Motorized Top Down Bottom Up Shades & Blinds

A top down bottom up shade is one of the best privacy tools a window can have: lower the top rail for daylight over the top, keep the bottom closed so the street cannot see in. The catch is that you now have two rails to manage, and on a wide window, or one behind a bed or a desk, reaching both every morning and evening gets old fast. Motorized top down bottom up shades and blinds move each rail at the press of a button, so you can open the top for light at breakfast and close the whole shade at night without touching it. Both shades on this page are made to your measurements and shipped direct.

Which motorized top down bottom up shades to choose

Our motorized TDBU build is cellular, because that is where our supplier spec documents a motorized top down bottom up system, in a 38 mm honeycomb cell. Light filtering cellular shades are the usual pick. The lowered bottom half gives privacy while the open top lets daylight wash across the ceiling, so the room stays bright. They suit street-facing living rooms, home offices and ground-floor bedrooms. Blackout cellular shades make sense in a bedroom or nursery where you want daylight from the top during the day and a fully dark room at night.

Both rails move on their own, so a motorized TDBU shade carries two motors rather than one. Choose a dual battery or a dual plug-in version, each with a remote. A multi-channel remote runs several shades together or one at a time. Add a standard WiFi hub for app and voice control, or a Matter WiFi hub if your home runs on Apple Home. A solar charger is available for the battery version.

For a tidy look along a street-facing wall, bring every top rail down to the same height so the band of daylight runs level from window to window. Keep one fabric color across the room and choose blackout only where you sleep; a light filtering shade in the same color on a nearby window matches in daylight.

Sizes and limits for motorized TDBU

The motors live in the head rail, and that sets the range. A motorized top down bottom up cellular shade starts at 23 inches wide and 12 inches high and can be made up to 126 inches wide as a single shade, which covers most wide bedroom and living room windows without a split. Height is the limit to watch: motorized TDBU stops at 79 inches high.

If a window falls outside that range, the manual versions cover it. A cordless TDBU cellular shade can be made from 12 inches wide and 8 inches high, up to 98 inches wide and 94 inches high, which suits narrow and short windows. A dual bead chain TDBU shade reaches 197 inches wide and 157 inches high for tall or very wide openings. In a room with a mix of windows, motorize the ones in range and match the fabric on the rest so the room still looks like one set.

Measuring and installing it yourself

Decide on an inside or outside mount first. For an inside mount, measure the opening and send the exact size; the shade is made about 1/4 inch narrower than the opening so it clears the frame. For an outside mount, add about 3 7/8 inches to both the width and the height so the shade overlaps the opening and blocks more light at the edges. If your window is close to the 79 inch limit, remember that the outside mount allowance adds height, so an inside mount may keep a motorized shade in range.

When you order, give the room name, the mount, the width and height, your fabric, the motor type and direction, the remote type and channel, and whether you want a hub or solar panel. If you choose plug-in motors, plan for an outlet near the window.

Order a light filtering and a blackout sample to compare in your own window, then measure, choose your motors and let the shade look after both rails.