Help w replacing blinds/curtains

[Patwright]

We just purchased our first AS, a 1988 Excella. We are beyond excited. Hoping to get some good advice from all you veterans. I would love to take all the old blinds and curtains down and put up new shades. Is this possible? Would I need to get them from Airstream or is there a 3rd party? I also have a gaucho question but I think that is another thread. Thanks in advance for your input.

[switz]

The factory option would be the most expensive and bland. There are many folks making replacements. I will post more when home and can use the computer. The iPad mini is too tiny to do more than one thing at a time.

We are having a friend make custom Linen colored denim curtains for our 2015 23D International Serenity and the entire set is $450 plus postage. There are two small bedroom two piece curtains plus a set for the complete front end wrap around windows .

[Patwright]

Thanks for the reply. And I appreciate the coming info!

[switz]

One family owned vendor I have heard good reports about is:

http://jpadrapes.com

[55AS]

We put these in our vintage FC and love them:
http://www.zarcor.com/products/ocean....php#airstream

[2dogtraveler]

We have a 32' 88 Excella. We just put in new drapes from Fowler Interiors near Paducah, Kentucky. They advertise in the WBCCI Blue Beret and have been in business since 1981. They will also do blinds, flooring, carpet, bedspreads, etc. We highly recommend them. They specialize in Airstream.We emailed and talked to Arlene on the phone. She sent measuring instructions; they made the drapes; we installed them. www.fowlerRVinteriors.com. 270-851-3257.

[vintagemike]

We have had a 1971 Tradewind and now have a 2005 Safari. I wanted more bright metal in the interiors and had Home Depot order custom sized mini venetian blinds. I prefer these to the new A/S blinds because I can dial in the amount of light we want and have nearly complete black out. The aluminum blinds also reflect a degree of heat back out as well if they are closed during the day. At night you can have them partially closed and still get a breeze through the screens.
The only downside might be dusting them. Home Depot let me decide which side the pulls were on and which side the rotator was on. The blinds came in and fit perfectly. I did not like the cheap curtains that came on the 2005 and hated the overly pleated look in the 70's and 80's trailers that wrap around the whole front end. I have photos that I could post if you were interested.
Good Luck.

[Patwright]

Thanks everyone. I'll post pics of where I end up. Appreciate the info.

[dougandlori]

I chose http://jpadrapes.com for my 95 excella. Family owned, good quality and fast service. When my 04 classic needs drapes I will buy their again.

[Starstream]

Hi Patwright,

We can understand your excitement over your new acquisition. My husband and I bought our trailer about 1 1/2 yrs. ago. We're a little past the half-way point and will be knocking out the interior after we refurbish the gray and black tanks for re-installation.

How fond are you of DIY? We have a blog called the "Stellar Land Yacht". There is also a Pinterest board of the same name. One of the posts was about how I changed the original curtain color from ivory to dark blue. The post is called "Dye is not a Girl's Best Friend." I'm very pleased with the results, but it may not be a project for everyone. The old metal tracks in our trailer are going to be replaced with flexible curtain track I found on Amazon (Curtains2Bedding). It's a set that comes with about 16' of track, mounting hardware, and a large packet of hooks that go thru the pleats to attach the curtain panels to the track. Some of the original “g” and “t” glides have broken on our curtains. I didn't want to mess with sewing new ones on because we have 7 panels. The curtain track will be mounted above and below the windows like the originals.

I’ve been making blinds for the remaining windows, with 3 completed so far. That will be a post coming very soon, but if you’re interested, I can make a brief video explaining how they’re constructed the next time we go to the trailer. They require fairly basic sewing skills and were designed to go beyond the window frames. We have the levers that have to be pushed up and down to open windows, and I wanted to cover them. So the blinds were cut with convex sides. The sides were folded toward the back and top-stitched along the straight edge to create a side panel. When the blinds are closed, the curved edges follow the curve of the trailer wall and the levers are covered. Snaps in the bottom corners keep them where we want them. When we want to open them, they are rolled up and tied with cords at the top.

Initially, I had ordered Day/Night Cellular blinds from JCPenny, but decided they were too bulky for our needs. They were returned.

Our blog address is www.thestellarlandyacht.blogspot.com

Kristal

[Paddledipper]

We ordered these aluminum blinds from Budget Blinds and we installed them ourselves. We've been very happy with them.

[Cleosdad]

We put Levolors in ours and I think they look great. Best part is that the two inch blinds fit snugly inside the original curtain tracks and give a nice completed look

[Air83]

I picked up a good quality blackout roller shades from Home Depot and had them cut to size. In the bedroom I used a spray on glue and covered the roller shades with a cute fabric to match the décor.

[Tarcoola]

We just took delivery of our 26U Twin last weekend. Current blinds are bland. We inquired about purchasing an additional set of curtains - so that we could cover them with a different material (as the slides and hooks look complicated). If we made a mess of them we'd still have the originals. Airstream, through our dealer, quoted around $1150 for front and $1150 for the back. We decided the current ones look just fine.

[LilBigfoot]

Originally Posted by Tarcoola

We just took delivery of our 26U Twin last weekend. Current blinds are bland. We inquired about purchasing an additional set of curtains - so that we could cover them with a different material (as the slides and hooks look complicated). If we made a mess of them we'd still have the originals. Airstream, through our dealer, quoted around $1150 for front and $1150 for the back. We decided the current ones look just fine.

Did you see post 47 in this thread regarding 26U curtains?

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f516...-139457-4.html

[Sunnysideup]

Hey, we have 1988 Excella 34. I bought some ready made striped curtains, lined them and had a seamstress friend of mine attach the little "hanger dudes" so we could use the existing tracks. They look really nice. We attached the ready-made matching valance. The lining was a was either white thermal panels cut to fit OR off white cotton material that we cut to fit. That way from the outside, there is a uniform appearance and not stripes. For the bedroom, I bought a pretty red, blue and white stripe king size sheet, cut it up, lined them again with off-white cotton fabric and hung them on curtain rods. Then I found sheets to match. Again from the outside the lining presents a uniform appearance. It all looks very nice. So yes, you can use ready made curtains. And you can do it yourself. You do have to purchase the hanger dudes from Airstream but we have been pleased. This is lesser expensive solution. I bought extra curtains in both sizes (24in fits into front end) "just in case" somehow something gets ruined.

[Tarcoola]

Thanks LilBigfoot. We did read that post. Huge improvement but we wanted to see see if a replacement set was cheap enough to do a more comprehensive cover up. May revisit that idea or try one of the ideas referenced earlier.

[Ssmookler]

Also Interested in-any manufacture information about blinds that are covered on tthe top covering their working mechanism. We bought blinds custom fit to the windows from Home Depot and when they were installed the top of the blinds mechanisms were visible to anyone standing in the AS. That's because we have no drapes. We're looking for blinds that the mechanisms is fully enclosed. Any suggestions?
Steve

[mccrosti]

Steve cut a small aluminum strip and apply it with double sided tape


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[nalita]

How did you attach the blinds?