On the Road with Barb Episode 4

Our Designers and Installers schedule one day a month to explore each other’s worlds. The change in perspective is invaluable, different challenges arise, knowledge gained and “Huh I didn’t think of it that way.” is often uttered.

Our super talented Designer Barb spent her day with our epic Installer, Ryan last week.

“Yesterday was the first Shadow Day I have had with a member of our Install team in 2021. My ‘second set of eyes and skills’ was Ryan!

First I will say, again – this darn COVID!!!  Ryan and I drove in separate cars and so I very much missed that wonderful “car talk” when you can catch up on so much like:

• What was your favorite holiday treat? 
• Does Santa leave an orange in the toe of your Stocking? 
• How many Amazon returns did you have? 
• Wasn’t it just so AMAZING to have a full week off between the holidays courtesy of our FABULOUS BOSS???

Our first appointment was simple and authentic!  We met with a couple in Jericho who have lived in their home 50+ years.  They have shades in most of their windows – some of them dating back to 1999!  We were there to measure and talk about adding 1 large shade to a Bay Window in the Living Room. One of the most important topics we discussed was R Value – double cell provides more than single cell, blackout provides more than light filtering, and the best protection comes with double cell, blackout and adding sidetracks!  To learn more about R-Value here is a link to a great article.

But of equal importance was – INSIDE mount and no visible strings! I cannot tell you how many times that is a point of discussion on our appointments. Well – I actually can – almost ALWAYS!  🙂 As Designers and Installers we have been trained to take a look at mounting conditions and confirm that a product our client loves will actually work to be mounted INSIDE if that is the goal. There are of course flush mounts, shallow mounts and then sometimes we need to talk about OUTSIDE mounts. But – we are able to offer suggestions and sometimes alternatives to mounting conditions that don’t allow for inside mount.

Next we headed to the Islands … South Hero to be exact. (I still love telling my family from Texas that one of my favorite Vermont spots is ‘The Islands!’ 😁 )

On this appointment we were there to address solutions for windows in a main bedroom, living room and dining room. Enhance gorgeous lake views and yet work with different needs for different rooms – privacy, room darkening for sleeping,  the ability to let light in from the top, filtering of light during the day – especially with the sun being lower in the sky – and then adding a ‘soft touch’ to a room when the shades are down at night!

Again – guess what came up on this appointment – what will the treatment look like mounted INSIDE the window?  Some products, given their style of operation, have different/larger sized headrails.  We measure for the available depth to mount INSIDE the window – and…if we discover a treatment might not be flush – again, we want to share with the client what that means …  it very well could still be a mostly inside mount vs. an outside mount…but – it is worth discussing.

So that was our day! I can’t wait to ride together down the road this year -vaccines are coming and that will help make that possible.  Ryan’s fiancée received hers …so did my husband and daughter (he is a volunteer fireman and she is a nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital.)

Ryan did get a cool NEW Subaru Crosstrek in Black…driving on some of our appointments on these snowy, slippery, icy days …. gotta love our Subaru’s – thank you to Saint J Subaru!

And – I know you might be wondering …any bathroom breaks for Ryan – still NO!  🙂

That’s it for now – we know the ‘In’s and Out’s”‘of Window Treatments!!!

Till next time – be safe, stay healthy and BE KIND! ☮ “

Schedule your in-home or virtual appointment with Barb TODAY!