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!

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.

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."

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.

The pictures above are from a roller shade project for a Weinerschnitzel restaurant.  The East facing windows (4ea) had really old roller shades which were completely unusable and made the restaurant look old. The West facing window (1ea) was completely uncovered and as such the customers and employees were brutalized by the sun every afternoon.  The West facing window shown directly on the main order counter for the restaurant.

As you can imagine, this was an untenable situation.  However, after replacing the East facing windows with a simple cream colored solar roller fabric with a matching facscia and likewise covering the West window with the same type of roller fabric and fascia, we saw a transformation of their space.

The restaurant now looks newer, cleaner, and is far more comfortable for customer and employees.  It was a real pleasure to be part of a relatively simple, yet profound, transformation of this standby food establishment.

We would love to help you find the right roller shade for your restaurant application. 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 rear using the non-mortise wrap around hinge and factory deductions are once again the same as a direct mount shutter.  Another option is the side mount hanging strip.

For the rear mount hanging strip, the factory will provide a hanging strip for both sides and a light block for the top and bottom. For each panel, two magnets and a wrap around hinge are included. (The hinges are attached to the panel at the factory, however hanging strips, light blocks, and magnets come 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!