Window Blinds & Shades

Blinds

Most of the window blinds are manufactured with slats of fabric, plastic, wood or metal which adjust by rotation from an open position to a closed position by facilitating overlapping of slats. There are no slats in a roller blind but it constitutes a single piece of material. Metal window blinds are a perfect choice to be used outside the house or business for protection against theft, vision, temperature, bad weather and fire (in fire-prone areas). Most of these blinds are machine operated instead of hand operation.

The horizontal version adopts a thin woven "ladder" system for suspending the slats. This helps to close the slats through rotating drum which is attached and wrapped with each upper end of the woven ladder. The blind is pulled up with the help of a lift cord which stack tightly on window top as desired.

Window blinds can be easily drawn with the help of a chord or through motorized automation. The motorized blinds can be controlled from a wall switch or keypad, a personal computer or remote control. This removes the need for the chords and enables to control inaccessible windows. Most of the homes feature blind control with central CBUS solutions. Besides being easy to use, this control is very effective to monitor the operation of blind to minimize heat effects during summer and reduce heat loss during cold weather.

Varieties of blinds

Shades

Window Shades are coverings for a window that is attached to the outside or inside used mainly for privacy and to protection from sunlight, heat or cold. Although in the same family of window coverings, the shades tend to be somewhat see-through and blinds are generally made of a material that can not be seen through.

There are four main types of window shades that are on the market today. The most popular is the cellular or honeycomb shade. Second, are pleated shades, then roller shades and lastly, roman shades.

Pleated shades are very similar to the honeycomb blinds except there is not cell or honeycomb. These were very popular before the honeycomb craze. Typically the fabric is richer and more unique with many, many different textures and colors. Most of the pleated blinds are made with fabric that allows light to come in. You have the same options as with the cellular's such as motorization and top down, bottom up. If you want to protect the fabric on pleated blinds from the sun, most will add a backing that is either light filtering or room darkening to the back of the blind.

Roller shades are a solid piece of fabric that goes up and down on a roller. It can be spring loaded or used with the very popular cord loop system. This blinds are typically made with light filtering fabric or room darkening fabric. A new see through fabric called a sunscreen is becoming very popular. You can see those in restaurants and banks across the nation. With new weaves and colors, the sunscreen rollers is becoming more popular in houses. A cassette valance is a nice decorative and integrated headrail where the blind will roll up into. It finishes out the discount shades.

Roman shades are the last on our list of popular blinds. They are the oldest of this category. Made to go up and down in a hobbled or flat stack. They are typically made of fabric for the more traditional roman but now the woven and bamboo's are becoming more and more popular. Some of today's romans can be motorized or come in the popular top down bottom up options. You can also put a backing on most that will protect the fabric of the blind or darken the room.