A Disinclination for Veneziane

I have always wanted to visit Venice. It’s an architecturally gorgeous city with tons of interesting history and lots of things tourists love. Although there is one thing about Venice that I absolutely cannot stand, and that is: its blinds.


Yes, this is a blog post about window hangings. You may have thought it was going to be an informative and interesting piece about St. Mark’s Square and gondolas, but it’s actually about my preference for curtains.


I never really worried about what was on my windows when I was a kid. The house that we lived in was built in the late 1920s, and I would not have been surprised if the shades that I had on my bedroom windows were the ones that were originally installed in the house. They were antique roller shades, yellowed with age, sometimes damaged in places, but they were generally in good working order, opening when I wanted them to and closing (and usually staying closed) when I needed them to.


The bedroom I had in the house we lived in when I was in high school was in the basement, and a peeping tom would have been hard pressed to spy on me, nothing short of walking up and obviously peering through the window would have worked. During the winter I usually had a blanket stuffed up in the window well to keep it warmer (not that it worked, it was a basement, after all), and in the summer the window was blocked with something dark to keep my room cool.


But in every apartment I’ve ever lived in, the primary way to cover the windows has been with the dreaded Venetian blind.


The reason for my dislike of this style of window covering is threefold: they are ugly, they are terrifically challenging to cleanse, and the unnecessarily tedious bits used to operate them are also rather dangerous to any small children who may happen to be wandering about.


The curtains that my mother in law favors in her house are much easier to operate. One push and you are able to see the world outside; one tug and the world outside can’t see you. They get dirty? Take them off the rod & toss them in the washing machine. And as long as the rod is on the wall securely, your kid can adorably hide behind them and tug on them all day and there’s very little chance of strangulation. Finally, they can be any color, any style, any fabric you want.


As much as I admire Venice for its beauty and its intruguing past, I do not appreciate its contribution to the window treatment industry. They may know war and art and poetry, but in my opinion, the Italians know next to nothing about covering a window.