Keeping Cool: Solar Shades or Cellular Shades?

The summer heat is here! The searing sunshine flows through your windows and heats up your home beyond the comfort level of any good Canadian (cuz we all prefer cold winter weather, right? 😉)

So how can you keep out the heat in a stylish way that won’t make your living room look like a call-center?

There are a couple of great choices when it comes to blinds and shades…

Solar Shades, also sometimes Shearweave Shades (named after the popular manufacturer of the material used) or Sun Screen Shades, are the ones that look and work like a roller shade, but with a whole bunch of holes in the fabric. The holes, or openings, come in a variety of percentages, ranging from around 14% on the high end (meaning 14% of light will get through), all the way down to 1%.

These shades provide a classic roller shade look, with the benefits of reducing UV rays which not only heat up your home, but can also discolour furniture, walls and carpeting over time. Many say they are an excellent choice if you’re just looking for something to ‘get the job done’. Plus, the added benefit that during daylight hours, you can still see outside to some degree (the lower the percentage opening, the less you’ll see).

But if you’re looking for nighttime privacy, buyer beware: when it's dark outside and you have your solar shades all the way down in your windows with the lights on, passersby will see inside your home clear as day!

Finally, Solar Shades won’t help keep out any cold in the winter months, and so cannot be evaluated as far as R value goes.

Cellular Shades (aka Honeycomb Shades due to their beehive like cells when viewed from the side) offer more privacy, more style, and offer a different kind of cooling-down effect, by naturally creating an air barrier between your windows and your rooms. Think of it as a semi-sealed wall of air that partially blocks the summer heat (and the winter cold), creating a degree of energy-efficient R value. Double-cell shades do offer a wider air barrier and therefore a higher degree of insulation, but do not double the energy efficiency.

As far as price goes, Honeycomb Shades tend to cost a little less than the solar shades. And most designers will tell you that the look of cell shades is much more appropriate for the home than ‘those officey looking solar shades’. But of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder….we have many customers who love their solar shades hanging in all the daytime living spaces of their home and adore them!

Whatever your flavour, both Solar Shades and Cell Shades will do their part to make the summer heat that much more enjoyable. And that’s cool, eh?!