Two of the most popular ways to cover a window are with a roller shade or a solar shade. These shades share a simple roller design and operate in the same way. The difference is in the fabric. A solar shade uses a specially woven shade that lets some light pass through and allows some view to the outdoors. A roller shade is made with fabrics that come in a range of opacities so you can choose exactly the right light control and privacy for your home.
In this article, we’ll talk about the unique properties of each type of shade and help you decide which shade is right for you.
Understanding Roller Shades
Roller shades are simple: they’re a long piece of fabric mounted on a roller. This simple design allows the colors, designs, and textures of the fabric to take center stage.
Opening and closing a cordless roller shade is as simple as gently lifting the hem bar or giving it a light pull. Cordless shades can also be motorized—making lifting and lowering your roller shade as easy as pushing a button or tapping the screen of our phone or tablet.
Why Choose Roller Shades?
Roller shades are simple, sleek, and beautiful. Because they’re made with a huge range of fabrics, it’s easy to find the perfect fabric to match your room’s décor or to create a bold effect that sends your room’s interior design in a whole new direction.
One of the biggest advantages of roller shade fabrics is the variety of opacities you’ll find in the fabric collections. Opacity is simply a measure of how little light passes through the shade fabric. The highest opacity fabric is a blackout fabric—perfect for bedrooms and entertainment rooms. The lowest opacity fabric is a sheer—prized for its elegant translucence, sheer shades provide little light control or privacy. Sheer shades are often found in living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms where they’re often layered with drapery or an additional blackout shade to provide privacy. In between sheer and blackout you’ll find light filtering and room darkening fabrics, which are at home throughout the house.
Pros and Cons of Roller and Solar Shades
Advantages
The biggest advantage of roller and solar shades is their simplicity. The roller design that underlies these versatile window treatments is so easy to use. And the simplicity of these shades means you can install roller and solar shades in almost any setting.
For complete privacy, you can’t beat a roller shade in a blackout fabric. One pull of the hem bar and you have complete darkness.
For a long-lasting shade that can stand up to your sunniest windows, choose a solar shade. You’ll block up to 90% of the sun while still maintaining a view to the outdoors.
And roller and solar shades offer some budget-friendly fabrics that can reduce the cost of covering your windows without compromising durability or performance.
Disadvantages
There are few downsides to roller and solar shades. These two categories have something for every room—blackout roller shades for bedrooms, light-filtering roller shades for living rooms, 10% openness solar shades for a sun room, sheer roller shades for a dining room—and everything in between.
Solar Shades
Pros: Stand up to the brightest sunlight, reduces glare, blocks up to 90% of UV rays.
Cons: Does not provide complete privacy at night.
Roller Shades
Pros: Huge range of fabrics, excellent light control options, something for every room.
Cons: There are so many options, you might have trouble deciding.
Sample Scenarios and Solutions
Scenario: A living room with a picture window overlooking a snowy mountain to the west?
Solution: A west-facing window is going to bring in serious heat in the afternoon. This calls for a solar shade. But because there’s a view we want to preserve, we’ll choose a 10% openness level solar fabric.
Scenario: An entertainment room where movie watching begins a couple hours before sundown.
Solution: To shut out the light for optimum movie viewing and video gaming, choose a roller shade in a blackout fabric.
Scenario: A bedroom where the owner wants to take advantage of the sun during the day but also have privacy at night.
Solution: This is a situation where a dual shade would work best. Pair a solar shade with a blackout roller shade for the best of all worlds.
Scenario: A home office.
Solution: Solar shades are excellent for home offices where you want to enjoy the light of day without experiencing the screen glare.
A Solution for Everyone
Roller-style shades offer a solution for nearly every issue related to light and privacy. They’re one of the most affordable window-treatment options and can provide many years of reliable performance. The difference between roller and solar shades is in the fabric—spend some time looking at the available fabrics and order a swatch. Altogether, the two categories provide hundreds of options. Talk to Couvrant today to find the perfect shade for you.
