48 Hour Blinds ... Our reaction to installation :-)
 

We had a very successful installation of plantation shutters using 48 Hours.

We contacted Rick a couple weeks before closing ... we set a date of two days after closing to have installation done. We closed last Wednesday. Installation was Friday.

Two installers showed up, very professional, and worked non-stop. This wasn't their first rodeo. :-)

They look great and are nice an solid.

Thank you to Rick and company for the installation.

Question on pre-install
 

Gary: Sounds like you cracked the code on getting this job done right and with little headache! Only question I've got is how did they get the measurements for all the windows prior to your closing in order to allow for such a quick install?

We're doing almost the same thing next week and would love to get a jump on things! Thks in advance and Happy Turkey Day!! Gene H. (Moving into Lake Deaton)

Gene:
Welcome to Lake Deaton. We are in Hillsborough.
We contacted Sales to obtain access to the house prior to closing so we could measure for furniture, do a pre-inspection walk through by ourselves, take more photos of the house (inside and out), and review again all of the details in the house. Once we obtained this, we then contacted 48 Hour Blinds and had Rick come to the house when we were there. This worked out very good for us.
We did our own detailed inspection, putting sticky note sheets where there were issues (e.g., paint nicks, tiny holes, etc.). We then took photos of these issues in case some removed the stickies (e.g., cleaners prior to closing).
On the same day of the plantation shutter installation, we also had a washer/dryer, television, mattress and box springs, and bedroom set delivered. Busy day. Also on that day we had our cable and internet scheduled to be installed and that worked out fine also. We use Bright House for cable/internet. If you want to use them, then please contact Lysander Jimenez at 352-414-6756 and Lysander.Jimenez@mybrighthouse.com
If you are using another company, that is fine.
We also contacted lawn/pest control companies for quotes.

Good luck.
Gary

They know every model, and every nuance of every model. They are recommended by The Villages. They were recommended to us, knew our model, and did a fabulous job...but they do have an advantage in my opinion.

We also used 48 Hour Blinds very recently after moving here in June and highly recommend them. Very professional and great to work with. Also have plantation shutters LR, DR and an newly added Sun room. Love them!

Thanks Gary, and thanks all for the great info and ideas! All very helpful for us as we begin the slow journey down to our new locale over the next year. Gary, I think we'll try to pull off something similar as you, at least with a few items, maybe not all that you did as we won't be moving in just yet. We're fortunate to have a bit of an edge with my in-laws being in TV for about 12 yrs now - really helps with lots of the little things and some help with local info.

Again, thanks for all the great help. Hope to start running into some of the fine folks I'm meeting on TOTV when we're on our periodic visits until we move down for good!!

Thanks for the info Gary.

Gary, thanks for the wonderful ideas, we will be moving into Hillsborough in Jan. Have heard there are problems with Comcast signal from our future neighbors. How is Brighthouse?
Love your wonderful ideas for pre-planning, esp the stickie/photo idea! Where did you find your washer/dryer?

Gary, thanks for the wonderful ideas! We will be moving into Hillsborough in Jan!
I did briefly meet neighbors who said they are having trouble with Comcast. Are you having any problems with losing signal?
Where did you find your washer/dryer?
Love all of your ideas, especially the stickies!

So far we are fine with Bright House. When I dealt with Lysander, he committed to have eight of the nine ports in the house activated ... so we can move TVs around or the modem box any place except one wall. Typically they do activate only 3 ports on an initial install. They also have a seasonal rate ... if you are gone for two months or more (up to about 6 months I think), they will only charge you a deactivation fee of ~$25 during that time period ... and you only have to call them that day to deactivate or activate your services. ... I do not know how they compare with other services since I have not dealt with the others.

We bought the washer/dryer and the mattress and box springs at Whites Furniture in Summerfield. They had a special going on for a "free" tv if you order $x dollars (forgot the amount). ... I think it was a 42" (we are not there right now). You actually pay for the tv ... but you get a visa card sent to you for cost of the tv.

We bought our bedroom set and den sleeper sofa and chair at Babettes in Leesburg .. using Sharon as the salesperson.

I strongly recommend attending the 2-hour workshop of the VCDD Orientation ... very well worth the time.

We bought our kitchen table at City Furniture located on Paige Pl.

Also attend the Villages Homeowner's Association Newcomer's Meeting Held the second Tuesday of each month at Colony Rec Center.

You should get personal cards (size of business cards) that have your contact information ... everyone gets these and passes them out ... use vistaprint to print these (best offer I think) ... look at other peoples cards to get an idea what they put on it.

Good luck,
Gary

Thanks for all this good information. We closed on our house in September (Village of Charlotte), and I'll be down in January to begin preparations for moving in. Based on things I had read on TOTV, I was planning on using both 48 Hour Blinds and Brighthouse, so now I have further confirmation. I also need to order a washer & drier, as well as mattress & boxspring, so now I have a good recommendation for those as well.

We have furniture on order with City Furniture for a bedroom set and living room wall unit. I have read some not so positive comments about them, so I'm hoping all goes smoothly when I set up delivery.

So many things to do! But I can wait to be done with work (12/31) and get my butt down there to start our new life!

We picked out and ordered our washer and dryer from HHGregg here in a Chicago and set up the delivery for our visit in September. Everything went perfectly. They said someone would call the day before our delivery to confirm and then later in the late afternoon we would get a call from the guys who were going to deliver it and this happened. The delivery guys were on time and everything was great.

Ditto for above accolades for 48Hour Blinds. Rick and crew do a great job. In our case, we had custom shutters installed on all the windows and 4wide patio doors. Those do take longer, but are also well worth the wait. They had as it turned out they had both the best pricing and the best quality material combination for shutters too.

give him your model and he has all the measurements...All the models have the same dimensions...