Attic Window Shades & Blinds

Attic rooms rarely come with ordinary windows. A converted attic bedroom or office might have a window set into the slope of the roof, a small gable window at one end, and a short dormer tucked under the eaves, all within a few feet of each other. The roof window lets in more light than anything else in the room and usually sits right above the bed or the desk, while the smaller windows are awkward to reach and to fit. These attic window shades and blinds are made to the openings you measure and shipped direct.

Shades for roof windows, gables and dormers

ZeroGlow is the shade for the roof window. It is a 25 mm cellular shade held inside an edge-to-edge frame, so the honeycomb fabric is enclosed on every side rather than hanging free from a headrail. The fabric is blackout, the lift is cordless, and you choose whether it travels up and down the glass or side to side, whichever suits the slope. It works in the gable window too, if that window needs to go fully dark without drilling into the trim.

For the upright windows, cellular shades are the natural partner. Blackout cellular suits an attic bedroom, and light filtering cellular suits an office or playroom where you want daylight without glare on a screen. Roller shades in blackout or light filtering fabric are the slimmest option for a plain rectangular dormer, rolling up into a compact cassette.

Sizes for small and sloped openings

ZeroGlow is built to your opening, measured in inches or millimeters, in six fabric colors (White, Black, Beige, Light Gray, Dark Gray and Straw) and three frame colors. The frame presses into the opening rather than hanging from brackets, so the size you send is the size it is made to. It is cordless, not motorized, so think about how you will reach a high roof window before you order.

Cordless cellular shades build from 12 inches wide and 12 inches high, up to 94 inches wide and 94 inches high. A motorized cellular shade needs at least 23 inches of width and stops at 79 inches high. Roller shades vary more: on our squared cassette, cordless needs at least 23 5/8 inches of width, so a narrow dormer is better served by a chain-operated roller, which builds from 11 3/4 inches. Light filtering roller reaches 98 3/8 inches wide and blackout 94 1/2 inches.

Installing them yourself

ZeroGlow needs no drill. Lay the frame pieces on a soft, flat surface and join the corners. Run the rubber weather strip around the outside edges of the frame so it seals snugly against the opening. Then position the frame in the window opening and press the front of it gently into place. On a roof window, assemble the frame on the floor first and use a stable step ladder, with a second person to hand it up.

For cellular shades, take 1/4 inch off the width for an inside mount to clear the frame, or add about 3 7/8 inches to width and height for an outside mount to close the light gap. Roller shades hang from cassette brackets: you need a 6 mm drill bit, the brackets mark at 1.1 inch screw spacing, and two anchor types come in the box, one for drywall and one for masonry. Hook the valance onto the bracket latch, press back until it clicks, and check that both the top and rear have locked.

In a room with a sloped ceiling, match the ZeroGlow fabric to the ceiling color, White or Light Gray on painted drywall and Straw or Beige against wood, so the roof window disappears when it is closed. Then carry the same tone onto the gable and dormer shades so the whole room reads as one.