These vintage plastic window shades, which seem to be original to Todd’s 1961 house — are fabulous. They appear to be basket-weave plastic, on a track like a shower door, but accordian-style. I’ve never seen them before. Does anyone else have them? Does anyone know about them? Yum. Todd writes:
Does anyone know where I can get these types of plastic shades? Our house was built in 1961, its a mid century modern, and only 3 windows left have these as the previous owners junked all the rest (as we found pieces of them here and there in the back yard).
Midcentury modern pendant lamps from Progress, 1961 
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They are great, very unusual. “Previous Owners” eh? I seem to have spent a large part of my life trying to undo what they have done to every place I have ever lived in! At the moment that includes trying to find the best way of removing several layers of emulsion paint from the granite field stone chimney breast inside our new home, plus reinstating a working central heating system to replace the badly installed one previous owners thought would be an “improvement”. Oh, and of course sorting out the awful combination of colours they painted everything else… Happy New Year to all from Scotland!
take care, gavin in uk, regarding the potential for lead in that old paint, for example — consult with an expert. and hello scotland!
Hi Gavin in Scotland.
What exactly is emulsion paint? I get The English Home magazine and emulsion paint is mentioned in stories and advertised.
Also, Pam, this month’s issue of the magazine has an advert by Little Greene (paint and paper 1773). They have a new line called Retrospectives (32 authentic colours from the 60s and 70s).
Thought you might like to see their take on those year’s colors.
littlegreene
Hi Marion,
emulsion is the name we in the UK use for the water-based gloopy paint applied to walls and ceilings. Mostly manufactured by paint companies like Dulux and Crown. We did check out the Little Green range and Crown have just introduced a “Vintage” line http://blog.crownpaint.co.uk/colour/crown-vintage/ but bizarrely not actually shown on the web! Incidentally Pam, our house is the only butterfly roofed Mid century modern home I have ever found in the UK, so we leapt at the chance to buy it last year, regardless of any renovation issues… luckily it post dates any problems with lead-based paint, but has plenty of other issues. See photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/7371133@N06/sets/72157627502558710/
Thanks, Gavin.
I checked out your house and it’s to die for. When you get all that paint off the brick and stone, you’ll have a show place.
What a great house Gavin! Love the wood on the interior, lucky you!
Thanks, Marion!
No idea where you could get such shades, but it might be a good DIY project. Let the originals inspire, but you can take it in new directions – colored glass, or colored translucent plastic, hinged to fold accordion style, and hanging/running on a tack.
I have similar accordion folding curtains in my living room. I believe that are from the late sixties early seventies, but mine are very thin strips of basket woven wood. I have a certain “appreciation” for them, but they will have to go. They are in bad shape anyway. I am loving the translucent plastic though!
Did you look them over carefully? Way down in the corners and such? Maybe there is a makers brand or company name stamped in the track or on the metal somewhere. I’d bet they were all custom made.
I did see a horizontal blind at the JC Penney that was a textured clear plastic. I thought it had a real retro feel to it. Of course no where close to this look, but a cool alternative for a bathroom. Privacy, while still letting in all the light.
I think you are very lucky to have 3 left. After 50 years. the others probably got brittle from hanging in the windows and possible beat up/broken. These are pretty cool.
I remember accordian type doors that were availabe in the 60s. They were made out of plastic sheeting, like a shade, and were on a track. You could use them in a doorway or on a closet.
I have the same hard plastic acordian blinds over my sliding door in my dining area. Soooo cool!
Anne — I would LOVE to see a pic. If you get a chance can you take one and email it to me to add to this story? retrorenovation [at] gmail [dot] com. So cool!
Home Depot has a few acrylic accordion doors on their website–they’re kind of plain, but could be really cool with a textured window film on the acrylic panels. (Solyx has some nice window films at decorativefilm.com)
Woodfold.com has been in business for 50+ years and has woven wood, acrylic, and really cool perforated aluminum accordion shades.
Thanks for the tips, Joni, I’ll take a look!
I just noticed that the frosted acrylic doors at HD come in turquoise! *squee!*
http://www.homedepot.com/Doors-Windows-Interior-Doors-Accordion-Doors/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbuhz/R-202057524/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&superSkuId=202766816
Wow, I just looked briefly at Woodfold and they can use any brand & design of laminate you choose to customize your doors. Imagine – boomerangs!!!
Those are so cool for the bathroom! I have 2 baths they would look great in. Even with opaque windows my hubby still wants window treatments! If any one finds a source, I’m in!
I have the browny-beige colored woven looking plastic accordion doors in 2 places in my 1961 house (both in good shape). Not nearly so cool.
Hey Barb–
All of these doors say they’re trim-able to match the height of the opening–I have no idea if they mean trim-able by an inch or if you could cut a foot or two off of the bottom to fit your window opening. It might be worth dropping an email to a few manufacturers to find out!
I don’t know how to find them, but I need them, too! We have a shower with a window in it at shoulder level and nothing to cover it with or keep the water off the wood trim! Hope you find some answers soon.
)
Same here. I am just about to resort to the old “cut off vinyl shower curtain over the window” trick. Ugly, but it may save the window trim until I get a chance to get someone to replace the wood with subway tile or something.
Hi, I don’t know where you can get them now ( or if you can) but my grandparents had the same things ( in baby blue) in their bathroom ( he used them as the shower door on their tub/ showe unit) I know that grandpa did the bathroom in the mid 60′s…though the house was from the 30′s.
Good luck in the search
Those are SO AWESOME. Love love love!! There are DIYs to making screens, lampshades, etc out of old film slides that you could use to create a more sturdy, accordion-style thing like your shades. Hang on…gonna try to find a link…
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/01/how_to_make_a_slide_photo_lamp.html
To give you an idea, anyway.
Rita, I did a story on this — one of our readers, Shane, did this! http://retrorenovation.com/2010/05/13/make-your-own-kodachrome-lamp-shade-like-shane/
I really wish I had these in my bathroom! They would be perfect.
I love those blinds! But I’m no surprised that the haven’t aged well. Anything exposed to sunlight eventually gives way, and plastic is especially vulnerable.
Our house came with dreary vertical blinds over the huge sliding glass door. I priced some respectable pinch pleat drapes and found out that they would cost more than the house is worth, so I went the cheap and cheerful way: I bought some fabric paint in jewel tones (Kelly Green, Magenta, Sunny Yellow and Navy Blue) and painted the vanes so that the four colors repeat in a pattern. My general inspiration was the curtain Johnny Carson used to stand in front of to tell his monologue.
It turned out great! (If I do say so myself). Maybe that would be something you could do? Vertical blinds are pretty inexpensive, and so is the fabric paint.
Pam I ran into similar doors when we were stationed in Germany! In our 30 year old house as well as in all the hardware stores. (yep new) Not quite the same as those but there are still some places where similar stuff is available. If I can find Bavarian Masonry heaters in the U.S. I’m sure someone does shower doors as well. and no I do not remember any manufacturers, we were looking for paint that day. sorry.
In the 1960′s there was a plastic shade sold in Los Angeles which I remember as “Jayless” brand which resemble Todd’s. Each interlocking piece is 3″ square and consists of four 1.5″ square sections, in an alternating checkerboard style. I have two of the shades in aquamarine.