Cordless Shades & Blinds

A cord loop is the part of a shade nobody notices until there is a toddler or a cat in the room. Cordless lift takes it out: no chain down the side of the window, nothing within reach. The tradeoff is size. A cordless shade holds position with a spring balanced against the weight of the fabric, so it covers a narrower band of window sizes than a bead chain.

Which shades come cordless, and why

Cordless roller and zebra shades are built on a cassette. The open roll roller system has no cordless option at all, so cordless here means one of the cassette systems, where the spring set and the adjustable bracket live. Light filtering and blackout roller fabrics are both available cordless.

Cellular shades are the most forgiving cordless option on a small window. Coverly builds 38 mm cellular, and cordless is the only control with a 12 inch minimum width, the answer for a narrow bathroom or stairwell opening.

Woven wood takes a cordless spring with a safety rope loop and a line receiver in the headrail, plus an optional cordless wand. Its cordless headrail is the slimmest of the three at 1 5/8 inches, against 2 inches for clutch loop and motorisation.

Roman shades in light filtering and blackout are cassette built and cordless capable too.

The size band cordless covers

Cordless needs more width than a chain and gives up height. On the squared cassette, cordless starts at 23 5/8 inches wide against 11 3/4 inches for a manual chain, because the spring has to fit. On the smaller cassette it starts at 19 3/4 inches and reaches 96 inches wide by 80 inches high. On the squared cassette, cordless light filtering fabric reaches 98 3/8 inches wide and 137 3/4 inches high, while blackout and sunscreen stop at 94 1/2 by 118 inches, because the heavier goods are milled on narrower rolls.

Cordless cellular runs from 12 inches wide and tops out at 94 by 94 inches. It is the most restricted control on that line, since the spring balances the whole stack.

Cordless woven wood runs 19 3/4 to 96 inches wide and 18 to 106 inches high. Clutch loop reaches 118 inches high on the same shade, so a very tall woven wood window is a clutch job. Clutch also has the narrowest minimum at 11 3/4 inches, which is the fallback when an opening is too slim for cordless.

One last check before ordering wide: if the fabric is milled narrower than the system maximum, the fabric width becomes the maximum.

On roller, zebra, roman, solar and woven wood, cordless is a flat 38 dollar upgrade. On cellular it is a different fabric rate rather than an add, so a cellular order carries no separate cordless line.

Measuring and installing it yourself

For an inside mount, measure the width at the top, centre and bottom and use the smallest figure rounded down to the nearest 1/8 inch, then repeat for height. Give the exact opening and let the factory apply its own deduction.

Cassette roller, zebra and roman shades mount with a bracket that takes a 6 mm drill bit, with screw holes spaced at 1.1 inches. Two anchor types are supplied, for drywall and for masonry. Both brackets have four pre-drilled holes: two screws on opposite sides hold on a sound wall, and the other two are for weak substrate or a wide, heavy shade. Lock the valance groove onto the latch, press back until it clicks, then confirm the top and the rear have both locked. A bracket seated on the top latch alone will hold its own weight, then drop the first time the shade is raised.

Woven wood uses its own bracket, 1 3/8 inches high by 1 3/4 wide with 1/2 inch of fabric clearance, and needs 1 5/8 inches of frame depth inside, or 2 5/8 to sit flush.

Everything here is made to your measurements and shipped direct, with a limited lifetime warranty against defects in materials and workmanship. Order samples first if you want to see a colour in your own light.