Seeking a durable version of these shades

March 22, 2024 4:17 AM

Are there any top-down bottom-up blackout cellular shades that are actually durable? Even given daily operation in a window that gets direct sun? For years on end? The ones we have keep breaking.

The shades we have are these or very similar. We got five of them, for about $100 each, a little under five years ago. When the first one broke after just a year or two, we contacted the company and they replaced it. They’ve since replaced another three, I think one of them twice. Now, one of those replacements just broke again.

The main point of failure is the strings, which snap as I very unremarkably lower a shade. One snapped when I wasn’t even touching it. One of the original ones had inner plastic mechanisms that pretty much exploded, but I remember that the company rep said that the replacements had been redesigned to eliminate that plastic.

If these exist in a durable, long-lasting version, I’d like to get that this time. If they don’t, we’ll have to think about options other than this style of shades. So I’m especially wanting to hear from anyone who has some like these that have lasted well for years on end, being raised and lowered top and bottom daily, in a window with direct sun and temperature swings.

posted by daisyace to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Best answer: My husband and I between us have gotten shades from this company for four homes over more than 15 years. Longest time we’ve lived in one of the homes with the shades is 7 years, so that’s as far out as I can confirm they are good for. The shades themselves, and the mechanisms, have lasted quite well. A few of the pulls at the ends of the strings have popped open, but the strings themselves have been fine except when cats have chewed through them (sigh). We solved that by getting the cordless versions.

(Note they often have sales; if you miss the current 50% off, there will be another one.)
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 6:06 AM on March 22 [3 favorites]

I bought custom Levolor top-down-bottom-up shades for a very large south facing picture window from Lowe’s. (Needed bottom-up because the window otherwise is full-view into our home from the street.) For 90” wide it was originally $500; when we got it there was a 25% discount. It’s been fine in full sun (for half the year, it’s PNW) with not-quite-daily use for almost four years and shows no sign of wear. (It was 2020 so i wouldn’t be surprised if it was 50% more now.)

We have another top-down-only cut-to-width Levolor that feels a little less robust but is also holding up fine.

We bought cheap ones in our last house that always seemed to get wonky and unleveled, with no way to re-level them. Neither of these have that issue.
posted by supercres at 10:13 AM on March 22

Response by poster: Shoot, ecosmart looks great -- made in VT with a great warranty -- but I don't see any black-out cellular shades. And at least at Lowe's, there aren't any top-down bottom-up Levolor cellular shades. So the search continues... thank you!
posted by daisyace at 9:05 AM on March 23

I used Blinds.com for this exact thing. I've used the shades daily for 4 years with zero issues. I'd recommend them without reservation.
posted by girlstyle at 11:35 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Here are the blackout shades from Ecosmart:

https://ecosmartshades.com/product-category/cellular-shades/blackout-cellular-shades/

Clickable link
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 1:39 PM on March 23

Response by poster: Oh thank you! I don't know how I missed those -- I think I went into each particular shade and then looked at all the fabric options, which included various amounts of light filtering. I didn't realize that blackout was its own product category. Anyway, I appreciate it and I think I'm ordering!
posted by daisyace at 3:23 PM on March 23

Response by poster: (Oh, now I'm thinking my confusion was because once you get into configuring your shade, they call the fabric options "room darkening," which I thought was less light-blocking than blackout is.)
posted by daisyace at 3:40 PM on March 23

Yeah their website isn’t the most straightforward. But they are good shades, and when I have called them with questions they have been helpful. Enjoy them!
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 5:15 PM on March 23