298 Maple St, Middlebury, VT 05753
Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Rechargeable and solar-charged motors mean the window needs no power run to it, so we can automate rooms that were never wired for it. It is the question we get asked most, and for us the install is the same amount of work as a manual shade.
Two to three weeks on most products, counted from the day we take your measurements. Nearly everyone asks, so we would rather tell you before you have to.
Every window covering we sell comes with a lifetime warranty. That covers the shades, blinds and shutters we supply, for as long as you have them.
Not so far. Tall windows, arched windows, angled glass and two-story walls of it are all normal work for us. We have yet to find one we could not cover.
More than the same shade with a cord, and the difference is the motor, since the install takes us the same day either way. We quote after measuring. The number moves with how many windows you are doing, the size of each shade, rechargeable against solar, and whether you want remote only or app and schedule control. The estimate is free and we bring the samples to you.
Not the ones we install most. Rechargeable motors charge from a cable that plugs into the shade every few months. Solar motors charge from a thin strip on the glass. Neither one needs a circuit run to the window, so nothing comes out of the wall and there is no electrician to book.
On a shade you move once or twice a day, a rechargeable motor usually goes months between charges. Wide shades, heavy fabrics and windows you move several times a day shorten that. A solar strip on a sunny window generally keeps the motor charged without you doing anything.
Yes, along with a remote or a wall switch. The app is handy when you are out of the room or away from the house. Most people settle on a schedule in the end, so the shades close before the afternoon sun is on the room and open before you are up.
Sometimes. On a window you can reach and rarely move, probably not. On glass above a stairwell, over a kitchen sink, or on a tall pane in a great room, yes, because nobody closes a shade they have to fetch a ladder for.
Manual for a window you can reach and move without thinking about it. Motorized for anything high, for a wall of six or more windows, and for rooms you want on a schedule. We go through it window by window at the estimate, and plenty of houses end up with both.
Two to three weeks on most products, counted from the day we measure, the same as manual shades. The motor does not add to the lead time. We install, pair the remote and set up any schedule you want on the same visit.
Sometimes. Some shade lines take a retrofit motor and some do not, depending on the product, the headrail and how old the shade is. We look at what you have at the estimate and tell you whether it is worth doing or whether a new shade is the better buy.
The shade stays where it is until you charge it. Plug the charger into the shade, leave it an hour or two, and it picks up where it left off. No settings are lost.
It depends on the window more than the room, so we quote after measuring. The number moves with the size of the window, how many you are doing, which of the four shade types you choose, the fabric within it, and options like blackout lining, top-down bottom-up or a motor. A roller is usually the least, a roman the most. The estimate is free and we bring the samples to you.
Cellular, and a double cell more than a single. The honeycomb pockets hold still air against the glass, so the window loses less heat. On an old window that is not getting replaced this year, it is the cheapest thing you can do for comfort.
Yes, in cellular and roller both. Tell us early if the room is a bedroom or faces a streetlight, because it changes which fabrics we bring to the estimate. A blackout cellular insulates at the same time.
Two to three weeks on most products, counted from the day we measure. Shaped or arched shades can run a little longer because they are built rather than assembled. We give you the expected timing at the estimate.
Blinds if you want to tilt the slats and keep the view with the covering down, or for a bathroom in faux wood. Shades for insulation, for large windows where a wide blind gets heavy, and for any room where softness matters more than the view. On a cold window a cellular shade beats every blind we sell.
Usually. Arches, angles, trapezoids and skylights all have solutions, and we have yet to find a window we could not cover. Shaped shades are made rather than cut down, so they run a little longer and cost a little more.
Cordless lifts are the safest option and the one we suggest first in a house with young children or pets. There is no cord hanging down the wall. Motorized shades are cordless too, which is one reason people choose them for a nursery.
Most take a soft brush attachment on the vacuum, or a light dusting. Cellular shades can be blown out with compressed air. Roman shades depend on the fabric, and we tell you at the estimate which can be spot cleaned and which should not be.
Solar if the problem is glare and heat in the afternoon and you want to keep the view. Blackout if the problem is sleep or a screen. Plenty of west rooms get a solar shade for the day and a blackout cellular behind it for the evening.
Hunter Douglas and Graber, across cellular, roller, solar and roman. We bring samples from both to the estimate so you can compare fabrics and lift options against your own window.
It depends on the opening, so we quote after measuring. The number moves with the size of the window, how many you are doing, real wood against faux wood against aluminum, slat width, and whether you want a cordless or motorized lift. Aluminum is usually the least, stained real wood the most. The estimate is free and we bring samples.
Wood if the room is dry and you want the real thing. Faux wood anywhere there is steam or splashing, and in a house heated by a wood stove, where dry air can shrink real wood. In a bathroom it is always faux wood.
Two to three weeks on most products, counted from the day we measure. We hang them the day they arrive.
Blinds if you want to tilt the light and keep the view with the covering down, or for a bathroom in faux wood. Shades for insulation, for very wide windows, and for rooms where softness matters. On a cold window a cellular shade beats any blind.
Wide openings are often better as two blinds on one headrail than one very heavy blind. Past about six feet a single blind gets heavy to lift and the slats bow over time. We work that out at the measure.
Cordless lifts are the safest option and the one we suggest first in a house with young children or pets. Nothing hangs down the wall. A wand tilt replaces the tilt cord as well.
Faux wood and aluminum take a damp cloth. Real wood wants dusting rather than washing. Wider slats mean fewer of them, which means less to dust in the first place.
Usually close, sometimes exactly. Stains and paints come in a wide range, and we bring samples to the estimate so you can hold them against the trim rather than guess from a screen.
Faux wood or aluminum, yes. Real wood, no. Steam eventually warps or peels a wood blind, and a faux wood costs about the same and lasts.
Hunter Douglas and Graber, across wood, faux wood and aluminum. We bring samples from both to the estimate so you can compare slat widths and finishes against your own trim.
The opening decides the cost more than the room does, so we quote after measuring. What moves the number is the size of the window, how many you are doing at once, the material, the louver width, and whether the opening is square or needs a shaped frame. Shutters cost more than a blind up front and tend to be the last covering that window ever needs. The estimate is free and we bring the samples to you.
Most orders arrive two to three weeks after we measure, and we hang them the day they arrive. Shaped or arched frames can run a little longer because they are built rather than assembled. We give you the expected timing at the estimate.
Blinds if the budget is tight, the room is a rental, or you want to lift the whole covering out of the way and clear the glass. Shutters if the window is staying as it is for a long time, the opening is out of square, or you want something that looks like part of the house. On a bathroom or kitchen sink window, a poly shutter is often the better buy because nothing on it can rot or warp.
They are usually treated as a fixture rather than a furnishing, so they stay when you sell and get counted with the house. Whether that shows up as a number on the sale price depends on the house and the market, and no one can promise you a figure. They are one of the few window coverings a buyer sees as an improvement instead of something to replace.
Usually better than anything else. Openings in an old house move as it settles, sills are deep, and the trim is often a profile no one makes any more. A shutter frame is built to the opening as it is, so a window that is out of square stops being a problem. We measure everything ourselves on site rather than working from numbers over the phone.
No. These are interior plantation shutters, mounted on the room side of the glass. We do not do exterior storm, hurricane or security shutters.
Open the louvers and you see out much as you would through a blind with the slats tilted. Fold the panels back and the window is clear apart from the frame. Wider louvers give you more of the view with the panel closed, which is one reason people choose them on a window that faces something worth looking at.
They add a layer at the glass and cut drafts around the opening, though a cellular shade insulates better on its own. On a cold north or west wall plenty of people put a cellular shade behind the shutter and get both. We can measure for both at the same visit.
Yes. Arches, angles, circles and odd shapes are normal shutter work, and an arched opening is often where shutters make the most sense because very little else can follow the curve. The frame is built to the shape, so there is nothing to trim on site.
Norman interior shutters alongside the Hunter Douglas and Graber lines. We bring samples from more than one to the estimate so you can compare louver profiles and finishes against your own trim rather than a photograph.
Width and projection set the base cost and the mounting decides the rest, so we quote after seeing the patio. The number moves with size, manual against motorized, fabric, what it is fixing to, and options like a wind sensor. The estimate is free and we come to you.
No. It rolls into its housing and stays there. Retract it when you are not using it and when heavy weather is coming, and there is nothing to dismantle or store.
Manual is fine for a modest awning near the door. Motorized makes sense on wide spans and on any awning that would otherwise stay rolled up because using it is a nuisance. A motor also lets you add a wind sensor.
Wider than most patios need, and projections of eight to thirteen feet are usual. Past about twelve feet of width we generally suggest a motor, because cranking that much fabric out gets old. We size it at the measure against the space you are shading.
Light rain, briefly, if the pitch is steep enough to shed it. Heavy rain, no, and never in wind. Water pooling on the fabric is how arms get bent. Roll it in when the weather turns and it will last for years.
A pergola or fixed roof if you want an outdoor room you use in the rain, and you are prepared for footings and possibly a permit. A retractable awning if you want summer shade over a table and your patio back in the fall. For shade alone the awning is the better buy.
Most orders are measured, made and installed within a few weeks. Fabric choice and a motor can change that slightly. We give you the timing at the estimate, and the person who quotes it is the one who installs it.
Solution-dyed acrylic on the awnings we recommend. The color goes through the fiber rather than sitting on top, so it holds up through years of direct sun where a printed fabric fades pale in two or three.
Yes, and that is where most of ours go. A wind sensor is worth adding on an exposed deck, because a breeze off the water comes up fast and the sensor retracts the awning before you have noticed.
The lifetime warranty we quote covers the window coverings we sell: shades, blinds and shutters. Awnings carry their own manufacturer coverage, and we go through exactly what applies at the estimate.
Width sets the base cost, a motor is the biggest swing after that, and mesh choice and mounting move it from there, so we quote after measuring the opening. A single manual door screen is the least. A motorized run across a twenty foot porch opening is the most. The estimate is free.
Yes. Roll the screen away and it sits in its housing. There is nothing to take down and nothing to store, and the mesh is out of the weather all winter.
Wide. Porch openings well past the size of a door are routine, and motorized versions handle spans of twenty feet and more where a manual pull would be a struggle. We measure and tell you which it needs.
Yes, and that is one of the most common jobs. Screens for a pair of doors retract to each side, so the opening is completely clear when you are not using them.
Yes. The mesh is there to stop insects, not light, and a standard mesh all but disappears against a view. Rolled away it is not in the view at all. A solar mesh cuts glare too, at the cost of a little clarity.
Fixed on a window you open for air and do not look through, because it costs less and has nothing to go wrong. Retractable wherever the view matters, wherever the opening is too wide for a panel, and on any door or porch where a fixed screen would be in the way most of the year.
It needs power near the housing. Where there is an outlet on the porch or by the door, no. Where there is not, one may need to be added, and we tell you at the estimate rather than on the day.
A fine mesh will. Standard insect mesh stops mosquitoes and most flies. For the six weeks of blackfly and no-see-um season we suggest a tighter weave, and we bring both to the estimate.
A heavier pet mesh stands up to it far better than standard screen. Tell us at the estimate and we specify it.
The lifetime warranty we quote covers the window coverings we sell: shades, blinds and shutters. Retractable screens carry their own manufacturer coverage, and we go through exactly what applies at the estimate.
Size, pitch and reach decide the cost, so we quote after measuring. The number moves with the size of the opening, cellular against a lighter fabric, pole against motor, how many skylights you are doing, and how hard the install is to reach. The estimate is free and we come to you.
Yes. It runs in a channel on each side rather than hanging free, and the fabric is tensioned between them, which is what stops gravity pulling it open. That is the main difference between a skylight shade and a normal one.
Considerably, in both directions. Overhead glass takes the most direct sun in summer and loses heat fastest in winter. A cellular skylight shade traps still air against the glass the same way a cellular does on a wall, and on a skylight the effect is larger because that glass is the worst performer in the house.
Either an extension pole or a motor. On anything high we suggest the motor, because a pole is one more thing to fetch, and a shade that is a nuisance to move stops getting moved. Most of the skylights we do end up motorized.
Solar is worth considering here more than anywhere else, because a skylight gets more direct sun than any other glass in the house and the strip keeps the motor charged on its own. Rechargeable works fine too and charges from a cable a few times a year.
Yes. Angled, trapezoid and shaped roof glass is normal work. The shade is built to the shape and the pitch we measure on site rather than trimmed to fit.
Only over a bedroom, or a room with a projector. Everywhere else a light-filtering cellular keeps the daylight the skylight was put there for while cutting the heat and glare. We bring both to the estimate.
Yes. Every window covering we sell carries a lifetime warranty, and a skylight shade is a window covering with side channels. The motor, where there is one, is part of the shade we supply.
The number of openings, whether they must match, the product, motorization and access all move the number, so we quote after a site visit. A run of ten matched roller shades is a different job from a single blackout blind in a lab. The site visit and the estimate are free.
Yes, and a good share of our work is commercial or institutional. Conference rooms, science labs, large halls, arenas and offices in Middlebury and across Addison and Rutland counties are all normal jobs for us.
Woven aluminum night covers for open refrigerated displays and freezer cases. Pulled down out of hours, they cut how much energy the case uses and how much stock gets thrown out. We measure them to each case.
Yes. We make custom drapery and curtain track for home, industry and medical facilities, which covers ceiling-mounted cubicle runs and treatment rooms where standard hardware will not fit the layout. The curtains run on it and come down for laundering.
That is a lot of what commercial work is. One wall of eight or ten windows needs the same product, the same drop and the same fabric batch, which takes more specifying than installing. We handle the specification so the run looks like one piece.
Blinds for individual rooms where each person wants their own control and the budget has to cover a lot of openings. Roller or solar shades for shared and open-plan spaces, conference rooms and classrooms, where matching across a run and cutting glare on screens matter more.
Yes. A dual shade puts a blackout fabric and a light-filtering fabric on one headrail, so the room can go dark for a projector and bright again afterward without two separate products in the opening.
We ask at the first visit. Schools have terms, clinics have patients, shops have opening hours, and we schedule the measure and the install around them. On a live site that planning is most of the job.
Yes. Motorized shades can be grouped so one control moves the whole run, or set on a schedule, which on a west-facing wall of screens means the glare is handled before anyone notices it.
The window coverings we supply, shades, blinds and shutters, carry our lifetime warranty on a commercial job the same as at home. Curtain track and ECONOFROST covers carry their own manufacturer coverage, and the quote sets out exactly which applies.
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