Plum Designs and Blinds

Just had our windows coverings installed and they look gorgeous! So happy to have found Valerie and her crew!

As an interior designer working in the East Bay, I have collaborated with Plum Designs on countless projects. The process is always positive and enjoyable and the result always a success. Valerie is professional, meticulous, reliable and a pleasure to work with. She has a great sense of style and a valuable opinion; I always enjoy having her meet my clients and work with me on selecting the right style of window covering.
Plum Designs and Blinds is a key element of my interior design services.

The whole process with Plum Designs and Blinds was very easy and successful! Valerie came to my house a number of times to help me pick out the right fabric and measure everything. I priced out her work through a variety of other services, from Pottery Barn to other custom rates, and she was an amazing value. She completely exceeded my expectations on customer service. Most importantly, the drapes are gorgeous! I literally jumped for joy when I saw them all set up.

Best experience ever with Valerie and her team! They are easy to get into contact with and really follow up on everything to keep me in the loop. As an example our shutters were in back order. Valerie’s husband was told by the manufacturer to call back later in the week to get a new delivery date. I wasn’t expecting him to follow up with me until another week or so but he was right on top of the manufacturer and called me that same week to say he followed up and that my shutters were coming in just a few days! I was impressed that he remembered to contact me since my wife and I were anxious to have these installed. Kurt and his wife Betty did a spectacular job with the installation. We just couldn’t be happier! Looking forward to finishing the rest of our house now with Valerie and the team at Plum!

I needed blackout curtains that would still be welcoming and beautiful while darkening my room completely. I also wanted thermal protection against summer heat and winter drafts. I had custom, three-​layer curtains made with Valerie and they are amazing — we can sleep even on bright sunny afternoons after being jet-​lagged from trips overseas.
The curtains, with the amount of fabric and layering, were not an easy project, and they could have come out looking clunky. Instead, the curtains really soften our rather large master bedroom (they are floor-​to-​ceiling curtains with a European styling rather than pleats – really lovely).
I had used another vendor and had bad luck with custom curtains, so in this day and age of everything ready-​made, getting curtains made in the old-​fashioned way and fully customized was impressive. Meanwhile, the installer Valerie used was top-​notch.

Valerie installed Drapes and blinds in my home, and they turned out beautiful. She is such a pleasure to work with, very professional and pleasant. She is also very timely and responsive. She also helped pick the colors and gave ideas to what would look good. Everything turned out beautiful. I highly recommend Valerie to anyone looking to install blinds and/​or drapes :)

I have a bay window in my living room, and knew I wanted a bench cushion for it as well as some sort of nearly invisible window treatments; I like a lot of natural light. I was at a loss about where to look for the window treatments, especially knowing the size is irregular. I searched on Unilocal,and found Valerie. She was quick to respond, and was able to schedule an appointment right away to come to my house.
That visit, we were able to knock out the selection for the windows: white honeycomb blinds with a slight texture. They can raise and lower by the use of a clear handle attached at the bottom; no pull strings. She was able to quote me a price for them then and there, and we did the order on the spot. The installer contacted me within the estimated time, and was able to accomodate my work schedule and get them installed fairly quickly. My favorite thing is that when they are open (almost all the time), they’s so minimal that they visually disappear into the window trim.
I wanted to figure out the most ideal fabric option for the bench cushion, so she left a few sample books with me, and even dropped others off on two separate occasions, after my first pick was discontinued. Once I picked the fabric, she was able to quickly price out the cushion and get it ordered. I told her I want it super cushiony… She dropped it off yesterday (a little less than the estimated six weeks), and we placed it, and it is very plush just like I wanted!
Valerie was very professional. Couldn’t be happier about the whole process. :)

We used Valerie to install blinds on the windows of our cottage. I was extremely skeptical (being male, I was not even certain what «window treatments» were) but Valerie proved incredibly knowledgeable and helpful and spent a lot of time allowing us to pick the best combinations of materials. Despite it being a relatively small job we were treated excellently and with a lot of patience. The final result is perfect — the installation went without a hitch and everything works just fine. most importantly, my partner was happy with the result and this was her pet project so all in all, a well deserved five stars.

We had recently purchased a renovated 4000 SF farmhouse that needed blinds throughout the home and searched for top quality yet cost-​effective blinds. We met with Valerie as well as a representative from a national blinds company who we were told had similar products, but at a lower price. Valerie’s bid was both more affordable and higher quality than that of her competitor.
Valerie is an incredibly professional yet personable business owner and inserts her personal touch to the decision making process. When our first selection put us far above our budget requirements, she did not push the more costly product, but worked to find us the blinds that met all of our needs. She made multiple visits to our home in order to ensure we received exactly what we wanted. Not only did all of the blinds arrive on time, but the primary batch came in early and she set an earlier install date than we initially had planned for. Due to no fault of hers, as sometimes may happen with any manufacturer’s product, a couple of the blinds were sticky and she ensured that they were quickly replaced and personally supervised their installation.
She wrapped up with a final visit to ensure that we were 100% satisfied. We were 110% satisfied. No longer living in a fish bowl, the completion of the blinds project made us feel as though we had completely moved into our new home. We highly recommend Plum Designs and Blinds for anyone with blinds or window covering needs. Great way to support local business as well.

We were looking for help in selecting window treatments for several rooms in our house. Valerie did an outstanding job in supporting us. She took the time to understand our needs and aesthetic preferences. She then patiently walked us through the potential options and guided us through the design choices. Once we made our selections, she made sure that all measurements were accurate and that everything was installed in timely and high quality fashion. After installation, when we discovered a very minor (manufacturing) defect in one of the products, she made sure the problem was taken care of quickly and to our satisfaction. In short, we had a very positive experience with Valerie and would recommend Plum Designs and Blinds without reservation.

## PLUM DESIGNS COMES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED## Valerie is the best! She was very professional and efficient. She color matched our blinds perfectly, picked out all the options, and gave us a quote the very next day. Thank you Valerie for being so wonderful.

Last year my mother-​in-​law from Italy moved in with us. We created a small but efficient granny unit for her on our property (our contractor christened it our «doll house»…my mother-​in-​law is a petite woman!). We engaged Valerie and Plum Designs and Blinds to help us come with up with a solution to keep her small space bright and airy… but also to block out unnecessary light from our neighbors… and to give her privacy from our crazy children when she wants it! Valerie guided us to choose roller shades. They are working great! We would recommend Valerie for big or small projects. She has great taste, is extremely customer-​focused, and knows the products in the market very well!

Valerie and her company «Plum designs and blinds» provide top notch service and custom products and a thoughtful guiding hand, when it came to making decisions.
I did not know the first thing about window coverings and had no idea where to start. I looked cross eyed at catalogues and was dazed and confused in drapery stores. Enter Valerie. Valerie carefully helped me find blinds that worked for our family’s different needs, throughout our house and immediately got me extra color and fabric samples to see how they would look. We zero-​ed in on «light and cheery» for our daughter’s room and more privacy for our bedroom and office. The blinds arrived on time, were expertly installed by Bruce and we could not be happier.
Valerie is a consumate and efficient communicator, loves what she does and deserves top marks for her personal touch and professional service. Above all, the blinds she had made for us fit the windows perfectly, and are simple and sumptuous.
It is bizarre and like out of a commercial when my friends come over, they ask me «where did you get those divine blinds?» I never knew people really noticed blinds, but I guess in Valerie’s case, they do.
Look no further.

I have been meaning to write this for a while. I just want to say how happy I am with my blinds and shades. I had them done throughout my entire home and what a difference. I felt overwhelmed with the many choices but Valerie was very knowledgeable and patient with me. I felt I got personalized service and that she really cared about the outcome. Valerie was always prompt and professional.
Thank you Valerie and Blindmpbile.

My blinds were delivered/​installed way past estimated date — almost two weeks late. Phone calls to Valerie went unreturned. When the installation guy came he gave me a message from her about final payment. Very poor customer service.
The product is fine, but the way I was treated did not make me feel good about purchasing a product from Blindmobile.
I would not use them again, and I would not recommend them.

If you are looking for a company in the East Bay (Alameda and Contra Costa counties) that specializes in quality window coverings, offers in-​home consultation, and provides really excellent service from start to finish we highly recommend Blindmobile. Valerie Akcam, the owner of this company with a quirky name, is knowledgeable, professional and very responsive to her customers’ needs.
We were in the market for Hunter Douglas window coverings for our home in the East Bay hills several years ago and were referred to Valerie and Blindmobile after less than satisfactory experiences with consultants at Expo and other large commercial businesses. From our first in-​home consultation we were impressed with Valerie. Unlike many in the business who try to sell you what they’d want to have in their home or what gets them the biggest $$$ sale, she really listened to what WE wanted in terms of material, look and style. Then she showed us samples that made sense and that helped us make the right choice.
Since our first purchase of Hunter Douglas window coverings five years ago — we completed two bedrooms and a total of nine windows with that transaction — we’ve gone back to Valerie and Blindmobile several times. We now also have functional and beautiful window coverings in our living room and computer room, master bedroom, entry hallway, guest bathroom and kitchen. An added bonus is what the window coverings do for all around comfort inside the house. Our home gets morning sun in the master bedroom and computer room and the full impact of afternoon sun in the living room and back two bedrooms, but the Hunter Douglas shades we chose with Valerie’s help keep the rooms cool and pleasant year round.
A true test of just how responsive a business can be is when things don’t go exactly right following a sale and, based on our experience, Blindmobile came through with flying colors again. Here’s what happened and how the problem was addressed.
The window coverings that we had installed in our living room and computer room were of a slightly different material and weave than those in the rest of the house. But we liked how they looked and the fact that we had the option of raising them in the traditional bottom up mode OR could drop them from the top down for added privacy. However, after a few months the window coverings began to sag in the middle when fully opened. Valerie came out and agreed that there was a problem. She consulted with Hunter Douglas and the company took them back without a hassle and sent us a new set (six window coverings in all). Within 4 – 6 weeks the new window coverings arrived and were reinstalled.
To our frustration, it took only 6 – 8 weeks before the new window coverings also began to sag. We contacted Valerie again and this time she had the Hunter Douglas district representative, Barbara, come out with her. Both saw that there was a problem with these particular window coverings — turns out the weave was too loose to handle the added weight associated with the bottom up/​top down option — and, on the spot, the Hunter Douglas rep offered to replace the window coverings with a different design of our choice.
We went with a tighter weave like the window coverings in our bedrooms and the results have been entirely satisfactory both in looks and in function. In addition, because the new window coverings had the wall mounts slightly offset from the original ones we needed to have an installer come out to rehang them. Again, this was fully covered by Blindmobile and Hunter Douglas at no additional cost to us. Amazing!
As you can tell, we are big fans of Blindmobile and the personal and professional service that Valerie provides. The window covering manufacturers that she represents are all well known — Hunter Douglas, Alta, CRS roman shades, Conrad, Ado Fabrics — and provide high quality, high end products.
What makes the Blindmobile experience really special, though, are the attention to detail and the attention to customer that are Valerie Akcam trademarks.
Steve and Cathryn Nation
Kensington, CA