
Orders must be cancelled within 24 hours of ordering (prior to processing). We cannot cancel an order after it has been processed. Please do not ask us to do so. It is not possible to cancel an order when materials have been allocated and cut for YOUR windows. Please measure and order carefully.
34. Can I return my order, get a refund, or exchange my order?
No. Please remember that our products are custom made to fit YOUR windows. It is impossible for us to re-sell a product that has been made to your measurements, color, and/or style. If you receive a product that we miss measured or miss built, this is, of course, covered by our guarantee and we will replace it free of charge.
35. Do you ship to Alaska, Hawaii, or International?
No. Shipments to Alaska, Hawaii, or anywhere outside the U.S. cannot be shipped via ground transportation, so a custom shipping quote is required. This is surprisingly time consuming. Also, very few people from Alaska, Hawaii, and International actually place an order when notified of the shipping cost. So, unfortunately, we would lose money by offering shipment to Alaska, Hawaii, and International.
36. Will you give out my personal information to other companies and/or advertisers?
No! All information you provide us will be kept confidential and be used solely by WindowShadesDirect and will never be shared with other companies.
37. Are your online transactions secure?
Yes. Our server software (SSL) encrypts all personal information including your credit or debit card number so that it cannot be read as the information travels over the Internet.
38. If I place my order online will I receive any type of order confirmation?
Yes you will receive an immediate order confirmation via email.
39. Can I pay offline?
Yes. If you prefer not to use your credit or debit card on our website, just contact us to place your order via phone, fax, or mail.
40. When will you charge my card?
All products are custom made to order, neccessitating payment prior to order production. If payment is made with a credit or debit card, the full amount of your order will be charged to your card at the time your order is placed.
41. Can I check my order status online? Will I be notified when my order ships?
Yes. You can check your order status online by clicking the Order Status link. In addition you will be notified via email the day after your order ships and we will provide you with the UPS/FedEx tracking number(s).
42. Can you send me a catalog or brochure?
No. One way we keep our prices low is by not publishing a printed catalog or brochure. We believe that we have put everything on our website. If you find something missing from our website, please let us know by email or phone and we will add the missing information.
43. How do your blinds compare to brands like Hunter Douglas, Levolor, Graber, and Bali?
The quality of the WindowShadesDirect brand is comparable to the top name brands. We use the exact same components the name brands use. Most materials in our products come from Levolor, Graber, Hunter Douglas, or Hunter Douglas-owned companies.