Blinds are so surprisingly expensive to buy. We learned this from moving into a home that did not have a single blind and had to go shopping for them. I have 13 windows and 2 sliding doors to find blinds/shades for!
Upon doing my research on blinds, I started getting ads from 3 Day Blinds on my facebook newsfeed (spies!). They were promoting their buy 1, get the second one 50% off. They also offered free consultation so I filled out the online form to request a date to schedule a consultation. Now, I had already gone to Lowe's and scheduled someone to come to my house and get my blinds measured for quoting too. Lowe's charges a $50 something fee to have someone come to the house and measure the blinds so that is an immediate cost if you want to get someone to come in and do a quote through Lowe's. 3 Day Blinds' quoting estimation consultation is free. However, besides for the initial quoting and measuring, everything else from Lowe's is much more inexpensive!
SchedulingBefore I show you my quotes, I wanted to touch upon the ease of scheduling for both companies. Lowe's called me the following day after I had paid my $50 something dollars at the Lowe's Store in Santa Maria to have a consultation and measuring. They were thorough with asking questions so that they can figure out if they needed to bring a ladder or not. I have two windows that are very high up so I told them they would definitely need one. We scheduled for them to come the next day on a Tuesday. So, so far the timeline is, I came on a Sunday at Lowe's, their blinds person called me the following day on a Monday and we scheduled for the measuring on Tuesday (day after the call).
3 Day Blinds called me a day after I submitted the form. I submitted the form on a Monday and they actually allowed you to select a time and date. They called me on a Tuesday to confirm and that they're coming on Wednesday, as I had requested on the form. Therefore, the quote date from 3 Day Blinds is just a day after Lowe's in-house measurement session.
Measuring & ConsultationWhen Lowe's came in and measured, I could tell the gentleman was a busy pro. He had a truck with a ladder ready to work and works for many companies and Lowe's is one of them. He used a traditional measuring tape and did it very efficiently and gave me pointers on my abnormally horizontally long window and we went with a fabric shade instead of
faux wood horizontal blinds for that one. He also was the one who gave me an immense pointer that I could use 4 shades for 1 remote control if I wanted to have motorized blinds for 4 of the blinds. That way, I didn't have to order 4 different remote controls and save money. However, I realized quickly that motorized blinds are super expensive and only went with 2 motorized blinds because those are the only ones that I cannot reach.
When 3 Day Blinds came to the door, she didn't come in a truck. I noticed that right away because I was expecting her to come with a
ladder but if she doesn't have a truck then she can't carry a ladder with her. I don't remember if she drove here in a small SUV or a small car of some sort, but it definitely wasn't a truck. Instantly I wondered how she was going to measure 2 of my really tall windows. When she came in, she introduced herself to me and we talked for a few minutes. At this point, I was really confused. I read online that 3 Day Blinds would bring in the samples for me to see during the consultation. She didn't have them in her hands. She was asking me what I was looking for in blinds and I told her that I don't have any blinds in the home and need new ones for all of them. I also mentioned that I am also comparing 3 Day Blinds with Lowe's. Then, she asked me if I was looking for the best price. I told her, not necessarily. I'm looking for the right blinds for my home. The truth is, of course, I want the best deal but it has to be for the type of blinds I want to get and since I found their buy one, get the second one 50% off promotion, I figured that would help me somewhat. After chit chatting for a few minutes, she said she needed to go back to her car and get her binders and then come back. So, I'm thinking she wanted to feel me out before committing to a full session with me and walking through my house to see all the windows first. That was really strange and unprofessional. I felt like I was being judged and had to meet certain parameters or something. If she was worried about wasting time, she should have gotten a conversation with me over the phone first before coming here. Maybe 3 Day Blinds could do this a bit better.
After she came back, we started with the 4 windows on the first floor. Then as we walked upstairs, she saw my high windows and told me she doesn't have a ladder so she can't measure all of them but can give me an estimate. Lowe's did a thorough measurement session while 3 Day Blinds could only 'guess' for 2 of them. However, she did measure the ones she could with the battery-operated electronic measuring tool she had in her hand. After walking through the second floor of my home, she opened up the blinds' binders with all the samples and let me see which ones I was interested in. I felt like the selection was less than what I saw in the Lowe's binders at the Santa Maria location but she said that 3 Day Blinds builds and creates their own blinds so if I order with them, I could get my blinds in and installed within 2 - 3 weeks. Lowe's said they probably couldn't get the blinds ready and installed until a month after so 3 Day Blinds does offer a shorter timeline. After narrowing down my shade color,
faux wood blinds and
vertical blinds, she printed my quote out from her portable printer. Even with the buy one, get one 50% off offer (and do mention it to them in case they forget to apply it), my total was still over $6,000. Wow, I had no idea how blinds could be so expensive! Then I noticed that they also charge for shipping and handling, which is something Lowe's does not charge! The installation fee is also significantly more expensive.
The sub-total was $5,975.00, package & handling was $353.76, installation fee was $944.33. The discount I got for the buy one, get one 50% for 3 Day Blinds was -$1,180.00 and sales tax was $399.03. The quote total came out to $6,492.12! I was starting to feel really dizzy when I saw all of this. Then she said if I ordered today, I would get them completed within 2 - 3 weeks, before Christmas. I told her Lowe's has not called me with their quote yet so I am waiting on that before I can move forward. I thanked her for her time and never heard from her again.
Lowe's Great Customer ServiceAfter the measurements have been submitted to the Lowe's Santa Maria, a lady from Lowe's at the Santa Maria location called me a couple of days after to let me know I could come in and finalize my blinds selection in person. I told her that I had looked at some patterns already and if I gave her the model number, if she could do the estimate over the phone, that would really help me out. She said "yes" and took all the model numbers from me and promised to call me back the next day. She did and the estimate came out to be just a bit over $3,000. I asked her if that included any shipping or handling fees. She said there are no shipping & handling fees when I'm ordering blinds from them. Score! Then I asked about the installation fee. She quoted that it's only $200 something. 3 Day Blinds' installation quote was over $900! It's such a huge difference. After she gave me the quote, she said I can come in and finalize the paper work because she would need me to sign a lot of papers and get my signature. I asked her if I needed to ask for her. She said anyone under the blinds department could help me. I love that flexibility because I couldn't come to Lowe's that very day.
Lowe's Blind SelectionEven though I had thought I knew what I wanted, after seeing the blinds' folder again in person, I realized I needed to change some things again. I'm so glad they asked me to come in again to fill out the actual paperwork so that I can make sure I made the right selections. I ordered 3 types of blinds: 9 horizontal faux wood blinds (pretty standard), 2
vertical blinds and 4
window shades. Because my vertical blinds were already stock blinds, I saved so much money! It just so happens that the design I liked the best for my sliding doors were stock blinds they had! Thank God! I found out that what will be delaying my installation is the shades. The shades take them longer to make because they're made out of state. Anyway, for the price, I was willing to wait a week longer and went with Lowe's instead of 3 Day Blinds. Here's the receipt of my Lowe's blinds order:
I took advantage of their 20% off sale on certain brands for a limited time so that also contributed to the price as well. Subtotal for blinds: $2,542.77 (Combine Invoice 76761 and 76762; Invoice 23352 on the receipt was for a Gatorade my husband bought so don't count that). Tax is $219.45, no shipping and handling fee, and the installation fee (Invoice 76760) is $212.99. I want to note that since my husband is a military veteran, there was also a 10% off discount added too. The total for our blinds, including all blinds and shades, taxes, installation fee came out to $2,975.21. If our family were not a veteran's family, it would have been roughly about $3,300, still significantly cheaper than 3 Day Blinds!
So there you have it:
3 Day Blinds: $6,492.12 vs. Lowe's: $2,975.21. It was a no brainer for me. I was willing to wait a week or 2 longer to get my blinds if that meant I was saving over 50%. In the mean time, I installed
temporary paper blinds in our bedrooms so that my family have a bit of privacy until then.
I bought my
temporary paper blinds from Bed Bath & Beyond but you can find them at Home Depot or Lowe's too. If you want to see them online, you can find these
Redi Shade temporary paper blinds on Amazon online. I personally bought them for less than $10 each but prices may be different at your local store or with inflation. Best of all, you don't need any tools to install them! It's basically just a long sticker on the top. They stay intact pretty well in the bedrooms and when you're ready to remove them, they don't seem to strip the paint off. I got the gray ones but they also offered them in white.
Blinds Update:
There was a delay with our blinds from the holidays so our order didn't come until the end of January 2020 and I ordered them during the second week of December of 2019. All in all, even though it took over a month for my order to come, I was still very satisfied. Luckily for me, they arrived and installed all of blinds before the pandemic was declared in March, just 2 months after that. Whew! And I would definitely recommend Lowe's blinds if you're looking to save money.
Suggested Supplies for Your Big Move
Satisfied Home Improvement Supplies:
(view of Pismo Beach pier from inside of Flagship Seafood Restaurant)
(view of Shell Beach from our very same seats)
(Ahi Tuna dish had a good portion)
(my crab boil was 1 lb of Dungeness crab with potatoes and corn in Cajun sauce)
Originally from San Diego, California, I'm a San Diego State University alumna, veteran's wife and mom of two kids who were born two years apart. After living on the East Coast for 6 years, we now reside in San Luis Obispo County and here, the exploration continues. In between work and momming it, I like to exercise.
@sanluisobispomom