Custom Cellular Blinds Milliken – Free Installation

Plain and consistent, which is the usual reason people pick them for a front elevation. Most cellular fabrics have a white or off-white backing, so every window reads the same colour from outside no matter what you chose for the room side. Half-raised shades at different heights are what actually looks untidy from the curb, not the fabric. On a front room we often set them all to one height and leave them.

They do, and the short drop is in their favour. A basement window is usually wide and shallow, so the stack at the head takes almost nothing off an already small opening. Fit is the thing to watch, since basement frames are often out by several millimetres corner to corner. Below grade we would avoid a blackout fabric, because a dark cell against cold glass in a room with poor airflow holds damp.

Fifteen years is ordinary on a window out of hard sun, and the fabric usually outlives people's patience with the colour. What ages first is the crispness of the pleats near the bottom, where the shade folds most often. Full sun shortens it, as it does with any fabric. The internal cords are a wear part and they can be replaced without touching the cells, which is why an older shade is often worth repairing.

Only if the new opening is close to the old one, and it usually is not. A replacement unit sits inside the old rough opening with its own frame, which typically leaves an opening a couple of centimetres narrower. A cellular shade can be narrowed in the workroom, never widened, so a smaller opening is at least workable. If windows are already on the list, do those first and measure afterwards.