Gary, I noticed in one of your earlier posts regarding the little clear-plastic brackets, after you took the whole valance down, you found the little spring-tabs were facing the "front" and still not all that easy to access. So.... since I have 7 windows to do.... I decided to try harder to remove the roller shade without taking down the valance. So far I've only done one of the smaller shades, but it did work! I tried several tools, starting with a flat screwdriver. But the one that worked best was a small nail-puller thing I picked up at Lowe's. I was also fairly careful to not pry it too hard, as the front section has the cloth inset and probably I could damage stuff pretty easy. But anyway, I was able on the small one to push against the spring, keep on jiggling and wiggling the shade until that end came loose and repeat on the opposite side. Now I'm hoping maybe the new blinds can go up in a similar reverse manner.
Mainly I've been looking at too large of a job with the side walls of that valance, and I found one of mine was already busted, as the board you nail into is just chip-board. Agh! I guess I'm looking for shortcuts too, and maybe even use some residential blinds installer people. And I did find the ones in the bedroom and hall to be much easier, but still there's 11-12 windows in the Solitude, I need to spend more time camping!
