Home Style || Review - Gifted
Last winter we started our new kitchen makeover, which was a long hard process and although the main things are nearly finished, we do have a few finishing touches to go. The last big thing we wanted to do cosmetically was to finish off the window area with sills and also install some blinds to make the area more usable when it's super sunny outside.
Just recently I was contacted by a company called 'Make My Blinds' that offer made to measure blinds via their website for all areas of the house. There's a huge selection of blinds, but as I was searching for our conservatory area, I focused on the products in their conservatory blinds section and soon decided on some super sleek Ecofit dove white ones which I knew would finish this section off perfectly. Unfortunately we didn't manage to get the window sills fitted before the blinds arrived, but I was keen to try these out and luckily they are so easy to fit I can quickly take them up and down when we need to do more DIY. Here's a little about my experience with the website as well as the product delivery, installation and the end results.
Measuring up
Measuring up for these blind was nowhere near as complicated as I thought it was going to be. As we live in an old wonky house, I just had to make sure I measured all the way up and down and made sure that I measured each window individually. Despite all looking the same, the windows to vary slightly and we do have a bit of a bodged conservatory with windows that were installed in the 90's, so they're a little old and made to fit the space.
For these Ecofit blinds, I just had to measure the inside spaces between the black seals, giving the height and width measurements only. I was sure I had measured up correctly, but to double check I watched the video below from the MMB website showing you carefully how best to measure.
Delivery
The blinds come in Toblerone style cardboard boxes, safely packed with more card to keep the safe from the edges. Inside, the blinds are tightly packed with wrapping to keep them super fresh and clean all ready for hanging. My blinds arrived in great condition, the boxes are very sturdy and everything inside was protected perfectly. Everything you need is already in the box and these are so simple, I hoped they would be easy to fit too.
Installation
Again, the website offers a video to show the installation process and it did look very easy. I had doubts at how easy it would be in reality but was pretty shocked to find that it was very simple and I was able to unpack and install all the blinds in around 15 minutes!
These blinds are installed by holding up, dropping the bottom part down and sliding in the top bar, followed by the bottom. If it's a tight squeeze, you can take one clip off, pop under the seal and slide the bar into that first before then doing the lower bar. If it's a really tight fit you can add a little washing up liquid to help things slip into place.
Here's a little peak at the professionals installing these blinds, though I have to say it didn't take me much longer so if you're in need of a no drilling no mess blind solution then these are perfect and do just the job, even if like me you're not particularly good at DIY at home. Oh, and if you're a parent of a child that takes the 'the skys awake so I'm awake' approach, then they also do black out versions! Perfect for kids bedrooms.
Results
As I was fitting these alone, it was a bit tricky to get photos of the fitting part, but here are the end results, our three new blinds that make the world of difference to the look and feel of this space, especially as we are yet to do the garden so it's nice to block it out some times!
Before & After
Here's a few before and after pictures so you can see what a difference these simple blinds make to the look of the room, what you can't see is the difference in temperature and brightness from blocking out the afternoon sun which is amazing for us, especially as this is our dining area. No more sunglasses at dinner!
Verdict
I've honestly been super impressed with the whole process of ordering, delivery and installation of these blinds. Although we were gifted these for review, I would absolutely have purchased them and we are already measuring up for our bathroom to gain a little more privacy and light control in there. I can quite see eventually that we will have these in most of our rooms because we hate drilling into these crumbly walls and hanging curtains, so anything that looks this good, gives such a good solution to our home issues and is this easy to fix in place is an absolute must have.
The only issues I've had haven't been related to the product itself, but actually just our windows. Because they are so old, the rubber seals have lost a bit of elasticity which can loosen the blinds slightly. This just means every now and then we may have to straighten them up or instead just add a little something behind the clips to keep them in place better. There is an option to add or remove tension from the blinds, so this gives you a bit more wiggle room in the length and feel to them, but it's well worth watching the videos to make sure you measure up correctly first. I'm a big fan of the videos because they are simple and but do truly reflect the fitting of these and they are very easy to follow for anyone. Quite simply, if I can fit these then believe me anyone can!
The blinds look amazing and once the sills are in place this area will be truly transformed so we are very happy and very grateful to have been given the chance to try these out. I think the fact that we will be now going back and buying direct shows that we are super happy with the product and service from Make My Blinds and if you're in the market for some kind of window dressing whatever size space, then please do go give them a look.
You can see the full selection available by visiting their website right here.
