 One little known but unique option for your shutters is a liberty panel. Said simply, a liberty panel is an up-charge design feature which provides a curved arch look top rail for your shutter's panels.
This design feature can visually turn a square window into an arched window. Arches are know to transform interior spaces. Classic arches create a luxurious atmosphere of ancient chic, add unique character to modern interior design and enhance the elegance of your design. Arches bring rounded shapes and soft curves into modern interior design. Arches are wonderful elements of classy architectural designs that soften and balance exteriors and interiors. Arches make modern interior design more beautiful and pleasant. An arched feature on your shutter panel is a unique and very attractive architectural feature. We would love to help you with your shutter project. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation!
0 Comments
 Inside the headrail of every wood or faux wood blind is a series of drums or barrels that are fit around a rod. As you raise and lower your blind, the rod spins and the barrels collect the cords - preventing tangling and causing the blind to work properly.
Depending on the quality, and subsequent expected lifespan, of your wood or faux wood blind, the barrels will either be metal or plastic. Our value line uses the best quality metal drums, and rods which helps the blinds to last for years. Our bargain brand uses plastic components, and as such, is only guaranteed for a year or two. These bargain blinds are less expensive, but come with an added repair or replacement cost. For short term or very gentle use, the bargain brand is adequate. For longer term, daily use, the value line makes more sense. To bring this point home here is what our field experience has taught us. For instance, we have worked with customers who choose the bargain brand blinds, only to find that their blind gets stuck or are crooked going up or down. Also, we have serviced customers whose blinds were uneven, when locked in an up position. These problems were the direct result of the plastic barrels inside the headrail bending under the weight of the blind. Also, tilt mechanisms will often freeze - followed by the customer applying excessive force - thinking it will free up the blind - only to bend or break the tilt mechanism. We have experienced numerous blinds beyond warranty, where the cord failed to roll properly in the barrel, because the barrel bent or failed, simply because the barrel was made of plastic. We have not seen this problem nearly as much in blinds with metal barrels. So, bottom line - unless you are flipping a house and don't really need a warranty beyond a year - or unless you are an apartment complex, who does not mind keeping their maintenance people busy with minor blind repairs, then consider the quality of the barrels and components inside your wood or faux wood blind when making your buying decision. We would love to work with you on your wood or faux wood blind project! Contact us today for a complimentary consultation and thanks for your interest in Latreia Blinds and Shutters!  As we have repeatedly shared, not all roller shades are made with the same quality or care. This is never more apparent than when operating the blind. For manual control blinds the clutch will determine the lift-ability and the last-ability.
Our manufacturer uses the industry’s most dependable, reliable and strong clutches- the RSeries from RollEase. We believe this clutch sets the standard, and its proven track record spanning over 30 years speaks for itself. We offer 4 different clutches to match lifting capacity to to shade weight and tube size for the best shade appearance and to ensure that your solar shades are easy to lift. Our shade size to clutch lifting capacity parameters tend to be more conservative that those of other manufacturers, but we believe that allows us to produce a better, more reliable product for our customers. Our clutch-operated shades are ideal for handling commercial applications or large weights.Key features and benefits:
The clutch system on your roller shade will really be a major determinate in how pleased you are with your roller shade purchasing decision over-time. This is why we are very careful in designing projects for type and ease of use. Let's face it, one of the main reasons to opt for a roller shades is so you can adjust it as regularly as necessary to get the maximum light and climate control. and that experience will be lessened if it is too heavy or prone to failing while operating. Hopefully this little article better prepared you to understand whether you are getting good value with your roller shade purchasing decision as it relates to its operating clutch system. Of course, we would love to help you choose the perfect clutch size for your roller shade project! Contact us today for a complimentary consultation and thanks for your interest in Latreia Blinds and Shutters!  Would you like to have shutters on your french doors which have a handle protrusion? Really, it's no problem. French doors occasionally come with a lever type of handle which protrudes into the glass section of the door. In these situations, the French door will need a cut out. We, like most shutter manufacturers, offer a half circle and rectangular cut out. Typically a standard 4 1/4” half circle cut out is enough to accommodate most levers, though we also offer a 5 1/4” and 6 1/4”. Study the diagrams below to find your particular application. The cut out plate is 1/2” thick. Custom cut outs are available (such as an oval) with a surcharge. We would love to help you with your shutter project! Contact us at this link today for a complimentary consultation and thanks for your interest in Latreia Blinds and Shutters!   We recently came across a survey asking customers to compare aluminum mini blinds, wood blinds and different types of cell shades on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being excellent. These products were grouped because of their similar price points.
While all of the products scored fairly well, the winner in both quality and appearance was the wood blind. It actually scored a 4.94 out of 5 in both categories. Our experience with thousands of customers would intuitively back these results. The vast majority of people in the roughly $80 - $200 per window category are extremely happy with the look, light control and durability of their wood and faux wood blinds. We would love to help you with your wood or faux wood blind project! Contact us today at this link and thanks for your interest in Latreia Blinds and Shutters!  My favorite provider of all sorts of wonderful roller shades with fabulous options published a post in 2014 for those who struggle with the idea of using roller shades - especially solar roller shades - in traditional residences. We have done many projects with roller shades, in other than modern residences, and can say the results are always impressive.
However, maybe the bloggers at Insolroll can convince you. They opine, "Some people think solar shades are perfect for “modern decor”. Maybe they’d go so far as “contemporary” (not interchangeable terms!). If you share that opinion, I’d like to try to change your mind… Energy Efficiency goes with every style With every day that passes, we become more conscious of energy usage in our homes. Solar panels go up, incandescent light bulbs get switched out for CFLs or LEDs. Weather stripping is applied, smart power strips are investigated. We all want to save energy, and see our electric bills go down. We all want to do our part to leave a smaller footprint… Solar shades in your home are an easy way to bring down cooling costs during the summer, and have control over the winter sun to allow passive solar warming. Whether your windows are efficient or old and inefficient, solar shades will make a difference. It’s a no brainer, really, when it comes to energy efficiency. Comfort never goes out of style Who hasn’t experienced a room that gets uncomfortably hot? Or uncomfortably bright? Glare on a television or computer screen can be both annoying and fatiguing, and calling upon your AC alone to keep a room cool is uncomfortable for your wallet. Solar shades manage the negative effects of the sun in your home, controlling the heat energy of sun coming in the windows as well as the glare of the sun’s light. You even get control of harmful UV rays in the deal, which cause fading and degrading of your furniture/drapes/flooring/finishes. Solar shades and your aesthetic style Truth be told, solar screen shades are style chameleons. They have clean, simple lines, and therefore can perfectly complement a minimalist approach, or blend expertly into the background of an ornate, traditional setting. What you're really doing is controlling sun and improving the view through your window, and this works in every decorating style. Hang with draperies or even dummy panels to add softness and layers. Opt for a Natural Weave fabric for an organic, beachy or British Colonial style. French country? Let light colored, slightly more open fabric play the role of sheers behind sumptuous draperies. Shabby chic? Light colored solar shades diffuse light and add another layer of romance to your room. Industrial? Let a dark fabric hone the view and make it a centerpiece. The simple form of solar shades combined with the broad range of fabric colors, textures and densities are what make them such a versatile window treatment that works and plays well with other window fashion stars, including cornices, valances and trims. So don’t get stuck in a rut when you think about solar shades! Think of them as one tool in your belt for increasing your home’s energy efficiency, but also think of them as an opportunity to express your sense of personal style." Of course, we would love to help you choose the design for your roller shade project. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation and thanks for your interest in Latreia Blinds and Shutters!   If you have windows that meet in a corner and would like shutters as your decor of choice, then we have a couple of options to help you. First, we can use a large Z-Frame on both shutters and butt then together in the corner with a fill strip behind to support the back side of the frame. This is probably the most popular option but the downside is the loss of some openness as the frame will take an additional 2" strip of your opening. However, depending on the window location and view this is often no big deal. See diagram below. The second option is to pay a little extra and have the frame miter cut to butt in the corner. This requires a bit more time and effort at install, especially if the window frame is out of square. See diagram below. The bottom line - please know that if you have a corner window and you love shutters, there is a solution for you. Corner window with full frame and filler strip.  Corner window with miter cut frame. We would love to help you with your shutter project! Contact us today by using this link and then fill out your information. Thanks for your interest in Latreia Blinds and Shutters!  We recently serviced a customer who wanted to maximize their see-through and light for their kitchen window - but still needed privacy at night. After some discussion, the customer decided to upgrade to 2 1/2" faux wood blind product.
The main advantage of the 2 1/2" faux wood blind is that it has fewer slats than the standard 2" faux wood blind. This means that the gaps that are created when tilting the blind wide open are larger by almost an inch per opening - meaning more see through. Also, notice that a faux wood blind was advisable, given the potential of the blind getting wet from kitchen sink splash-age. Now, to a seasoned window covering pro, this is about as obvious as advice gets, but to the average homeowner, who purchases blinds just a handful of times over the course of a lifetime - this option and function may not be quite so obvious. With any luck, this simple advise will help you decide if you want to spend a little more for 2 1/2" slats and increase your see-through, or if the more economical 2" slat is right for you. We would love to help you with your wood or faux wood blind project! Contact us today for a complimentary consultation and thanks for your interest in Latreia Blinds and Shutters!  Silver backed fabrics change the whole game when it comes to fabric color and performance for your roller shade. Non-silver backed solar screen fabrics have some predictable performance characteristics- if you look at the chart below, you’ll see that typical light colored screens perform well at keeping a room cooler, with a lower shading coefficient overall, but they also fall to the right on the graph with a higher Visible Light Transmission. Conventional solar screen fabrics in darker colors fall far to the left, with very low VLT values, meaning that they reduce glare very well, but they also fall in the upper portion of the graph, showing higher shading coefficient values. So what does this mean in plain English? Well, darker shades are easier to see through - i.e. better visibility but are hotter because their color absorbs heat which gets transmitted inside your space. Lighter shades are harder to see through - i.e. less visibility because the light will "glow" when it strikes the lighter fabrics which obscures the view. However, the lighter color does not absorb heat as much, so less heat is transmitted into your space. Here is the good news. By using some sort of space age silver technology, these silver backed marvels allow for dark fabric which preserves view and then magically the heat gain is reduced by the silver on the back - which does not create a glow problem. Again, if you can understand it, check out the silver fabrics on the chart below. Or said more technically, "notice that all of the colors of both SilverScreen and EnviroScreen high performance fabrics fall into what we call the “silver sweet spot”… low on the Shading Coefficient axis and low on the Visible Light Transmission axis. Every color! Excellent performance in both areas (all three really, if you consider view-through a separate value). No compromise necessary. This is all due to the ultra-fine, reflective layer of silver backing on the solar fabric, which reflects away heat and light, allowing the interior to stay cool, glare free and maintain a great view and connection to the outdoors."  Of course, we would love to help you choose best silver screen fabric for your roller shade project. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation and thanks for your interest in Latreia Blinds and Shutters!
 Occasionally, shutters are mounted inside a window frame. One method is to mount the shutters with a hanging strip on the side using a standard non-mortised hinge. The manufacturer generally provides a hanging strip for both sides and a light block for the top and the bottom. For each panel, two magnets and a regular hinge should be included. (Usually, the hinges are attached to the panel at the factory, however hanging strips, light blocks, and magnets come and are installed separately) The diagram below will help you visualize how this shutter application will mount to your window opening.  We would love to help you with your shutter project. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation and thanks for your interest in Latreia Blinds and Shutters!
|
AuthorWe are delighted to serve both residential and commercial clients. Archives
July 2022
Categories |
RSS Feed