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Add Style To Any Room With These Creative Shades

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If you’re looking for a way to dress up the windows in your home, you may want to consider installing shades. Shades can add elegance and style to your family room, living room, bedroom, and study, and they can make a great addition to the interior decor of your home. It’s important to remember that not all shades are created equal, so you may want to brush up on the various styles and fabrics that are available. There are sheer shades, woven wood shades, deco folds, and faux shades, just to name a few. In this blog, we’ll take a look at some unique shade styles that you should consider for your home.

If you live in the Los Angeles area and you’re interested in learning more about how shades, blinds, and shutters can benefit your home, be sure to contact the window experts at Arjay’s Window Fashions. We offer a large selection of complete window covering solutions and we can help you choose the best window treatments for the interior and exterior of your home or business.

Faux Shades

If you’re looking for a style of shade that will add a pop of color to your home, you may want to consider investing in faux shades. These shades are nonfunctioning, which means they don’t fully extend to the full width of your window. Perfect for those people who don’t need the functionality of normal shades, these shades are available in a variety of colors, styles, and fabrics. An extra bonus of these window treatments is that they can bring a custom design to your home at a very affordable price range.

Honeycomb Cellular Shades

Honeycomb cellular shades are a great option for keeping out the summer heat or insulating your windows during those cold winter months. Many homeowners prefer these shades because they are energy efficient, not to mention they give the user total control over the mood and lighting in each room. A wonderful window treatment for people looking for privacy and light control, many honeycomb shades are created with semi-opaque light-filtering fabrics that can help you block out that early morning sunshine on the weekends.

Bamboo Woven Wood Shades

Bamboo woven wood shades are another fantastic window covering that you can add to your bedroom, bathroom, or living room. Since no two pieces of wood are the same, no two shades are the same, which means you can install a truly unique wonder of nature right in your home! These shades offer natural light, but they can also be used for privacy and light control when needed. As one of the most eco-friendly blind options, bamboo wood shades are available in a variety of styles to choose from.

At Arjay’s Window Fashions in Los Angeles, we’re proud to provide our clients with some of the best woven wood shades available. We offer a large selection of wood tones at our showroom, including cherry, mahogany, pine, ash, and more. This is a great way to complement any existing wood furniture you have in your home as well. We also offer a variety of control options for your window shades including cordless operations and vertical drapery options. If you’re interested in learning more about our window covering solutions, be sure to stop by our showroom between 9am and 5pm, Monday through Friday!

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If you’re looking to add elegance to your home’s windows, you may want to invest in roman shades. These shades look great on any type of windows, and they tend to work well on smaller windows or windows with furniture against them. These beautiful shades feature a swath of fabric that can be raised or lowered, depending on your individual light preference. When raised, the fabric of these shades will stack up into a neat horizontal row at the top of the window. There are several different styles of roman shades that are available. Let’s look at some of them below!

Flat Roman Shades

Looking to add a simple touch of elegance to your bedroom? Consider installing flat roman shades in your space. These shades can create a traditional or casual look, and you can choose from a variety of fabrics. When fully raised, these shades showcase numerous folds that are stacked in an accordion style along the bottom. If you want to add a little more flare to your bedroom, consider ordering flat roman shades with bold patterns on them.

Relaxed Roman Shades

If the style of your home is casual chic, you will love the aesthetic of simple and relaxed roman shades. When these shades are raised, the sides of the shade will come up, while the excess fabric folds down the middle in a curved manner. This is why many people say that relaxed roman shades “smile” back at you. These shades can help you create a comfortable mood in your home, and they can often be found in less formal areas such as the kitchen, master bedroom, or den.

Hobbled Roman Shades

Are you looking for a truly unique design statement for your home’s windows? If so, you will probably love the look and functionality of hobbled roman shades. With this kind of shade, you will get soft, waterfall-like folds of fabric, ad when you raise the shade, the fabric will stack on the bottom to create a tailored appearance.

Whichever style of roman shades you choose for your home, be sure to do your best to reflect your personal decorating taste. At Arjay’s Window Fashions in Los Angeles, we’ve helped hundreds of homeowners and commercial business owners find the perfect window coverings for their space. If you need assistance choosing the best shades or blinds for your property, contact our window treatment professionals today!

Roller Shades

Roller shades are innovative window coverings that feature a rolling mechanism that will help you lift and lower your shades with ease. They offer a classic style and modern functionality that allows the user to operate their window coverings from the comfort of their couch or even from across the room. You can choose from a vast collection of soft, touchable fabrics with interesting textures, weaves, and colors that range from traditional to contemporary styles.

We hope that this article is helpful as you begin to shop for new window coverings and shades for your home. At Arjay’s Window Fashions, we’re proud to offer Los Angeles residents with high quality window treatments including the installation of shades, blinds, draperies, and shutters. Browse our window projects online or check out our testimonials to see what our customers have to say about our services. We look forward to working with you!

Common Window Treatment Terminology You Should Know, Part Two

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At Arjay’s Window Fashions in Los Angeles, we understand how time consuming and challenging it can be to shop for window treatments without the help of a professional. That’s why we’re proud to offer California residents with some of the most innovative and decorative window treatments available. In part one of this two-part series, we discussed some common window terminology you should be aware of including the different styles of window treatments available. In part two, we’ll take a look at some common window treatment materials you should be aware of before you start shopping for new drapes, curtains, and blinds.

When you have a general idea of the types of window treatments you’d like, it’s time to start looking at the different materials available. Curtains, draperies, and blinds can come in a variety of different materials that can add weight or lighten up a room, depending on what you’re going for. Let’s take a look at some popular window treatment materials below.

  • Acrylic – If you’re looking for a lightweight fabric that looks and feels like wool, but is machine washable, wrinkle-resistant, and won’t fade in the sunlight, you’ll love acrylic material. Acrylic window treatments are very easy to care for and they tend to hold up very well over time.
  • Chenille – This soft and luxurious fabric is a popular novelty yarn among homeowners. It is often used to create a rough, looped or knotted textured surface.
  • Damask – If you’d like design themes in the fabric of your drapes or curtains, you may want to consider damask. This elaborately patterned, jacquard-woven fabric is created from silk, linen, wool, cotton, and other synthetic fibers. Common designs include flowers, leaves, fruit, and animals.
  • Eyelet – This lightweight curtain fabric is often decorated with small, embroidered holes. The holes are normally laid out in a floral pattern, and the design is often found in trim.
  • Gingham – Gingham is a casual cotton, or cotton and polyester blend fabric that has a small checkered design of colored squares that alternate with white squares. This material is often used for tiered curtains.
  • Lace – As you may already know, lace is a delicate ornamental fabric that is woven in a web-like pattern. It is often combined with other types of embroidery.
  • Linen – Linen is a flat-woven fabric that is made from the fibers of the flax plant. It is extremely strong and smooth, and can offer a crisp texture for your blinds or drapes. It can also be blended with cotton, silk, and other natural fibers.
  • Polyester – This synthetic fiber material is machine washable and wrinkle-resistant. Polyester is normally blended with cotton or other synthetic fibers.

dreamstime_xxl_16476412Once you’ve decided what material you’d like to use for your new window treatments, you may want to look into different embellishments to really make your curtains or drapes pop. Let’s take a look at some popular needlework and fabric designs to consider for your new window treatments below.

  • Applique – This is a needlework technique in which different pieces of fabric are embroidered onto a background of fabric to create a unique design.
  • Basketweave – A basketweave is an allover texture design that can be produced by an under-and-over weaving technique. As you may have guessed, the end result resembles the same texture of a weaved basket.
  • Box Pleat – Box pleats are evenly spaced and stitched double pleats. Fabric is folded under on both sides to create a box-like shape. Box pleats can normally be found in the header of draperies.
  • Burnout – A burnout is a decorative fabric design that is produced by dissolving away one or more fibers in a fabric with the help of a weak acid or chemical salt. This is used to destroy some of the fibers on the fabric to create a relief or silhouette pattern.
  • Embroidery – These decorative stitches can be used to dress up the base fabric of your blinds or curtains. Some common types of embroidery include eyelet, chain stitch, and satin stitch patterns.
  • Jacquard – A jacquard weave can be used to create an intricate woven pattern using multiple levels. Some examples include damask fabrics, tapestries, and brocades.

We hope that this blog has taught you a thing or two about the different types of window treatment materials and embellishments available. If you live in Los Angeles and you’re ready to add shutters, blinds, shades, or drapes to your windows, contact our professionals today!

Comparing Blinds And Shades As Options For Your Window Treatments

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Comparing Shades

You’ve probably heard the terms ‘blinds’ and ‘shades’ used so often and so commonly that the two terms are practically exchangeable. While both blinds and shades are window treatments that block harsh sunlight and provide you with privacy, they go about doing so in different ways. How do blinds and shades really differ, you say? Well, in today’s blog post, Arjay’s Window Fashions is going to take a close look at the advantages of disadvantages of blinds and shades. We like to consider our Ventura window covering business credible about this matter because we happen to carry both blinds and shades!

Arjay’s Is Your Trusted Window Coverings Supplier

Serving the greater upper west Los Angeles and Orange County areas for years, Arjay’s has been selected as a Small Business of The Year by the area’s Chamber Of Commerce. By priding ourselves on always being on the leading edge of technology, Arjay’s always offers the newest and most innovative window covering products on the market. To learn more about how our window treatment business works, please feel free to visit our company page or read on to discover the differences and similarities between blinds and shades. Let’s take a look!

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Understand Your Criteria First

When considering getting blinds or shades, you’ll want to make it simple by thinking about what you’d like to specifically accomplish with your window treatments. Keep questions like these in mind:

  • Do you want to have control over privacy in the room?
  • Do you want to let in a lot of sunlight without obstructing the view?
  • Are you concerned about energy efficiency?
  • Do you have any household pets that might tamper with your window coverings?
  • How does your house face the sun?

These questions, amongst many others, are the things that you need to keep in mind before you look into different blind or shade colors, or even a completely different type of window covering.

How A Blind Is Characterized

Blinds have horizontal or vertical slats that louver to control the amount of sunlight and air that is allowed in a given room. So, if you want extra airflow entering the room or you want windows with an unobstructed view, blinds can actually be completely pulled up with a pull cord or even a motorized, cordless system. While most manufacturers make blinds in a range of materials like aluminum, wood, faux wood, vinyl and faux composite wood, you can also find eco-friendly blind options with materials like bamboo.

Differentiating Between Blind Types

Usually, the most popular window blinds are made with real wood and faux wood. Mini-blinds are also a very popular option. Here’s a quick breakdown of different blind types:

    • Mini-blinds are also known as horizontal aluminum blinds. Mini-blinds are usually available in 1” slats in 6 or 8 gauge aluminum as well as ½” slats, 1-⅜” slats and even 2” slats. Extremely durable, mini-blinds come in hundreds of colors and are also available as a vinyl slat, which is a good economical option.
    • Real wood and faux wood blinds have a warm tone to them that can make any room look cozy and inviting. Real wood blinds are available as painted or stained and usually come in several different types of wood including bass, bamboo, ash, and maple. Even composite faux wood looks more like real wood blinds than standard PVC faux wood, and naturally, it’s also less expensive than real wood.

 

  • Vertical blinds tend to be perfect for patio doors and large windows, and they’re also quite controllable. The fact that vertical blinds are easy to control means that you can have a high amount of light control as well as privacy. Vertical blinds tend to be available in vinyl or fabric in a wide range of colors and styles.
  • Shutters are similar to wood blinds. However, shutters function as more of an external piece of furniture that goes around your windows. Shutters surround your windows with a casement while the inside of the shutter has slats to louver open and close.

So What’s A Shade, Then?

Unlike blinds, shades do not have slats that louver. Instead, shades go up and down and tend to be made from fabrics and woven woods. Shades offer some functional convenience over blinds in the sense that they can be opened from the top, bottom, or even both ends in order to control light and privacy.

Different Types of Shades

 

  • Roller shades consist of a material that is rolled onto a tube and then rolls off of the tube with a continuous cord loop clutch system or cordless system. Roller shades tend to be very popular in homes and businesses with solar screen fabrics which keep the glare of the sun away while also allowing you to see through them. Roller shades are available in solid and print fabrics that range from modern to traditional – for a truly custom look, add trim and tassels.
  • Cellular or Honeycomb shades are as beautiful as they are functional. Available in both single and double-cell varieties, these type of shades provide both temperature and sound-insulating features and already have multiple lift system options such as cordless, continuous cord loop, and motorized options. With these kind of shades, usually, an occasional vacuuming is about all they need.
  • Pleated shades consist of a single piece of material and have the advantage of more unique fabric options as compared to other window coverings. Pleated shades tend to be available with or without a liner for added privacy and insulation, and they’re also available in a wide range of both color and texture options.
  • Woven wood or bamboo shades provide a highly stylized look that will appease your inner interior designer. Yes, these types of shades are certainly more fragile than most types of blinds, but they’re also available with tapes on the edges in order to prevent fraying.

Deciding Between Blinds And Shades

As we mentioned above, having shades or blinds work with your interior design needs all comes down to what your priorities are. If you live in an open desert environment without many surrounding trees, then a sunshade might be the best option for you, whereas if you live in the city, sound-insulating blinds would be the way to go. Ultimately, you’ll need to consider how much privacy and light control is needed in your specific rooms and then take the time to browse through the different styles and colors available with your goals for the room in mind.

Selecting a window treatment should be based on estimating the light requirements, privacy necessities, energy efficiency and pricing needs that you’re looking for. All things considered, choosing the right window treatment for your home can create a subtle yet significant difference in its atmosphere.

Trust Arjay’s To Help You Make The Right Decision

We don’t expect you to be an expert when it comes to window treatments because that’s our job! Whether you’re looking for Roman blinds, Venetian blinds, vertical blinds, bamboo blinds, honeycomb blinds, cellular blinds, drapes or even a sunshade, Arjay’s Window Fashions does it all! By working with you and your home, we’ll find a solution that works for your needs as well as your budget. Contact us today to get the right shades, blinds or other window coverings for your home!

A Few Pros And Cons Of Honeycomb Shades

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Chances are, you’re probably familiar with honeycomb shades because they are a trusted and popular choice for window coverings. The honeycomb design is so widespread that you might even have them in your house – for many reasons that we’ll get into below, honeycomb shades represent a versatile and comprehensive option when it comes to your window covering needs. As you may have guessed, Arjay’s Window Fashions offers honeycomb shades to outfit your home in the Southern California area. Learn more about this ideal window covering by visiting this page.

If You Can Think It, Arjay’s Can Do It!

For all of your blinds, shades, draperies, exterior solar shades, and really any type of window treatment that you could possibly image, Arjay’s has it. Do you have any strangely shaped windows that you’re having trouble finding the right fit for? Our custom blinds services will have you taken care of. Shoot us any questions that you have by contacting us or even dropping by our Ventura store. Otherwise, let’s look at some of the pros and cons (although mostly pros) of these popular window coverings.

Pro: Insulating Abilities

If you’ve heard the name ‘cellular shades’ before, you should know that refers to the same thing as honeycomb shades. These shades are largely considered to be the ‘workhorse’ of window coverings because they offer privacy, temperature insulation, and light control all in one convenient package.

Due to the long, open channels in honeycomb shades, you’ll get quality insulation from the harsh elements outside. These channels trap air at the window on the exterior of your home and will insulate the room from the hot summer air and brittle winter winds. In fact, honeycomb shades are so great at insulating that switching to these efficient window treatments will nearly double its “R-value” – a measurement of the resistance of the shade to transfer heat. From simply adding the most energy efficient cellular shade to your window, you can experience an R-value increase from 3.5 to nearly 7.

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Pro: Enhanced Privacy

We have our homes, apartments and so forth for many reasons including warmth when it’s cold out, air conditioning when it’s boiling out, and a place that we can return to and call home. Privacy is also an important factor of having your own space of living, and having something like cellular or honeycomb shades can significantly enhance the private qualities of your home.

Unless you select a sheer fabric option, honeycomb shades are generally completely private. Choosing the ever-versatile top-down and bottom-up feature will allow the shade to be either lifted up to the top of the window or lowered to the window sill at your convenience. So, you can still get light streaming into a given room above the shade while also enjoying complete privacy at the lower portion of the window. In other words, it’s one of the ultimate combinations of light control and blocking out the outside world. Speaking of light control….

Pro: Optimal Light Control

Light control is great for many reasons, and it is one of the defining features of honeycomb shades. You can choose from semi-opaque, light-filtering fabrics all the way to light-blocking opaque fabrics – with cellular shades, you’ll get an excellent selection of light control options that work for your needs as well as your budget.

Honeycomb shades are known for blocking out the most light compared to other types of window treatments, so if complete darkness in a room is your goal, consider looking into outside-mounted cellular shades. If you’re wanting to create a media room or home theater, a children’s bedroom or a place where people need to sleep soundly during the intense daylight, cellular and honeycomb shades are the ideal options for you.

Pro: Child Safety

We actually touched on childproofing your custom blinds and window treatments in a previous blog post, and for good reason – blinds represent a potential danger hazard for young children and infants, especially if they are corded. Thanks to the fact that there are no lifting cords for children or even your precious household pets to get all tangled in, shades yet again have a huge pro by creating a safe space for the curious wanderers in your house. It’s also worth noting that cellular shades are typically offered in vertical options which will easily slide across windows like patio doors, again without a dangling cord. Safety first!

(Potential) Con: Appearance

Now, before we dive into this one, we do want to mention that beauty and style are of course completely subjective. So this con really depends on what your taste and opinions are, but some people do find honeycomb shades to have the look of pleated paper as opposed to a nice, rich fabric. Naturally, this aspect of honeycomb shades can be objectionable for some folks, while others might even prefer the style.

Given how excellent these type of shades are in offering superior insulation, light control, and privacy, this is a minor drawback. If you’re drawn to the practicality of these shades but you can’t get past the look, consider using cellular shades in conjunction with a more decorative window treatment of your choice.

Con: No Tilting Abilities

When you have cellular or honeycomb shades, all you can really do to control them is make them go up or down – that’s about it. Conventional wood or aluminum blinds, on the other hand, offer the ability to tilt vanes to allow just a little bit of light in while maintaining privacy. In this respect, shades like these can be seen as less versatile window treatment options. However, if you use the top-down and bottom-up feature as we mentioned in light control further up in this blog post, you’ll still be able to simulate the otherwise superior tilting ability of standard window blinds.

While honeycomb shades are generally available in dozens of special shapes like arches, trapezoids, circles, and triangles, sometimes they must stay in a closed position. Another quick way to enhance privacy and light control with these shades is to double them up with other fabrics, especially when you’re dealing with large, specialty windows. For instance, using a sheer fabric above an opaque fabric, for example, allows you to preserve your view during the day but also create a good level of privacy during the night.

Visit Arjay’s Today To Get Honeycomb Shades Fitted To Your Windows

Overall, honeycomb shades or cellular shades provide a wide range of benefits for your home whether you’re mostly concerned about light control, privacy or insulation. While these shades might not work for every single room, there’s a good chance that Arjay’s Window Fashions can help you find the right fit! For quality window covering services in Ventura County, Santa Barbara County, and Los Angeles county, give us a call today!