While we have been learning to adapt to the cold weather here in Chicago, I have found one of the hardest parts of winter is the constant darkness.
When I wake up and by the time I come home it's pitch black.
I almost feel like I'm a vampire.
E and I both use sunrise alarm clocks (yes, we need to have 2 in our bedroom!), and I'm very visibly crossing out the days on our calendar until I can wake up and come home with some natural light.
I think it's a big thing in Chicago that we all crave the sunlight so much, that we like to leave our blinds open.
We crave it.
Our plants crave it.
And our pups crave it.
Or at least they crave watching all the people, other dogs, and errant rats crossing outside our window.
Though we were just talking to our friends who were saying they need to live in a constant state of darkness because if they attempt to open their blinds their pup will bark and throw himself against the window towards every person and dog that walks by. (Which is a lot in the city!).
So they spend the winter like cave dwellers.
For us, when we leave the blinds open we run the risk of our pups being able to spot their dogwalker before she even makes it into our house.
Because if they see her too soon, this gives them the chance to let their excitement build to the extent that they are completely wild and crazy dogs when she finally opens the door.
It was reported one time that Mr. B actually did a somersault in the air.
And I believe it.
So we figured out how to foil their efforts:
Discovering top-down bottom-up blinds has changed everything.
Since they roll up from the bottom, we can chose to block the pups' view while still keeping the natural light. We were able to just order ours online from a company like Blinds.com.
I also like how we can keep them open to get that last strain of sunset , and people walking down the street won't be able to see straight into our home.
Though Mr. B isn't too fond of being surprised when his dogwalker finally comes.
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5 comments:
Yes! I have been eyeing these blinds! How are they working out? My concern was that you can't open them like typical blinds -- although I never remember to do that and they block tons of light.
Also, you house looks AMAZING.
You have such nice big windows!
I spent a couple of years renting a garden-level apartment (it's basically an underground apartment that can feel like a cave) and since then I've been so obsessed with light and windows and this was one of the things that really drew us to our new place. Plus we have this really nice tree right in front so when it's nice outside we feel like we're in a tree house!
We had the same type of blinds in our old place and we really liked them, so now we have them in a couple of places. They don't come apart like blinds because they are the honeycomb fabric, but we get plenty of light because we just leave the top open. We have also just been leaving the top part open so we can wake up to natural light and no one can see inside.
We are kind of obsessed with them and they were one of the first things we made sure to get.
Those windows are kind of fantastic! I absolutely miss Chicago, and your posts always make me homesick…in the best way possible, of course.
Those are awesome! You're new house is so beautiful:) How sweet that the dogs love their dog walker so much...even if it does cause trouble.
I love natural light too. I don't use any blinds or curtains in my house. We don't live in the city but the dogs can watch everyone going by the house when they sit on the couch in the living room. Luckily they're not barkers so it just provides mild entertainment.
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