Window treatments

[Rkh]

1998 Winnebago Chieftain 33wb....New RVers and new RV to us...We think these boxed in day/night shades are about the ugliest things we've seen. Previous owners recovered the cornices but they are gaudy at best...It appears these cornices are required to provide stability for the string system of the shades...Even the new Winnebago models utilize the same boxed in systems. We've searched the Internet for alternatives with no luck...We'd like to do away with the cornices that block light..Anybody have experience with this?

[Gary RVRoamer]

I don't think the cornices have anything to do with the strings of the day/night shades. If they do, however, you could change to mini-blinds or the MCD type of day/night shade (no strings attached!).

[LibbyLA]

We won't be moving our FW much or often so we removed the cornices entirely. We installed wandless/cordless blinds. When we hauled the FW to MS a couple of weeks ago, we raised the blinds completely then used that stick-to-itself Velcro wrapped around each blind in the center. Worked great. We put that aluminum-backed bubble-wrap insulation in all the windows during transport and when it's not in use.

liz

[MickBrennan]

lambrequin

A short decorative drapery for a shelf edge or for the top of a window casing; a valance.;an ornamental hanging over upper part of window or along the edge of a shelf; border pattern with draped effect used in ceramics; covering for helmet.

Helmet?

[Rkh]

Mick......huh? Is this a complete definition of cornice?
Libby, thanks for the pics...That may be just what we need.
Gary, can't/won't pay the high price of MCD....If you look closely at the day/night shades, they are attached to the underside of the cornice box via a clip. Without the cornice assembly, you have to make some sort of header for the blind assm. To attach to..Not a tough task and one that were considering as these blinds are in good shape and are rather expensive...I worry about the string inadvertently coming free of the plastic tension wheel at the bottom of the shade, because it is now not trapped by the sides of the cornice assem.

[LibbyLA]

Rkh,

We ordered our blinds from SelectBlinds, FWIW. The cordless/wandless ones aren't inexpensive, but they are a much heavier gauge aluminum than the blinds that were in the FW originally. I really like the clean look of no pull cord and no wand. When the blinds are all the way up, all you see is window.

Installation is easy. There are some brackets (the number depends on the width of the blind) that screw into the wall or into the bottom of a cabinet and the blinds just snap into the brackets.

I ordered the blinds 2" wider than the window frames so there would be an inch of blind on either side of the frame. That's a little wider than the original blinds were. If you get this style blind, you'll want them at least two inches longer than the depth of the window because you change directions of the blind slats by raising the blind once it's at full length.

If you had to, maybe you could remove the side pieces permanently and re-cover the top cornice.

liz