“What should I do about my blinds?” My friend stands in her dining room, gesturing at the mini blinds in the window. She opens them and they create a rustling squeak. Slices of daylight spread across the floorboards.
I say without filtering that for me, its easy: the more room darkening, the better. However, that’s not practical for every space or frankly for most people. Even I still want to peer outside occasionally or allow partial light in and I’m not the only person residing in Mayberry, Stockton gets a say, too. He says I would live in a cave-like atmosphere if I was left to decide. He’s right.
We discuss wooden slats, neutral or brighter colors, romans shades, a lot of blinds. We recommend the family owned business which helped us update ours in Mayberry. They welcome browsing at their showroom.
I fight a yawn. I haven’t been sleeping great lately (thanks to my terriers) and as I stand beside another window my mind wanders. All the discussion makes me want to research room darkening options for Mayberry and then draft elimination and double glazed panes. To muffle the morning traffic noise would allow humans and dogs extra snoozing. Because as much as I know its necessary, at 4:30am on a January morning, it’s not my idea of a good time to let the dogs out in a zombie state wearing my pjs. Brrr.
My friend shuts the mini blinds. Some decisions are easy, others involve too many options. It can wait. She plans to visit the shop.
My friend prepares to leave for a babysitting job and Stockton and I remember our two terriers eagerly anticipating our return home. We say our goodbyes and walk outside, slouching in jackets against the wind.
What kind of blinds do you own? What works well and what is a hassle? Tell me about it.
Adventures in Low Vision 
In the early stages of my RP, I was hungry for light! couldn’t get enough! We put up bright lights everywhere and built an addition with 6 tall windoto let in the daylight. It was great…until more recently…now I am finding there is too much light and it blinds me and it hurts my eyes. the super bright light washes things away like a great white-out blizzard. My husband is confused…I am confused…there is a new delicate balance between enough light and too much light. And what kind of light is best? There is much to learn on this topic and there is a lot of trial and error needed. With RP, things are always a’changin’…for now, I like even, constant light and the blinds down and closed. But I need task lighting and use an OTT light. Its complicated….
The relationship to light as a visually impaired person is like the worst dating experiences: everchanging needs alongside elusive communication.
Against my mom’s advice I bought metal blinds that collect dust like nobody’s business. It’s not that they are hard to clean but they need cleaning so frequently. I think next time I will do something low maintenance though I don’t know what that is. As far as my lighting needs, it changes from day to day. On cloudy days I feel like it makes the house blurry so I want overhead lights on but some days I just want one small lamp on and the light from the television is enough.
I categorize an item low maintenance to clean if I can take it out back and hose it down. Deck chairs, garbage cans, sticky toddler hands–all low maintenence. Maybe someone will design blinds like this.
I agree with you! The garden hose is my cleaning tool of choice. Now for some nice looking window treatments that can be hosed down. 🙂