Tips to Winterize Your Home with Ease

There are so many fun things to do around the holidays. It?s a joy to be out shopping during a quiet snowy day with Christmas lights lighting up storefronts and homes all around. Sipping a warm coffee or cocoa on a cold morning while lazily reading through social media or the newspaper is one of life's simple pleasures. With all the potential joy that winter brings, it also brings a good amount of hard work that must be done if you want to be able to sit back and enjoy the little moments. Let?s look at a few things that you should take care of around your home this winter so that you can get back to the things that really matter like making a Christmas list or perfecting your new cookie recipe. Inspect Your Windows And Their Seals To winterize your home, it?s a good place to start at one of the most important heat transfer centers: your windows. Inspect all of your windows, both inside and out, the first chance you get, usually in late fall or early winter. On the outside, look for cracks or gaps in the sealant around your windows at the edges. If there are signs of tearing or cracks, then it may be time to apply a new coat of waterproof silicone sealant to help keep cold air from seeping into your home. On the inside, if you notice water building up on the glass or around the edges of your windows, that is typically a sign that your window?s seal isn?t secure or that your window may just need to be replaced entirely. If you go too long with excessive moisture buildup, it can cause other problems besides just a high heating bill. It can cause mold or wood damage to the frame around the window. It?s important that you get any windows replaced or re-sealed if they are showing signs of failure. Install Insulating Window Treatments To Keep Heat In If you find that your home is hard to heat in the winter or you just want to help cut down on your heating bill, then it might be a good idea to install heavy insulated window treatments like insulated blinds and/or curtains. Since your windows are a primary culprit in heat loss in your home, it helps to have extra protection. Blind Appeal can help you with a custom quote for your winter window treatment needs. Change Furnace Filter This is an easy and cost-effective way to help winterize your home. We recommend doing it at least once every three months, but especially at the beginning of the winter. This helps keep crud out of your air in your home and helps to make sure your heater isn?t working overtime to keep you warm in the cold months. Clean Out Gutters Cleaning out your gutters can help you prevent a lot of winter headaches with just a little elbow grease. Cleaning out your gutters helps water drain properly from your roof and can help prevent the formation of dangerous ice dams as well. Inspect Your Cement Walkways And Driveway Make sure that your gutters are draining properly and not sending water across your walking paths at the entrances of your home. Clear out any dirt or debris before winter sets in, especially before the first snow. Stock up on de-icing salt and make sure that your snow shovels are in good working condition. We hope these tips were helpful and wish you the best during the upcoming winter and holiday season!

Window Safety For Children

Since October is National Window Covering Safety Awareness Month, we already wrote about some great tips for parents that can help keep their kids safe around blinds and other window coverings, but we thought we would go the extra mile and provide some tips for keeping children safe around windows in general, since even windows with safe (or safer) coverings can still present a hazard for small children. Let?s explore some quick and easy tips you can start doing today in order to help keep your children safe around the windows of your home. Safety Tip 1: Remember The ?Four Inch Rule? The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has a lot of great safety tips for parents, including tips for keeping children safe around windows. They have a quick and simple rule called the ?four inch rule? that you can implement today. What the rule means is that you shouldn?t have any windows in your house that can open more than four inches. To accomplish this, you can install window stops or locks that prevent your windows from being opened wider than four inches which will make it difficult for a young child to stick their head and body through. Take a moment to check all the windows in your home. Are they able to open more than four inches? If so, you may want to install a stop or lock that will keep them from opening all the way. Safety Tip 2: Don?t Rely On Window Screens For Safety Most window screens are meant to keep bugs out and are not necessarily designed to prevent a small child from pushing their way out of an open window. Make sure that your screens aren?t the only thing between the inside of your house and the open air outside. You can install guards or additional reinforced safety screens to help prevent your child from pushing through a flimsy bug screen. Safety Tip 3: Look To The Garden Look at the area around and directly below all of the windows in your house, especially the ones that are on the 2nd storey or above. Are there objects or plants that would hurt or otherwise add to injuries sustained from a fall from a window? If so, then consider moving them or removing them entirely from your property and instead plant soft shrubbery and mulch below windows to provide a landing area that is free from hard objects like sharp sticks or rocks. Safety Tip 4: Top Opening Windows You may want to replace all of your opening windows with ones that open from the top instead of the bottom. This will go a long way to help prevent children from accessing them and opening them in a dangerous manner. Special Graber Window Covering Promotion! Graber is offering a free cordless lift upgrade for some of their select products between October 17th and December 31st, 2019. These safety upgrades are available for the following models: Graber Cellular, Pleated, Natural, Roller, Solar, Fresco Roman, and Fabric Shades. The Fabric Shades include the looped Roman, classic flat Roman, and seamless Roman styles only. This offer is not available for commercial orders. Please contact us by clicking here or by dialing: (208) 888-1056 for more information. We?re passionate about your family?s safety and are happy to help with any and all safety or purchasing questions.

October is National Window Covering Safety Awareness Month

October is the month in which we take time to spread awareness about the importance of keeping kids safe around certain types of blinds and window coverings. Kids are especially curious and will assume that things hanging and dangling are just other playthings. Blinds with long dangling strings can present an interesting challenge or pique the curiosity of a young child while also being potentially hazardous to their health. This month, why not take some time to look over your house and see if your blinds and window coverings are as safe as they could be. Safety Tip 1: Furniture Awareness You may already have your cords out of the way, but even if they are high up, a child can still access them if there is furniture nearby. Take a quick look around each room in your house and make sure that there is no furniture close to the windows. That will prevent a child from climbing up and attempting to play with cords (if any) that are nearby. While you?re at it, make sure that the furniture you do have is tip proof and won?t fall over or become unsecured if a child were to play on it. Kids are natural climbers and will want to explore areas that are ?new? or ?hidden? to them around the house so be aware of potential hazard areas! Safety Tip 2: Replace And Fix One of the best things you can do to help your child stay safe around blinds and window coverings is to remove any dangling or protruding cords by replacing all of your window coverings with cordless blinds, shades, and drapes that are certified ?Best For Kids? by the Window Covering Safety Council (WCSC). Just look for the blue and white ?Best For Kids? safety seal of approval. The WCSC also will provide a free safety first retrofit kit for your blinds. All you have to do is go to this webpage and select the blind safety product that matches the kind of window coverings you have. They will send you a free kit that you can install on your blinds to help keep your child safe from window covering related accidents. Safety Tip 3: Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind If you currently have exposed cords from your drapes or blinds and want to take action right now, you can! Go around to your windows and make sure that all exposed dangling cords are either cut short or tied up so that they are safely out of reach. If the cords are up high and tucked away and there is no furniture around the window that the child can climb upon, then that will definitely help reduce the risk of an accident for your child. Safety Tip 4: For Your Graber Blinds Graber is offering a free cordless lift upgrade for some of their select products between October 17th and December 31st, 2019. These safety upgrades are available for the following models: Graber Cellular, Pleated, Natural, Roller, Solar, Fresco Roman, and Fabric Shades. The Fabric Shades include the looped Roman, classic flat Roman, and seamless Roman styles only. This offer is not available for commercial orders. Please contact us by clicking here or by dialing: (208) 888-1056 for more information. We?re passionate about your family?s safety and are happy to help with any and all safety or purchasing questions.

The Benefits of Window Tint or Privacy Film for Homes

Have you ever considered adding window tint or privacy film to the outside windows of your home or office? Many people are unaware that window tinting can actually help reduce up to 85% of the heat from the sun and gives 99% rejection of ultraviolet light in addition to omitting 95% of the glare coming into a room.

Fun Fall Activities in Boise

With fall just around the corner, you?ll want to start gearing up your itinerary to keep yourself distracted as the weather gets colder and wetter.

Blind Appeal Is A Locally Owned Family Run Business

Blind Appeal is a locally owned family run business. We are proud to have been serving Treasure Valley residents for more than ten years. Our team prides themselves in taking great care of our customers by bringing them the utmost quality blinds, shades, shutters, and custom draperies. Also, when working with our customers we like to bring plenty of samples and styles to choose from as it helps showcase our customer?s taste and style. One of the conveniences of working with our company is that all our representatives are mobile, and we can bring the showroom to our customers anywhere they are located throughout the Treasure Valley. And we provide free, no-obligation estimates for all our services. Here?s a closer look at some of the services we offer. Window Coverings At Blind Appeal, we are the local window covering experts. We?ll help you select top quality products with a lifetime warranty and we?ll ensure that installation is done right the first time. We have a wide variety of top brand custom blinds, draperies, shades, shutters, sliding panels, solar shades, motorization, window tint and privacy film to choose from. We walk our customers through the selection process step by step and help you select the right products for your home by manufacturers that help you stretch every dollar even further. House Cleaning We?re so excited to announce our newest service to our customers: house cleaning. To celebrate, we?re offering a great introductory package that you?ll love. For a limited time, Blind Appeal will give you a free one-hour house cleaning session with any purchase of one or more hours, a $35 dollar value! Window Cleaning A professional home window clean will leave your windows glistening. Blind Appeal?s experts will not only ensure a clear view, but leave your windows sparkling clean, with no streaks, smudges, or water spots. Pressure Washing Pressure washing helps keep your home looking fresh. It?s great whether you are staying in your home long term or maybe even considering selling your home. A beautiful, clean home is only a phone call away! Cobweb Cleaning The best way to keep cobwebs out of the corners of your home is by dusting and vacuuming regularly. This removes spiders and their webs. And when those variables are eliminated, cobwebs can?t form. A good professional cobweb cleaning around your home is always a good idea, especially for those hard to reach areas. Screen Cleaning Regularly cleaning your window screens helps make the exterior and interior of your home look more appealing. Screen cleaning helps make your home look well maintained and cared for. It can be no fun taking screens off and on to clean them. Let us do the hard work for you! Gutter Cleaning Having your gutters professionally cleaned helps prevent leaks before they happen. Let the experts at Blind Appeal take care of your gutters so your home maintenance is in tip-top shape by the time fall comes. Blind Appeal products and services make a huge impact on how your home looks and feels, changing the atmosphere immensely. We know you?ll be completely satisfied with your purchase and have a beautiful product that will last a lifetime or select from one of our many ongoing services that will keep your home it top shape inside and out. Give us a call today at (208) 888-1056 to talk with one of our representatives who are happy to help you. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Blind Appeal Introduces its Newest Service: House Cleaning!

We?re so excited to announce our newest service to our customers: house cleaning. To celebrate, we?re offering a great introductory package that you?ll love. For a limited time, Blind Appeal will give you a free one-hour house cleaning session with any purchase of one or more hours, a $35 dollar value! To commemorate this momentous occasion, we?re going to explore some of the benefits of having a home cleaning service. Benefit 1: Saves You Time Let?s face it, if you?re like most people, you have more obligations than time to fill them. With kids, school, work, and family, it?s tough to balance everything, which means that house cleaning chores often get pushed off or forgotten. With a professional cleaning service like ours from Blind Appeal, you won?t have to budget house cleaning into your busy schedule. You will have the peace of mind of knowing that while you?re taking care of everything else, your house is also being taken care of. Ask yourself, ?How much is my time worth?? If you come up with a number that is more than what you would be paying for a weekly or monthly house cleaner, then getting a professional cleaner pays for itself. Benefit 2: You Will Get A Better Clean A great benefit of hiring a professional house cleaner is that your home cleaning care is now in the hands of an expert. We wear enough hats in this day and age and ?professional house cleaner? isn?t often one of them. If your home is being cleaned regularly by an expert who specializes in the field, then you will notice a deeper and more complete clean than doing it by yourself. Benefit 3: You Can Avoid Certain Unpleasant Tasks, Which Reduces Stress Cleaning every inch of dirt and grime in the bathroom or under the refrigerator isn?t for everybody. These unpleasant household tasks are often overlooked or put off because we just don?t like doing them, despite the fact that they must be done. If these unpleasant tasks pile up around you, it can lead to an increase in stress and contribute to overall unhappiness which can affect every aspect of your life. Why not budget in a professional cleaning service that can help take care of these things for you every month so that you don?t have to stress about them being done? That weight off your shoulders will feel so good that you would happily help support a local business like Blind Appeal while never having to worry about unpleasant home cleaning chores again. It?s a win win! In Conclusion We know how important it is for you to have clean windows and a clean home. That?s why Blind Appeal?s team of experts offers window cleaning and house cleaning services at competitive prices, which are backed by the company?s customer guarantee. The services are offered monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, or annually because we know that clean windows and a clean home are important parts of every happy household. Call 208.888.1056 for a FREE estimate today.

How to Save Energy Around Your Home This Summer

Summer is in full swing. As things start to heat up it is time to start thinking about ways to save on energy costs around the homes and find ways to stay cool. Here are a few helpful tips to conserve energy. Ceiling Fans A great way to cut costs on cooling your home is to turn on your ceiling fans. If you don?t have a ceiling fan you can purchase a portable fan that can be moved from room to room. Fans are great to help cool the room down. Because fans help circulate the air in your home you may be able to turn up the temperature of your home a few degrees while still maintaining your comfort. Close your shades Closing your blinds, curtains, and interior shades help to keep the warm sun out of your home. Keeping them closed throughout the day helps to not only block the sun and keep your home cool but it also helps protect your home from damaging rays that could harm your furniture and flooring as well. If you have windows that face south, you?ll especially want to make sure during the hottest parts of the day those blinds and curtains are closed. You may also want to consider exterior shades on any south-facing windows as these will also help reduce the exterior heat coming into your home. Miss the sun? Don?t worry, you can open your blinds and curtains again in the evening when the weather has cooled down but the sun is still out. Change your air filter One of the easiest ways to conserve energy in the summer is to make sure you change your air filter regularly. Chances are you might not remember when you changed your air filter last, so you?ll want to do that as soon as possible. When you don?t change your air filter your AC has to work much harder to cool your home down. As a result, your energy bills could be much higher. You might even consider replacing old cooling systems and filters as new systems are much more energy efficient. Yes, you might have some costs up front but in the long run, you?ll save on your heating and cooling bills. Keep Track of Your Electronics Devices like computers, curling irons, hair dryers, stereos, and televisions heat up your house as well, so make sure they?re turned off or unplugged when they?re not being used. To help make turning off appliances easier consider putting electronics on power strips so you can easily turn them all off at one time. Also, be mindful of where your thermostats are and try to keep electronics away from them. Wash with Cold or Warm Water Try to limit your hot water usage in the summer. Did you know that 90% of the energy used by your washing machine goes toward heating the water? Doing your laundry on either the cold or warm cycle will help save you some money. Drying your clothes at a lower temperature will cut costs and keep your clothes looking good longer. Barbeque Kitchens are full of heat-producing appliances. When it?s hot both inside and out why not fire up the grill for dinner and save energy costs within your home? If you need a little culinary inspiration, check out one of our recent blogs for some great BBQ recipes . Also, try using the microwave more than the stove as it uses just one-third the energy than an oven and produces very little external heat. Many of us just expect higher energy costs during the summer. However, by implementing a few of these tips you might just use less energy and save some money on your utilities while you?re at it. From the whole team at Blind Appeal, have a great summer!