Renter Friendly Shades & Blinds

Renting narrows the question to one thing: what can go up on the window and come back down again without an argument at the end of the lease. Most made to measure shades mount on brackets that take two small screws rather than a track or a pelmet, and on our cellular line a no-drill mount avoids holes entirely. Rental windows are also rarely the sizes a store stocks.

The no-drill option, and what else works

Cellular shades are the line to start with, because a no-drill mount is offered on them as a priced add-on at $20 per shade. That is the version to order if your lease is strict about fixings. Light filtering cellular is the general purpose choice, and blackout cellular is the bedroom one if a street light or a parking lot lamp is the actual complaint. Cellular earns its place for a second reason too: the cell structure holds a layer of air against the glass, which does something about the single glazed windows that older rental buildings are full of.

Roller shades cover what cellular does not. Blackout roller for a bedroom, light filtering roller for a room you want screened without shutting it down. These mount on the cassette bracket, so they do involve drilling, but the footprint is small and honest: a 6 mm hole, two screws on opposite sides of each bracket, patchable with filler in a few minutes. Zebra shades suit a studio where one window has to do everything, since the alternating sheer and solid bands slide past each other and you set privacy and view on the same shade.

Sizes, minimum widths and lift choices

Rental windows skew small and odd, so the minimum usually decides the order. Cordless cellular builds down to 12 inches wide and 12 inches high, which covers a narrow bathroom or galley kitchen window. On a bead chain, cellular needs 18 inches of width and reaches 197 by 157 inches. A manual clutch loop roller starts at 11 3/4 inches, while cordless roller needs 19 3/4 inches on our standard squared and round cassettes and 23 5/8 inches on the squared cassette, because the spring has to fit inside the tube.

Going the other way, cordless cellular tops out at 94 by 94 inches. Blackout roller reaches 86 inches wide on our standard squared and round cassettes and 94 1/2 inches on the squared cassette, while light filtering reaches 96 and 98 3/8 inches on the same hardware, because the heavier blackout goods are milled on narrower rolls. One more rule: if the fabric is milled narrower than the system maximum, the fabric width becomes the maximum.

Cordless is the usual lift here, with no loose cords and nothing at the side of the frame. A motorized roller needs 8 to 10 inches more minimum width than the manual version, and motorized cellular needs 23 inches of width and caps at 79 inches of height.

Measuring, fitting and taking them down

Measure the opening itself rather than an old blind, and measure every window separately even where the units look identical. For an inside mount, take 1/4 inch off the measured width. For an outside mount, add roughly 3 7/8 inches to width and height.

If you are bracket mounting, you need a 6 mm drill bit, the brackets mark at 1.1 inch screw spacing, and two types of expansion anchor ship in the box so you can match the anchor to the wall you have. Two screws on opposite sides of each bracket hold on a sound wall, and the other two pre-drilled holes are there for a wide or heavy shade. Hook the valance groove onto the bracket latch, press back until it clicks, and confirm both the top and the rear have locked. Coming out is the reverse: press the metal retaining washer at the rear of the bracket and the valance releases. Do not pry it off the front, which bends the latch.

Worth confirming your lease allows wall fixings before you start. Everything here is made to measure and carries a limited lifetime warranty against defects, with motors and controls covered for five years.