Day/night blinds vs. mini blinds - RV-Dreams Community Forum

RVKevi · RV-Dreams Family Member

Day/night blinds vs. mini blinds

RickandJanice · RV-Dreams Family Member

Even though day /night shades require maintenance of the strings from time to time, we prefer them over mini blinds. We find the shaded " warmer" in appearance, quieter and easier to raise and lower for a clear outside view or privacy. When you are re-stringing, look for possible burrs where the string passes through the ends of the blinds. Also leave extra string. Then when hanging them back up, tighten the string just enough that the blinds barely stay up. Many , the RV manufacturers tend to over tighten the strings which leads to excess friction that wears the strings out. We also use 100% bees wax on the strings 1-2 time per year to help reduce the friction on the strings. Everyone I have restrung seem to be holding up fine, while the ones from the factory continue to wear down, but that could also be due to age of those from the factory.

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

We like the softness and insulating properties of the DN Shades

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

We replaced 3 day/night shades with 2" wooden Venetian blinds and are very happy with them. We were getting tired of restringing the day/night shades and had two broken at once. We did have to get rid of the lambrequins (vertical valences) since 2" were too deep. Another choice is the MCD style double roller blinds, one for day and the other for night. You can get such shades from http://unitedshade.com/catalog/shades/roller-shades/day-night-roller-shades/ in addition to http://mcdinnovations.com/index.php/american-duo-daynight-shades .

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

We attended a rally once where one couple demonstrated how to restring the day/night blinds. One thing that made it really easy was using four different upholstery needles that would let them string multiple folds in one pass. They also suggested using a heavy fishing line instead of the normal string that is used.

We took the written instructions with illustrations that they had and scanned them and put them into a pdf file. To this day, I still get folks asking for those instructions, and that has been about 3 years ago.

We've got at least one blind that is fraying, and Jo is thinking of replacing it with some kind of mini-blinds. We just have to see what she likes.

Terry

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have the MCD shades in our new rig and they are one of my favorite features!

Sherry

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

My current unit has cloth insulated drop blinds in the forward windshield and mini blinds on the others.....I am thinking about putting the cloth ones all the way around.....they can be removed simply and placed in the washer to clean ,and then reinstalled in minutes without removing the string assemblies....

they look as if they were made buy the previous owner!! Nice

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our 5th wheel came with mini-blinds. They are 19 years old and have never needed to be re-strung. We raise them up for travel to save the blinds from sawing on the strings.

Jo And Craig · RV-Dreams Family Member

While we don't even have an RV yet, I agree with Sherry. We have been doing our research, however, and have been in and out of many RVs. What I find with the mini-blinds is that most of them are bent to some extent. I love the elegant beauty, ease of use, and functionality of the MCD day shades, especially. I vote for the MCD shades!!!

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

I don't know the full mechanics of the MCD shades, but if they are similar to the "adjustable" blinds in my early years, the sounds of "z-z-z-i-i-i-i-p-p-p-p, flap, flap, flap, flap" come to mind.

I can't imagine that the motion involved with an RV would keep that from happening.

Terry

Jo And Craig · RV-Dreams Family Member

They seem very well made and strong, unlike those cheap, plastic/rubber roller shades of yesteryear that eventually cracked and fell apart. Excellent quality from what I can tell. When you tug a tad and let loose, they roll up like they are SUPPOSED to roll up. .. slow and steady. Again, unlike many products that are sold with the promise of doing same. I really, really like them. A must have IMHO!

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

We've had a variety of blinds, just moving into our 5th wheel now and this is the first time we've had wood mini blinds. So far I like them so much better than the metal/ plastic ones, they don't bend:) I like the day/night shades in the bedroom area but with our kitty and her desire to see outside, I do like the mini blinds in the living area, even if we don't have them pulled all the way up she can still see outside. Our previous TT which had mostly day/night blinds, she would start licking the blinds or pawing at them to get them out of her way. I think the mini blinds might hold up better to Tazzy Kat's curiosity.

RVKevi · RV-Dreams Family Member

The MCD blinds do look amazing. I think I did see those or something like those in a new class A real early on in our research phase a couple years ago or so. I had forgotten about them. They seemed to work really well.

We have thought about the wider wood venetian blinds. We like them, and may look into them at some point, especially for the big back window.

I'm really enjoying reading everyone's opinions/insights!

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you do go for wood blinds we found them much cheaper mail order than local stores. We used http://www1.americanblinds.com/ and paid $285 for three shipped, about what what one MCD day/night cost.

RVKevi · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks, Bill