Saturday, September 1, 2012

Made in The Shade (Store)

Looking for window shades in 1:1, I found The Shade Store in a google search. You can order up to 30 great 6" x 6" free samples, perfect for 1:12 scale rugs. I ordered mostly from the roller and solar shades category. Some are a little too translucent to make great rugs, but hey, they're free.

Someone must have blogged about The Shade Store before, because when I opened the website in firefox (I had been using chrome), there were 14 samples already in my cart, but I totally forgot about them. To the right are all of the drapery fabrics I ordered free samples of. They should be here next week. Woo hoo! Free is a very good price. If you blogged about The Shade Store before, please comment so I we can properly thank you. I have a feeling a bunch of you will be getting your freebies, right about... now!

Deets: rugs by The Shade Store www.theshadestore.com. Klein Chair, Lubi Style Daybed and microsuede cube by PRD Miniatures. Long&Low Sofa by minimodernistas. Coffee table by Neen. Country book by minismodernas, pottery from MIL, Mies van der Rohe Barcelona chaise by Reac Japan, plants and pillows by me.

16 comments:

  1. I just ordered my 30 samples. Can't wait to get them. Thanks for the info. I love your pillows. They turned out way better than mine. ;-)

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  2. These are so cool. I just ordered my own samples. Thanks for the link. :)

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    1. Enjoy Shelly! When I have more time I'm going to trim off the jagged edges and maybe make runners out of some of them. Some of the drapery prints I have coming will make cool wall coverings. Glad you like!

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  3. Thanks. Runners is a good idea. I was thinking wall hangings, too.

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  4. Ohh! I'm all about this. I agree that "free is a very good price". I wonder if you can make duvets or pillows out of the translucent one's--sewing it onto another fabric, etc. Sure, we all know that I won't do that but some of the crafty folks will. Ha ha!

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    1. I'm banking on the drapery samples being easy to sew, but most the solar and roller samples I got are too thick to sew. I did order some of the fabric/drapery samples specifically to make pillows/linens so I'll post when those arrive. I'm really digging the woven fabrics that will make great outdoor rugs too. I'm "trying" to be more crafty, but I'll need the experts to lead the way on more ideas for these. :P

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  5. I had mentioned these samples but I got them from locally from a secondhand store...actually paid for them!! Now that you showed me you can get all these samples free, I immediately went and got more. Thanks a bunch for the tip.

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    1. Ah ha, I knew someone had mentioned them before. THANK YOU! Glad you got to get some free ones this time! :D

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  6. This is great! I'm always looking for quality fabric in small quantities, they never sell it that way. Generally I just try to stick to fat quarters/remnants, but it's almost always cotton with some wonky pattern for quilting. I'm psyched for something thick enough to be a rug!
    And this is in the budget. $0. If it's free, it's for me!

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    1. So I just ordered, like, 50 samples. All free, even shipping. Apparently there's no limit :)

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    2. Glad you like them! Not sure about the 30 limit. The first time I ordered all roller and solar shades and I only ordered 30 samples. But the second order was mostly drapery samples and I had over 40 in my cart with no mention of limit. Both orders were 100% free with free US shipping, not sure if they charge for International shipping though.

      I'm planning to try to make roman blinds with some of the "wood" samples. Can't wait to see how you use them. :D

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  7. As stated before, the price is definitely right! It is so helpful to see the samples you received in the group shot to judge the size/amount of pattern a sample will contain; the website doesn't show that clearly. For the sheer ones, you could put a solid color under them (fabric, paper, origami paper?) and have a rainbow of looks!

    I felt a tiny bit guilty about getting so much for free that I looked around the site for other items. I found shade pulls -- so beautiful, with great potential as pendant "lights". Not cheap, but they're having 10% off and free shipping til the middle of the month so I ordered one and will report when it arrives.

    Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Hi Fran! I saw the link to the shade pulls, but didn't look at them until now. Wow, those would make fabulous lamps! Pricey but I think I will get a couple.

      For freebies like this I do feel a little guilty, but I think of it as client retention. When we eventually get out of the renters loop, The Shade Store is on the top of my list for window coverings. Plus, my dad and his girlfriend just remodeled their house and are looking for blinds. I showed them the samples and they are headed to The Shade Store showroom in SF. Poof, Catholic guilt be gone. :D

      Can't wait to see your new lamp. :)

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  8. Look what you started! I thought 30 was a lot, until I began filling my cart. And no shipping, how awesome is that. There are so many ideas for projects in the comments alone that I can't wait to see all the related posts. I'm going back for more...Dwell Studio and m|a|h|a|r|a|m...oh my! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. I'm just greedy, instead of giving you some of mine in your swap, I'm making you get your own. :P

      I think we might have to do a "Free Samples Challenge". Mad for Mod already started a list of free laminate samples, I'll try to pull a larger list together, so we don't inundate one company with moochers. :D

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  9. Thanks for the link, I ordered my 30 free samples, now some of those beautiful shades are on my wish list.

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