We recently renovated our kitchen and in the process decided to add a walnut frame around the inside of the kitchen window. Doing so, would tie it in with our walnut Butcher block countertops. We wanted some blinds that wouldn't take away or be distracting from the walnut picture frame so we decided to go with a window blind that would fit inside the window frame. These came out to be "perfect". The inside of our window measures 28 1/2. This window blind recommends for the opening to be at least 1/4" less than the blinds themselves. That means they recommend to purchase, in our case, blinds that are at lhe most 28 1/4" wide. Because these blinds are 1/8" more than the recommendation, I bought them. They should fit, it's just 1/8" difference. No biggie! Nope, nah uh, this came back to bite me bad!!! Upon opening the package, the valance that is included 1) stinks bad. This eventually goes away after a while. And 2) it is not "square" on either end (see pictures). They are off by like 1°. Since we are woodworkers, we have the tools to make them sqare. Which I did and trimmed to size. On this note, the valance is also longer than the blinds themselves by about 1/8". Not sure if this is done on purpose but I squared and trimmed to length with our miter saw. I suppose if you're not used to checking for square (like us woodworkers are) when installing anything, you wouldn't even know and all is well. Now, remember when I said the recommended width opening is 1/4" less than the window blinds? WELL.... once I TRIED to install the blinds, I have already secured the window blind brackets, b/c the 6 Phillips screws they provide (see pictures) have the head pertruting out (see picture) by about 1/8" on each side, the blinds do not want to slide in as the screw heads are blocking it from sliding and nesting in the brackets smoothly and freely. I mention 6 screws as I think they should include 2 more screws since each bracket has 4 holes in the sides. My solution was to replace the provided screws with some of my own that would have a not so much pertruting head. I replaced the Phillips screws with some pocket hole screws, however the heads of these screws also pertruted out. Not as much as the provided ones, but still enough to where I could not sit the blinds in properly in the brackets. So my next solution was to hammer the heck out of it BUT immediately stopped after I put a few, not-that-noticible dents in it. So, my next brilliant idea was to just sand the end of the blind header until it fit nicely. I only sanded about 1/32 off and this helped tremendously. If you notice on the pictures, the valance has about 1/64 of clearance (on each side) which is exactly what I wanted. The valance is also whiter than the blinds. The kit also includes these clear plastic clips that attach to the header of the blinds which you can later slide the valance in. As you can see from the pictures, sliding the valance is not an option for me at all. So, I had to remove the blinds, attach the clips to the header, place the blinds in the brackets again, secure them, and then I snapped the valance in the clip BUT just in the middle clip as I did not want to gamble in doing that again as it feels like it will literally snap on you. If you have the space to slide the valance in, do that. It is waaaay easier, faster and gives you peace of mind. Moral of the story; save yourself a headache and listen to what they recommend. I know if I would've purchased the recommended blind size, I would not have had to deal with the troubles I did. However, I would not have had such a clean tight look either. At the end of the day, it was worth it to me. But then again, I'm a woodworker. Also, to my pleasant shocking surprise, these blinds DO NOT have a cord to adjust the height of the blind opening. They're "automatic" so all you gotta do is pull from the bottom. Love this feature. Now this also means, Imma need to return these magnetic cord management clips I bought for that specific case. Oh well. To end, I would definitely purchase one again. Hope this helps anyone
