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Cordless Blinds: A Blend of Safety and Style
In the world of window treatments, cordless blinds have made a significant impact, offering a blend of safety, style, and convenience. These innovative window coverings have eliminated the need for cords, making them a safer option for homes with children and pets.Get more news about cordless blinds,you can vist our website!
Cordless blinds operate on a simple mechanism. A gentle push or pull on the bottom rail of the blind adjusts the position of the slats, allowing for easy control of light and privacy. This cord-free design not only enhances safety but also provides a clean, uncluttered look that is aesthetically pleasing.
One of the key benefits of cordless blinds is their child and pet safety. Traditional blinds with cords can pose a strangulation hazard. By eliminating cords, cordless blinds provide peace of mind for parents and pet owners.
In addition to safety, cordless blinds offer a sleek and modern look. Without cords hanging down, these blinds present a neat appearance that complements any decor style. They are available in a variety of materials, colors, and designs, making it easy to find the perfect fit for any room.
Cordless blinds are also known for their ease of use. The absence of cords makes them simple to operate, which is particularly beneficial for large or hard-to-reach windows. Moreover, many cordless blinds feature a top-down/bottom-up operation, allowing for versatile light control and privacy.
Despite these advantages, it’s important to note that cordless blinds may require a bit more effort to adjust compared to traditional corded blinds. However, many homeowners find that the benefits of safety and aesthetics far outweigh this minor inconvenience.
In conclusion, cordless blinds are an excellent choice for those seeking safe, stylish, and convenient window treatments. As we continue to prioritize safety and aesthetics in our homes, it’s clear that cordless blinds will remain a popular choice.
The Evolution of Window Treatments: Cordless Blinds
In the realm of window treatments, cordless blinds have emerged as a game-changer. They are similar to traditional blinds but lack the standard strings or rods that most people are accustomed to. Instead, they can be opened or closed by simply pushing upwards or pulling downwards.Get more news about cordless blinds,you can vist our website!
Cordless blinds offer numerous advantages. One of the most significant benefits is safety. The absence of cords eliminates potential hazards for children and pets. This feature makes cordless blinds an excellent choice for homes with young children or pets.
Another advantage of cordless blinds is their aesthetic appeal. Without the clutter of cords, these blinds offer a clean, streamlined look that can enhance the overall appearance of any room. They are available in a variety of styles and colors, allowing you to choose the perfect match for your home decor.
Cordless blinds are also incredibly easy to operate. The cordless system makes lowering and raising blinds simpler than ever. This ease of use is particularly beneficial for large windows or hard-to-reach areas.
Despite their simplicity, cordless blinds are highly functional. They effectively control light and privacy in your home. Whether you want to block out the morning sun, create a private space, or let in natural light, cordless blinds give you the flexibility to do so.
In terms of availability, cordless blinds can be found in various retail outlets such as Lowe’s and Home Depot. These stores offer a wide range of options, from vinyl mini blinds to faux wood room darkening horizontal blinds.
While cordless blinds serve the same purpose as traditional blinds, they represent a significant advancement in window treatment technology. Their combination of safety, style, ease of use, and functionality makes them an attractive option for homeowners.
In conclusion, cordless blinds are more than just a trend; they are a testament to how far window treatments have come. As we continue to seek ways to make our homes safer, more comfortable, and more aesthetically pleasing, innovations like cordless blinds will undoubtedly play a crucial role.
Best smart shades: High-tech, high-fashion window treatments
Motorized window treatments that can open and close on command, on a schedule, or even based on room occupancy are the ultimate finishing touch for any smart home. Like smart lighting, smart window treatments offer a host of benefits in terms of convenience, security, and energy conservation. There’s a safety angle, too: There are no pull cords that pose a strangulation risk to children and pets. But the wow factor they deliver also renders them a luxury item—even deploying them one room at a time can cost thousands of dollars if each room has a lot of windows.Get more news about motorized blinds,you can vist our website!
We’re using the term “shades” in the headline above, but we’ll cover blinds here, too. What’s the difference? Shades are a soft window covering, typically made of fabric. They roll or pull up to allow light in, and they roll or drop down to block light and provide privacy. Blinds are a hard window treatment consisting of vertical or horizontal slats, typically made of wood, metal, plastic, or a composite material. The angle of these slats can be varied to admit or restrict light, or the slats can be closed tightly to block light and provide privacy. The slats in horizontal blinds can be pulled up in a stack to fully expose the window, while the slats in vertical blinds are pulled and gathered to the left or right for the same purpose.
Here are our top picks in several categories, followed by an explanation of the terms you’ll encounter and the features you should consider when you shop for smart shades or smart blinds. You’ll find a list of all the products we’ve reviewed in this category at the bottom of the page. It’s a relatively short list right now, but we’ll add new product reviews and additional product categories as time goes on.
Hunter Douglas’ Duette with PowerView motorization smart shades are elegant, sophisticated, and luxurious. These are top-down/bottom-up shades, which means they can open in both directions, a style that provides the ultimate in privacy and light control. And Hunter Douglas’ accessories—from its innovative “battery wand” power solution to its Pebble remote controls—are absolutely top shelf. They are not inexpensive, however, and there is no DIY option available.
These are beautiful shades, but being geeks, we’re particularly enamored with their battery compartment. The compartment is integrated into the headrail, so you need only tip it down to access and replace the batteries (D cells in the unit we reviewed). You’ll need to also buy an $80 Lutron Smart Bridge to connect the shades to your Wi-Fi network, since the shades rely on a proprietary wireless protocol, but Lutron’s app is very good and the bridge can also manage the company’s excellent Caséta smart lighting products (dimmers, switches, and smart plugs), ceiling-fan controllers, and it has hooks into third-party products, ranging from Ecobee smart thermostats to Sonos multi-room audio systems. Lutron’s product line is available either through dealers, who will handle installation, or direct to the DIYer.
Graber’s Virtual Cord cellular shades are every bit as pretty as Lutron’s, but their motors are slightly louder and their battery compartment needs to be removed from the headrail when you need to swap them out. They come with simple two-button remote controls, or you can spend extra to get more elaborate ones that can control multiple shades at the same time. These shades rely on Z-Wave technology, so you’ll need a bridge to connect them to your home Wi-Fi network. That can be Graber’s own Z-Wave bridge and app, or you can incorporate them into most any smart home system. Graber’s product line is available either through dealers, who will handle installation, or direct to the DIYer.
Going Cordless: How Cordless Blinds Make a Safer Future
Blinds and shades have the ability to completely transform the look and feel of your home while providing privacy and light control. Still, traditional window treatments typically come with hanging cords to open and close them. These cords can be an eyesore and a nuisance, but, more importantly, they can be dangerous for children and pets. Cordless blinds provide an attractive alternative to traditional corded shades and are safe, secure, durable, and simple to use.Get more news about cordless blinds,you can vist our website!
What Are Cordless Blinds, Anyway?
As the name suggests, cordless blinds are blinds without cords that feature various internal mechanisms that use tension to raise and lower your blinds and shades. Instead of raising or lowering your blinds with a cord, you simply lift your shade to your preferred height. Aesthetically, cordless blinds are mostly similar to other types of blinds and come in the same variety of styles, colors, and materials.
What Are the Benefits of Cordless Blinds?
Cordless blinds come with various benefits, including their aesthetic appeal, since they tend to look more pleasing than traditional blinds, without having extra cords hanging around. They also fit well in multiple spaces since they don’t have cords interfering with other elements of your room. For example, cordless blinds are a great choice for kitchens because they won’t hang on counters and be in the way while cooking or get tangled in appliances.
Cordless shades are also simpler to use, as you don’t need to deal with pulling the right cord or having cords tangle or unevenly raise and lower, and they come in many different styles and colors. They can be made with anything from bamboo and wood slats to fabric blinds that help block or filter sunlight. Perhaps most importantly, cordless shades are much safer than traditional corded shades in a variety of ways.
Why Are Cordless Blinds Safer Than Blinds With Cords?
Corded blinds pose serious dangers to the people and pets in your home. In fact, according to NPR, “16,000 children in the US were treated in emergency departments for injuries caused by window blinds between 1990 and 2015.” Children are curious and, even if you’re watching them most of the time, you can’t keep an eye on them every minute of every day, especially during bedtime and nap time. The biggest risk facing children is for those under the age of 6 who can get their necks and limbs tangled in the cords. If this happens, you may not be aware your child is in danger if they’re having difficulty yelling for help due to the cords being wrapped around their neck. This makes cords especially dangerous because it only takes a few minutes to cause injury or even death.
Corded blinds also pose a great risk to pets, who face similar issues. Cats, who love to climb and play, can easily get tangled in unsecured blinds, and dogs can think the shade’s cords are chew toys and ingest them. Pets often panic when startled, leading to an additional risk of major damage when they get caught around the neck and do damage to themselves when they try to run. All these issues can lead to visits to the vet or even death. If a large dog is tangled in a cord and runs, they may also damage your windows, wall, and home as they tear down your blinds, leading to potentially expensive repairs.
If you do have corded blinds, it’s essential to make sure they are secured properly and out of reach of children and pets. They should be placed high enough to avoid risking your children’s and pets’ well-being and organized so they won’t tangle when in use. Replacing your corded blinds with cordless blinds, which will remove the risk entirely, is the smartest option.
The Best Smart Window Shades and Blinds
Smart shades and blinds that extend, retract, or tilt automatically are indeed a luxury, but they’re also just plain useful. (And they can help save energy and boost home security, too.) Lutron’s Serena Shades are our top pick because they work flawlessly, are the fastest and quietest shades we tested, and are compatible with all the popular smart-home platforms. Also, they look great. If you prefer blinds over shades, we think Lutron’s Serena Smart Wood Blinds are the best smart blinds because they adapt to the position of the sun throughout the day, ensuring you always have the right amount of light without having to adjust them at all.Get more news about motorized blinds,you can vist our website!
Lutron’s Serena Shades are the best self-install smart shades we tested. They’re easy to install yourself, simple to set up, battery-powered, and custom-made to fit your windows. They work with every major smart-home system and all of the voice assistants, when paired with Lutron’s Caséta Wireless Smart Bridge (a small device that plugs into your Wi-Fi router and lets you control your devices remotely; it’s the same one that connects Lutron’s Caséta smart light switches). The Serena Shades are expensive—around three times the price of our budget pick, IKEA’s Fyrtur. But if you want the nicest-looking, smartest window coverings that you can order and install yourself, Lutron Serena Shades are the best choice.
If you don’t mind a more-modest selection of fabrics and styles and don’t need deep smart-home integration, the SmarterHome's MySmartRollerShades (formerly Tilt) are a good option. They are easy to install yourself and to control with the app (if noticeably slower than our top pick), and they come in a decent, albeit limited, selection of colors and styles. The simple ordering process is a refreshing change: Every shade is the same price, no matter the size or style. These shades run on a rechargeable battery that connects to an included solar panel. But there’s no remote control, aside from the app. Also, the hub for smart-home control with Amazon Alexa and Samsung SmartThings costs $109—and it is out of stock until 2022.
If you (or someone in your home) has a specific style and design in mind when it comes to window coverings, you’ll want to look at Graber Motorized Shades. The shades use Graber’s new Z-Wave wireless motors and gateway device (which costs up to $200; you could instead pair directly to an existing Z-Wave hub you may have, including SmartThings). We love the online selection process, which guides you through styles and designs to best suit your needs. And the new Graber VirtualCord Motorization app works well for scheduling, creating Scenes, and adding voice control via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant through Google Home (not Siri/HomeKit). There are also multiple options for power, including a rechargeable battery pack that tucks up behind the shade, plus a number of remote-control options (again, with a hefty price tag). Self-installation is an option, but it’s not as straightforward as with our other picks.
If your window openings fit one of the eight available sizes of IKEA’s Fyrtur shades (ours didn’t), and you like the industrial exposed hardware and gray blackout fabric look (we do!), then these inexpensive smart shades are a great, budget-friendly option. The shades can be controlled using Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home, as long as you buy IKEA’s $70 Dirigera internet gateway (a small device that wirelessly connects your shades and is plugged into your router). The Fyrtur shades are well made, and in our testing they worked reliably. And the removable, rechargeable battery lasted six months before needing to be recharged. That said, the included remote is a bit finicky, and installation and setup can be just as frustrating as it is when you’re putting together an IKEA cabinet. But considering the reasonable price for these shades, we think it’s hard to complain. If the installation challenge is daunting, or you’re considering the YouTube videos that show you how to “hack” Fytur shades so they fit your window, we’d say skip the headache—there are better options.
The Lutron Serena Smart Wood Blinds have the best smart-home integrations and most innovative features of any of the smart blinds we considered or tested. But they’re also the most expensive, starting at $599. They are custom-made to order and available in eight color options. And they work with Lutron’s smart-home ecosystem for control with the Lutron app, which also enables integration with Amazon Alexa or Google Home (strangely, there’s no HomeKit or SmartThings compatibility, as there is with Serena Shades). An excellent Natural Light Optimization feature tilts the blinds automatically as the sun moves throughout the day, ensuring your room has balanced light while minimizing glare. Serena blinds can also be set to close and open automatically whenever you leave or arrive home. And they can be configured on a Schedule or included in Scenes (a series of settings changes among one or more devices) with other Lutron devices. Although the blinds can be tilted on command, you can’t use a controller to raise or lower them—you have to manually push them up or pull them down, as you would with other modern blinds.