Author: matto@gordonswd.com

Most of us in the North look forward to days like today… It’s 46 degrees! Blue Skies! SUN! In spring, a young man’s fancy may turn to love, but a North-Easterner’s thoughts first turn to how the snow banks have dwindled — and then to whether the basement is still dry or not!

And here, at CellularWindowShades, thoughts also turn to homeowners and their shade requirements. Some are definitely wanting tospruce up the home decor – and those people have taken advantage of our tidy little 10% off all Yellow shades sale. The thaw has a few among us dreaming of the heated days to come — and wondering how people in the West will cope this year with skylights letting in the hot summer sun. Read More

Since CellularWindowShades‘ product line is the SYMPHONY SHADE, I simply cannot let today — 27 January 2011 — pass without mention of:

On This Date, 27 January 1756
in Stadt Salzburg
was Born
WOLFGANG AMADÈ MOZART

I will leave it to others to discuss the many variations of his name. Mozart himself, a bit of a jokester in letters to his elder sister, perhaps accounts for some of the variety. Thanks to his “Latinizing” his name as Wolfgangus Amadeus Mozartus he became forever known as WolfgangAmadeus Mozart! As playwright Peter Schaffer well knew when his Play AMADEUS hit the stage in 1979:

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Brrrrrrr….

Woke up this morning to a bit of “arctic chill” — and on the radio, as I drove in, there were further news reports of the SNOW that blanketed PARIS! Check out this story at the Christian Science Monitor. The last time I was in Paris, it was sunny and warm and the month of AUGUST.

Between the cold and the snow, the entire northern hemisphere seems poised on the point of a long, bleak winter. And it’s only December.

Our building, on the rather less-insulated than more-insulated side, has some nice new windows — but even so the chill air just leaks in. My feet freeze, my hands freeze (which makes typing rather a challenge!). I love the natural light and as the sun is weak there’s only so much that comes through anyway. Yet the one benefit of working in a shade-producing company is I have a shade on the floor to ceiling window beside my desk! A top down bottom up cellular shade. Right now the top is pulled down… light is coming in to illuminate the office, but my feet are warming up nicely, thank you.

Just thought I’d pass along some “thoughts of the moment” as I take a break.

Long ago I recall the “rage” in buttoning-up windows for the winter was the Window Quilt — giant swathes of cloth that you lowered in order to lower heating costs.

“Times have changed,” as Cole Porter once sang!

My home is a post-WWII two-story cape. The windows are combination storms backing the original double-hung sash windows. With the heating season soon upon us in the Northeast (I admit to holding out as long as possible!), many callers have been concerned about what to do to keep warm this winter. This is an especial conundrum for the owner of a new-to-you home. If you have no idea about the COST of heating, how do you decide the “best” ways of helping your household SAVE money?

I’ve certainly tried this in my own home: keeping temperatures down when away from home and at night. But weather does not cooperate! One day warmer, next night chilling cold. The graphs on the gas bills provide a wild rollercoaster from month to month, never mind year to year. Read More

We’ve had a local newspaper campaign running, in which discussion about the advisability of replacing one’s windows and the solution of using honeycomb shades comes up:

Q: Are insulating shades more energy efficient than replacement windows?

A: The energy efficiency can be about the same! But, insulating shades cost much less and are easier to do — so homeowners may be able to solve their heat-loss problems and reap benefits right away! Read More