Replacing a broken set of blinds in my house and apparently no one sells the old standard kind where you pull the cord to raise them, I guess because kids and/or pets could tangle in the cord? Bit of an education in miniblinds today.

  • @TheRedSpade
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    2 months ago

    I didn’t even realize they were called "mini"blinds until I moved in to my current place and there was some kind of rule that mentioned them. I’d only heard them referred to as “blinds” my entire life up to that point. This implies the existence of larger blinds which I’ve yet to see.

    Edit: I’ve definitely seen them. Apparently my brain is underclocked today.

    • bbbbbbbbbbb
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      382 months ago

      Do the vertical giant blinds count as regular blinds or are those the large version? Link

      • Captain AggravatedOP
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        152 months ago

        Owning a set of these for my glass sliding door is probably why I’m in the habit of calling the ones in windows “miniblinds.”

      • @Godric
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        112 months ago

        I hate those so much. Bougie and useless in my experience

        • @jaybone
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          122 months ago

          Are they really that bougie? Cuz you can get some cheap ass ones.

          • @Flying_Hellfish
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            212 months ago

            they can’t be that bougie, every apartment I’ve ever been in with a sliding door has those, and usually somewhere from 1 to 5 of the slats have broken off from normal operation

            • @Ensign_Crab
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              22 months ago

              You’ll never convince me that they’re not chosen for that reason. When the apartment falls to bits because of cheap components, they can retain the deposit.

        • @Ensign_Crab
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          92 months ago

          Bougie? I associate them with cheap shitty apartments.

          • @I_Fart_Glitter
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            72 months ago

            Clackety clackety swishety clack. Every time there is a breeze.

      • @TheRedSpade
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        52 months ago

        I’d say those count. Edited my other comment

  • @[email protected]
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    592 months ago

    I used to think it was “only” toddlers. Tragic stories of 12 year olds dying from the pull cords. Fucking horrible.

    • @cm0002
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      612 months ago

      12 year olds

      How in tf‽

    • @[email protected]
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      162 months ago

      Am I misunderstanding what pull cords are, or why not have it so the two strings can separate easily? The two strings in my blinds “snap” together so that it’s easy to raise/lower the blinds, but the strings separate very easily from each other if applying force in any other kind of way (would be impossible for a child to accidently hang themselves with it for example)

      • @kn33
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        62 months ago

        It’s not just going between the cords. There’s also a problem that under the wrong circumstances, the cord can whip around the neck and become tangled on the tassel, around the neck.

      • @[email protected]
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        22 months ago

        The strings come off the “screwed in” part?

        I don’t think politicians came up with the new design, but embraced the new design. This has been an issue for decades and the ban is newin USA.

    • @[email protected]
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      92 months ago

      I know a family whose baby hung themselves on the cord. Must be common enough that they just banned them.

      • AnIndefiniteArticle
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        52 months ago

        Take two pieces of string with wooden knobs at the ends and hang them up together.

        Put your arm between them and pull down quickly.

        Repeat, and notice how a fraction of the time those wooden knobs may wrap around each other and become tied by a knot held by the downward force of your arm until you pull up which you can’t do if you’re hanging.

  • @phoneymouse
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    472 months ago

    Well to be fair, they are annoying as hell to operate.

    • @I_Has_A_Hat
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      322 months ago

      Oh, I see you havent used the style that replaced them yet. Infinitely worse.

      The idea in concept is you just lift up or pull down from the bottom of the blinds and they’ll stay in place. In practice however, you pull down and they refuse to budge, risking you breaking them. And then when you lift up, they go to a certain point and then just stop retracting and will fall down halfway from where you wanted them.

      I hate them. I hate them so much. Although, I will say blinds in general are just awful. Curtains are the superior window shade.

      • @[email protected]
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        142 months ago

        You got cheap ones. And like bottom of the barrel cheap. I have ones from Home Depot and that has never happened. What has happened is that the internal strings have a lot more friction on them and they have snapped, rendering the entire thing broken. But of course I got the cheapest ones from Home Depot too.

      • @[email protected]
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        62 months ago

        I haven’t experienced them those but the pull down shades I’ve used in the past have thing where you can twist the rod to set the tension and make them work better. Does it have something like that you can do? Also I agree with you about just using curtains

  • @[email protected]
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    2 months ago

    I’ve never understood why they had more than 1 string for a set of blinds, it’s not like anybody wants to raise only one corner of it?

    My experience has been that stringless blinds are the Landlord Special of window covering, they suck ass and barely raise up if you don’t get the individual “blades” perfectly horizontal.

    • @[email protected]
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      212 months ago

      One string pulling up the left side, one string pulling up the right side. They are separated in the “down” position, so they have to be separated in the “up” as well.

      If you use only one string in the middle, they will never stay level.

    • Dharma Curious (he/him)
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      162 months ago

      Little trick I figured out as a kid in case you ever have the string blinds again (also, never seen stringless):

      Cut a string to the same length as the two coming out of the blinds, snip the little plastic cap off the two attached to the blinds, and braid the three strings together, tie at the end. Never pull unevenly again.