We hope everyone is having a very nice new year. We only have one offical sale going on right now but that should change by next week. Our sales reps haven’t sent over next months promos yet and we will probably have them by Monday or Tuesday. So far, only Hunter Douglas™ has sent those over and it is an excellent deal. Free UltraGlide™ option (a $40 value). This is a unique operationg system for the Duette™ honeycomb shades. The string never gets longer! Click here to see all of the Hunter Douglas Duette™ Honeycomb Shades. I will have the other sales posted once I hear back from our reps. Have a great 2009 everyone! It seems just like yesterday for V2K. Remember that?

We just added a very high quality cellular shade line called Super Saver Single Cells. This is a 1/2″ single celled fabric in 15 light filtering colors and 12 blackout colors. Pricing is very reasonable, the fabric is of high quality, and all options are available including: top down-bottom up, cordless, and motorization. Order your free samples today for this new “Super Saver Single Cells”.

The new Odysee ™ Insulating blinds by Comfortex is a unique new cellular shade. It goes up and down and has the same energy efficiency as a normal cell shde but with a pull of the cord, the cells collapse to give a one inch view between the cells! To see the new Odysee, click here.

We just added the new Comfortex Symphony Double Cellular Blackouts. This is a 3/8″ double honeycomb fabric made of the metal milar found in our single blackout cells. They look better, hang smoother and best of all, 99% energy efficient. We replaced the old Comfortex Matinee that had the gray backing with this new product. To see all colors, scroll down the page towards the bottom at Comfortex Signature Series.

There has been only one change since April promotions and that is the Hunter Douglas Applause and Duette 1 cent Literise (cordless) sale is no longer available. To see all of this months promos, click here.

Hunter Douglas Duette Honeycomb Shades

Sale*- 1 cent LiteRise Upgrade. Shows up automatically in Quick Quote. No Promo Code needed! Runs till April 30.
Rebates, Rebates, Rebates- $20 on UltraGlide (quantity 4 max), $20 on EasyRise (quantity 4 max), $50 on PowerRise (quantity 4 max), $100 on Vertiglide (quantity 4 max). On your order page (where you put your name and address) there is a special directions section at the bottom. Simply write “Need Rebate Form” and we will mail it to you. Runs till May 31st.
Click here for all of the Hunter Douglas Duette sales and rebates

Hunter Douglas Applause Honeycomb Shades
*Sale*- 1 cent LiteRise Upgrade. Shows up automatically in Quick Quote. No Promo Code needed! Runs till April 30.

Click here for the Applause upgrade sale

Insignia Roller Shades
*Sale* 5% off on Insignia Rollers. Shows automatically in Quick Quote. No promo code needed!!!
Click here for Roller Shades 5% off sale

Prestige Woven Wood Blinds
*Sale* 5% off on Prestige Wovens. Shows automatically in Quick Quote. No promo code needed!!!

Click here for Woven Woods 5% off sale

Timber Blinds honeycomb shades
*Sale*: 1 cent top down, bottom up upgrade for Timber Blinds honeycomb shades. Scroll down below to view product. Shows up automatically in quick quote. No promo code needed!!! Runs till end of June

Click here to see all product with the Top Down, Bottom Up sales.

Comfortex, a leading manufacturer in the window covering industry, just introduced its new cordless top down, bottom up cellular (honeycomb) shades. If you can reach the top of the window, you will have a handle instead of that long cord to drop the blind down from the top. You also have another handle at the bottom so you can raise and lower the shade like normal. It is a really cool feature and much more child friendly and hassle free because you no longer have the cords to deal with. They also just came out with a new roller shade line called the Envision Roller Shades. This will replace the Serenade book. There are supposed to be newer fabrics and the specs on the width are much wider than before. We are waiting on sampling before we place this online. Should be in the next week or two.

$5 off on all Hunter Douglas Duette and Applause Top Down, Bottom Up Blinds. We are still running a sale on our basswood and Fauxwood standard blinds.

Some of the changes on that we are doing in order to get to the point of a new updated page design are: Remove all I-Frames from site, convert all HTM pages to asp format, adding updated metas to the backend. Adding room locations on shopping cart, and updating pricing (two suppliers have recently increased pricing). We are negotiating samples from Hunter Douglas who now wants to charge $5 per customer for samples. We want to keep that service free.

Local business is booming. Our installers can barely keep up. Be sure to triple check your measurements and call or email if you have questions. All specifications on a product can be found on that page. Simply click on the specifications link found abouve the quick quote.

By Louis Lyons

Honeycomb blinds or cellular shades was invented in the late 1970’s by Wendell Colson from Hunter Douglas product development. He came up with the idea during the energy crisis at that time. The blind was released in 1985 under the Duette brand name by Hunter Douglas Window Fashions. Since then, the cellular shade or honeycomb blind has become one of the most popular blinds in the entire window treatment industry with hundreds of colors, textures and options to choose from.
It is called a honeycomb shade because it looks like a bees hive. The cells trap the air and make the window treatment extremely energy efficient. There are many different cell or pleat sizes available. The most common being the 3/8″ single pleat, 3/4″ single pleat and the 3/8″ double pleat. The double pleat saves more energy because it is two cells fused together. This traps more air. Some of the other sizes on the market today are the 1/2″ single cell, the 1/2″ double cell, the giant 1 1/4″ cell and the most energy savings of all, the Triple honeycomb shade.
Honeycomb blinds and cellular shades are also available in room darkening, light filtering or total blackout materials. Most are made of polyester but some are now being made with cotton. Cell construction of this product is important.
There are now many options that are available with a cellular blind or honeycomb shade including top down, bottom up, cordless, continuous cord loop, and motorization.
Energy Efficiency
The way to measure the energy of a cellular blind or honeycomb shade is determined by it’s regulation value or R-Value. A material’s R-value is the measure of its resistance to heat flow. For the window blind industry, the R-Value starts at 1 and ends at 5 with 5 being the highest. The way it works is simple: the higher the R-value, the more the material insulates. Below is a cart of the R-Value of the most common types of cellular shades or honeycomb blinds.
Cellular/Honeycomb Pleat
R-Value
Sheer
1-2
3/8″ Single Cell
2.5-3.5
3/4″ Single Cell
2.5-3.5
Double Cell
2.61-4.35
Blackout Cells
4-4.30
Triple Cells
4.80
Fabric Material
Most light filtering cellular shades or honeycomb blinds are made with spun 100% polyester. Some are now being made in cotton. Most have a white neutral backing with many textures and colors on the front. The cells are either glued or fused together to prevent separation. For the blackout shades, most are made with a milar foil or a tri laminate coating to prevent light from going through. Again, white or gray is added to the back while there are many colors in the front to choose from. Cell construction is important for this product. Some of the less expensive cellular fabrics have separation problems where the material will come apart at the cell. This typically happens when the glue wasn’t treated right or the heating process was at the wrong temperature. Lifetime warranties are import for this issue. Shades Shutters Blinds provides lifetime warranties on all our products.
Options
The most common and standard option for the cellular blind or honeycomb shade is where it just goes up and down. You pull the string down and the blind goes up. Pull the string to the side of the window treatment and it locks in place. Pull the string towards the middle of the blind and it releases it.

Top Down, Bottom Up is another very popular option. It allows you to drop the top of the blind while leaving the bottom in the closed position. It has two head rails. One that attaches to the top and one that that floats up and down. It has two sets of strings both operated like the standard blind. The first string lifts the blind up and down like the standard blind. The string on the opposite side drops the blind down from the top.

Another popular option for the cell shade and honeycomb blind is the cordless option. This is where there is not string to pull the blind up and down. Instead, there is a handle at the bottom that allows you to lift the blind. This is a great option for window where you do not want to have the string showing or for children’s rooms. The window covering industry has made great stride in the last few years where the price has come down sharply and the fabric doe not loose its intensity over time.

The continuous cordloop option is very popular for large windows. The mechanism is on a roller on the side of the honeycomb shade and you pull on it as it goes up and down. This also eliminates the string getting longer as you pull the blind up. It also allows stability to the blind so it works great for very wide blinds. Because of this option, blinds can now be made up to 144″ in one piece of fabric!

All information can be found out our website: www.shadesshuttersblinds.com. Everyone has permission to use this article. Please reference the author and his website address. Thank You.