A window treatment shade in its basic terms is a spring cord pulley system that allows you to raise and lower a window covering shade. There are a wide variety of different types that you can choose from like roller shades to cellular shades to natural shades like bamboo or other natural fibers. With so many different styles and combinations you might have to do a little research on your options and know what your specific needs are for a window shade.

The first to start with is how much light control and home privacy are you trying to achieve, decide whether you’re trying to control nighttime privacy or daylight heat and glare or maybe you need a combination of the two. To have the best of both worlds you can start with a light filtering shade for protection against the sun and in the evening you could add curtains or some draperies that will give you the privacy.

Two shade options like pleated shades and roller shades can give you the option of being installed from bottom up giving you privacy during the day and allow the sun to shine through the top.

If your window shade is going to be used quite often then you should make sure you have a pulley or operating system that is easy to use.

link

Tweet This Post 

Put safety first in your home during Window Covering Safety Month with Cordless Blinds from American Blinds, Wallpaper and More. One of the most recent safety innovations is the cordless lifting system that allows shades or blinds to be raised and lowered with the touch of a finger. Cellular shades eliminate pull cords, enhancing child & pet safety and creating a clean look. Colorful and durable, cellular shades are a great choice for a child’s room. They not only help block the sun’s harmful UV rays, they feature a unique honeycomb construction that “traps” air for greater energy efficiency, helping to reduce energy bills during the upcoming winter months. The shades also softly diffuse incoming natural light to cut the glare and heat on warm days.

LINK

Tweet This Post 

I thought I’d take a close look at these insulating window shades today that Zero Energy Design is referencing in their energy model. There are a lot of cellular shades that are made up of one, two or three layers of honeycomb fabric with air in between the cells that makes the shade act as an insulator. From what I found, most shades can increase the R-value of a window by anywhere from 2.0 to 4.8 depending on the number and size of the cells and the material used. This is pretty significant since most energy star, double pane, low-e windows still have an R value of around 3.0 or less.

LINK

Tweet This Post