Although our bamboo shades are made to last a very long time without any repairs, sometimes things can happen and it may become necessary to restring one of your shades. If you should find your shade’s cord has broken, give us a call and one of our friendly Customer Support Specialists can assist you in obtaining some brand new cords. When you receive these here are a few simple steps that you can follow to put your window treatment back in working order:

Traditional Cords:

Check out this quick silent video to watch one of our experts:

1. Cut your cords the correct length. The correct length is the sum of three measurements. a) On the back of the shade the height from the bottom cord ring to the headrail, b) The measurement from the headrail to the middle of the shade (1/2 way), and c) the measurement in width from the cord track to the cord lock. Please note that for each column this measurement will be different. For example if your shade is 50" wide, there will be one column close to your cord lock and one or more columns farther from your cord locks.

2. Start with the longest cord at the front of your shade and pull your cord through the cord lock mechanism starting at in the innermost track on the underside of the mechanism, through the midle of the two cord lock pieces and then out towards the next pulley to the left or right of the cord mechanism. You will go through each pulley horizontally until you get to the last pulley (There may be one or two pulleys depending on the size of your shade).

Continuous Cord Loop:

1. The cords must be tied at the rod and secured under the clip. The knot will hold the cords in place.
2. The cord then goes into the clip on the bottom of the plastic piece that holds the rod to the headrail. This way, the cord will be secured to the rod when it is rotated.
3. Next, the cords will go through the grommet to the back of the shade and continue down the guide rings on the back of the fabric.
4. The bottom of the cord then goes through the tassel and is tied off. Each of the knots can be re-adjusted to ensure the shade will raise evenly.

Make sure to take a look at your bamboo shade and its current cords prior to beginning this process. This will help you feel more familiar with the parts and assemblies so that these directions will make any restringing a snap.

Happy repairing,

My personal favorite, if you can swing it, would be to get the bamboo shades and then add a soft treatment around the outside of the shade. I LOVE this look and it is what I went for in my house. I inside mounted the unlined bamboo shades and added curtains on the outside. This way you still get the see-through light filtering of the bamboo, but you don’t have to compromise your privacy or room temp. So, check out the brand new drapery panels that we just got in. With all of the color choices in our bamboo and curtains, you should be able to come up with some amazing combinations that will finalize the best look in your room.

Of course, the old stand bys for summer are the cellular shades and the roller shades. The cell shades are a honeycomb design that reduces noise and heat. We just added a really cool cell shade in the Signature line that can be totally cordless and top down bottom up. It is the 3/8” Signature Double Cellular Shades. Safety meets functional privacy control with that feature.

Roller shades can be ordered as a solar screen, such as the Premium Roller shades Illumination Bronze. This way they are like sunglasses for your window-you can still see through them, but the light is tinted from being so bright. Or, you can get them as a blackout shade to maximize the efficiency of blocking out heat. And, similar to bamboo’s see through quality, you can also get some of the roller shades with an openness factor. For example, the Style 2000 has little holes to filter the light in. You can have the brightness of summer filtered in without even lifting your shade!

Any of our horizontal fauxwood and bass wood blind selections will work perfectly on your door, just like they did for your window.  Just make sure to specify outside mount when ordering and you will have a valance with side returns to cover the front and sides of the headrail.  Also, when you are customizing your width, height, color, etc. make sure that you choose the option for hold down brackets.  These brackets will hold the bottom rail of the blind in place so that when you open and close the French doors, the blinds do not slam back against the frame.

So, you checked out our site and ordered your beautiful bamboo shades and now you want to coordinate something to match for your French doors.  You don’t have to compromise, go with the same treatment that you know will be fabulous.  Any of our bamboo shades can be ordered for a door.  Just make sure to select outside mount and we will make sure to include some side returns for the valance.  Worried because you don’t see an option for hold down brackets?  While none of the shades will come with hold down brackets, but many of our customers have said that they bought a heavy duty Velcro to use in place of traditional brackets.  The bottom of the shade is now secure and the woven woods are not damaged!  How genius is that?

If the horizontal blinds and shades are not your thing for your French doors and you are insisting on curtains, okay, I understand.  But, you can stay away from the typical sheers or sashed treatments.  Opt for an asymmetrical valance hung up above the doors.  Or, for more coverage, use a full sized curtain hung high above the doors.  You can get a decorative rod, hang our hand made silk curtains, and put up some tiebacks to move them out of the way when you want more light.

By sticking with our suggestions you will not only have an updated look on the French doors, but an added Zen feeling.  With your room now streamlined, your family and neighbors are sure to be very complimentary.  And the nice thing is, you paid less by shopping with Payless Décor.