Blinds in a Box – Temporary Blinds in the UK

Binds in a Box are the only company that manufacture and sell temporary blinds in the United Kingdom (UK).

They are a relatively new company, formed in 2007 by Simeone Salik, who had just built a new home and needed a temporary solution to cover her windows while she waited for more permanent curtains to arrive. She commissioned a friend, Janice Dalton, to make some temporary blinds and it was at that point she realised that there could be a gap in the market that could be filled by a small company specialising in temporary window blinds.

Blinds in a Box’s big break came when BBC producers noticed an article about the fledgeling blinds company in a Manchester Newspaper, and invited Salik and her partners to apply for a spot on the new BBC Television programme Dragonís Den.

After pitching their idea to the Dragons, they were offered an investment of £40,000 for a 50% stake in their business (a stake that would reduce to 40% if the Blind in a Box team managed to hit their targets) by James Caan and Duncan Bannatyne.

A clip of Salik and her partners appearance in the Dragons Den is available on Youtube, and a copy is embedded below for you to watch:

Fitting with their simple design philosophy, Blinds in a Box offer only two kinds of temporary window blinds – White, and Black. The blinds come in one standard size ñ 36 inches (91.5cm) wide, and 6ft (183cm) long, and can be cut to fit most window sizes. These temporary paper blinds come in a box containing six blinds (enough to install blinds to all the windows of a small house) for a list price of £45, although currently their website lists the price at a discount rate of £39.10 for those who buy online.

You can buy temporary blinds direct from Blinds in a Box via their website, at the prices quoted above. You can also pick them up at other retailers across the UK, including Argos (both online and in their stores).

Interestingly, with an eye on the British ex-pat market, they have also expanded into Spain with their new website, blindsinaboxspain.com, which sell the same products for 69.95 Euros.

Once you’ve purchased your temporary blinds, they are very simple to install. They are basically a pleated blind made of paper, and can be cut down to match the size of your window using a small, sharp knife or scissors. Once you’ve cut the blinds down to size, you then peel the backing away from the tape that is fixed to the back of the paper blind and stick it to your window frame, or the wall surrounding the frame. The blinds are pleated paper blinds, so to open them just gather the pleats together, and secure them with the clips provided. To lower the blinds, follow the same procedure.

Blinds in a Box provide detailed instructions in the pack, but a video installation guide is also provided – see below.

As you can see, installation takes less than a minute and a half, which is a testament to the simplicity and elegance of Blinds in a Box Temporary Window Blinds.

Welcome to Temporary Window Blinds

Before the advent of temporary blinds, if you wanted to buy any kind of covering for your windows, you would have to pay out a fairly sizeable amount of money, whichever option you decided upon. Shutters, curtains, Venetian blinds, Roman blinds, and most other types of window coverings have never been particularly cheap. So fitting out an entire house with traditional window coverings like these has always been an expensive proposition. But now, fortunately, all of that has changed. There is a new kid on the block. Temporary paper blinds are the future! Why? Because not only are they incredibly cheap, they are also easy to install. As well as all that, they look great too!

What are Temporary Window Blinds?

You may not have come across a temporary blind before, in which case you are probably wondering exactly what it is, and what is so good about it. Donít worry, itís nothing too complicated, simply a blind made of paper (or sometimes vinyl) that can be attached very easily to a window and that can be raised or lowered as needed. Vinyl blinds tend to be more hardwearing than the paper ones, but the paper blinds offer a slightly cheaper option.

Surprisingly, considering what a simple concept and an obvious solution the temporary window blind is, it is only fairly recently that the product has actually come on to the market. But then all good inventions seem obvious after the fact!

Ease of Installation

Temporary blinds are now becoming very popular, in both their paper and vinyl form. One of the great things about them is their ease of installation. They come in standard sizes that can be cut to fit almost any shape or size of window. In fact, the only tool you need to install them is a good strong pair of scissors. There is no drilling or screwing necessary because the blinds come with an adhesive strip, which enables them to be attached easily to the frame or the glass of the window.

Light

So how effective are these temporary blinds and how do they look once installed? Well, the black vinyl version is actually very effective in shutting out light (although the blinds donít provide a complete blackout) so they are good for bedrooms for example. Whereas the white blinds allow a fair amount of light in, so these are generally used more for privacy purposes, maybe for kitchens, bathrooms or office windows. For the most translucent option, you would probably want to choose a rice paper blind. Rice paper has a unique light diffusion quality all its own.

Temporary Blinds Manufacturers and Distributors

In terms of who actually makes and sells temporary window blinds, there are now a growing number of manufacturers and distributors.

Redi Shade Temporary Blinds

In the U.S., the biggest supplier is probably Redi, the company that produces the Redi Shade product line. Redi Shades can be purchased either in their original pleated form or with honeycomb cellular pleats, which are designed to provide greater energy efficiency.

Redi Shade have also just opened a UK store and a Redi Shade Ireland store.

Blinds in a Box – A UK Newcomer

An alternative to Redi in the UK is Blinds in a Box, a relatively new company with an interesting history.

Blinds in a Box was founded just two years ago by a lady in her sixties called Simeone Salik. Mrs. Salik came up with the idea when she was looking for a temporary covering for her windows while waiting for some curtains to arrive. At the time, it was only possible to order temporary blinds from America, so Mrs. Salik along with her designer Janice Dalton, decided to make up some temporary blinds themselves. They immediately saw that what they had created could be marketed. And so the company was born.

Earlier this year, Mrs. Salik and the other directors of Blinds in a Box decided they needed some investment to grow the company, so they applied to go onto the popular UK television programme, Dragonís Den (a show where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors for financial backing). To their delight, they were offered £40,000 by millionaire businessmen James Caan and Duncan Bannatyne, who immediately saw the potential of the product. Since then the company has gone from strength to strength, and is now probably the leading supplier of temporary blinds in the UK.

How Much Do Temporary Blinds Cost?

Paper blinds are ridiculously cheap. Purchased singly, they can be bought for $8 to $10 (or around £5-£6 in the UK). A box of six will set you back less than $50 (£35 or so in the UK). Expect to pay a few dollars more for vinyl blinds.

You can usually buy temporary blinds online pretty easily, but theyíre also available in a lot of major stores, such as Argos or B&Q in the UK, or Walmart in the US.

Where Can Temporary Window Blinds Be Used?

Temporary window blinds can be used pretty much anywhere. In the home, in the office or in shop windows, upstairs or downstairs, in the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom or the kidsí play house!

One area where temporary blinds are becoming increasingly popular is in student accommodation facilities. If you are a student, you donít want to be spending all of your money on curtains or expensive Venetian blinds, so temporary window blinds offer a good, cheap alternative.

And despite the fact that they are called temporary window blinds, they can actually last a very long time, so many people who buy and install them are in no particular rush to replace them with something more permanent. They are very easy to clean and the vinyl blinds particularly are remarkably hard-wearing. Couple that with the fact that they can look really chic, and you realize why many people keep the blinds up for a lot longer than they originally intended to when they bought them.

So in conclusion, if you are shopping for curtains or blinds, and particularly if money is tight, take a good look at the various temporary window blinds that are on offer. Temporary blinds are without doubt the best way to cover your windows on a budget.