roman shades and death, really?

Forums: Home Improvement, Home Decor, Roman Shades, Blinds With Cords, Recall On Roman Shades
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Pretty soon we'll be outlawing walls.

Well, that's my immediate take.

I suppose I should look at this more closely -

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704398304574598530927794564.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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@ossobuco,

Oh my lord! They haven't begun to consider the water situation. That ubiquitous liquid combined with buckets and even bathtubs are a deadly combination. So what do they do? Why, they pipe the stuff into your home.

On the blinds, though, I read the article and saw they were still being sold by Walmart. This is reassuring in a way. I'm pretty sure their brand is so cheaply made, the cords would break before strangling anything.

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@roger,

Thank you for that palliative reassurance.

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@ossobuco,

To be serious, I'm not sure what the deal is, the cord can easily be hung high.

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@ossobuco,

Hush or some mystery writer wannabe will turn interior decoration into the next faddish mystery subgenre.

1 Reply

@tsarstepan,

After she does cooking and cats. Don't get me started..

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@ossobuco,

Is a "Roman Shade" the same thing as a "VEnetian Blind"? and if so, why the hell did somebody change a perefectly well understood commodity?

confused in Pa.

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@ossobuco,

I'm not sure why anyone's surprised.

I recall this being a big deal in parenting circles about 15 - 20 years ago, and the article references

Quote:

Venetian and vertical blinds also have been blamed in strangulation deaths. Those types were the subject of a recall nine years ago targeting 85 million blinds.

People don't think about how high up kids in cribs can reach once they can stand - and put the cribs next to the window - where the blind cords hang. Not everyone's smart enough to figure out how to reverse the cording - or move the crib away from the window.

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@ehBeth,

That's true - AND they make things to keep the cords up out of the way. But parents could forget. Sometimes parents are too concerned about the aesthetics of a room and not the safety as well. No parent can be perfect all of the time. But there are ways to keep that from happening. Blaming the company that made the blinds is not fair in my opinion.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

Is a "Roman Shade" the same thing as a "VEnetian Blind"? and if so, why the hell did somebody change a perefectly well understood commodity?

confused in Pa.

I believe the term is cozy mystery subgenre:

Quote:

Cozy Mysteries
Cozy mysteries are a very popular subgenre of detective fiction. Numerous themes such as culinary, herbal, cats, B&B's and more have garnered loyal fans for authors who often write a series of stories in their particular topic.
...
By the 1970’s and 80’s, more authors began writing cozies, which now included themes such as culinary, animal as companion or sleuth, gardening, religion, Victorian, and Medieval. Now there are almost as many themes as there are letters in the alphabet. The style has loosened as to location and method of the crime. No longer known as a British mystery, authors the world over have provided readers many hours of pleasure.

Originally known mostly as a woman’s genre, a number of men have penned cozies including Lawrence Block (The Burglar Who mysteries), Tim Myers (Candle making and Lighthouse Inn mysteries), and David Leitz (Max Addams Fly-Fishing mysteries) among others.

So thanks for the unintended inspiration as I've got a Sinister Interior Design Series brewing in my imagination now.

Roman Shady Character will be the first book. While Venetian Blindsided will be the second. The series will revolve around a 1980's era interior design student born in say Sicily but living and growing up in New York City. I'll call her Isabella (an homage to Isabella Rossellini) ... um... Isabella Valentino... why not?

Through her journey in becoming a professional interior designer, she finds herself amidst murder and mayhem. With her design savvy skills, she solves the murder cases and while still manages to pass her classes at ... Pace University ... nah... her classes at the School for the Visual Arts.

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@mismi,

I thought all blinds came with that safety thingy that you use to hang the cords up and out of the way of the kids. All ours did.

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Roman shade -

http://www.blindsondemand.com/products/1150914581-ROM-46B-DUOFOLDCLSD(2).JPG

Bamboo venetian blinds -

http://www.toplinkwindows.com/new/Product/bamboo_venetian/bamboo%20venetian%20blinds.jpg

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@ossobuco,

wall without windows

http://www.educatednation.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/brick_wall.jpg

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@ossobuco,

Now is the roman shade maybe have the cord attached to the bottom part of the shade is that the reason why you can't tie it up - hard for me to tell in the picture.

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@Linkat,

Depends on when you bought them. None of ours do. They came with the house. But I know how to roll them up and tuck them up under the cornice. It's what I did ever time I pulled them up. It is done even when they are down and closed.

Roman shades are at the top as well...I actually have a cleat that you tie the excess around when you pull them up. I loop it around and knot it loosley. It would be hard for a young child to untie.

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@mismi,

We did have that thing to tie it up, we ended up not using it and simply making sure we put the cord on the top of the lower window (you know that ledge part) - worked just as well.

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Why not teach the kids ? My daughter always had these big wooden blinds
in her room and she never even played with the cords. She knew the blinds
were off limit, and that was the end of it.

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@CalamityJane,

As long as they are old enough to fully understand.

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@Linkat,

As I recall, the problem was with kids in the 8 - 20 month range. Not sure you can easily teach an 8 month old to stay away from cords hanging near their cribs - especially if they've been used successfully in the past - to pull themselves up to stand in their cribs.

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@ehBeth,

Well, at the 8 - 20 months range, the kids won't understand, so it is up to
the parents to be the smart ones and take precautions.

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roman shades and death, really?

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