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Two of the most popular ways to cover a window are with a roller shade or a solar shade. These shades share a simple roller design and operate in the same way. The difference is in the fabric. A solar shade uses a specially woven shade that lets some light pass through and allows some view to the outdoors. A roller shade is made with fabrics that come in a range of opacities so you can choose exactly the right light control and privacy for your home.
In this article, we’ll talk about the unique properties of each type of shade and help you decide which shade is right for you.
Understanding Roller Shades
Roller shades are simple: they’re a long piece of fabric mounted on a roller. This simple design allows the colors, designs, and textures of the fabric to take center stage. The range of fabric options available in Graber’s roller shade collections is incredible. For homeowners and designers keen on creating a very specific design effect, roller shades are an excellent option.
Opening and closing a cordless roller shade is as simple as gently lifting the hem bar or giving it a light pull. Cordless shades can also be motorized—making lifting and lowering your roller shade as easy as pushing a button or tapping the screen of our phone or tablet.
Why Choose Roller Shades?
Roller shades are simple, sleek, and beautiful. Because they’re made with a huge range of fabrics, it’s easy to find the perfect fabric to match your room’s décor or to create a bold effect that sends your room’s interior design in a whole new direction.
One of the biggest advantages of roller shade fabrics is the variety of opacities you’ll find in the fabric collections. Opacity is simply a measure of how little light passes through the shade fabric. The highest opacity fabric is a blackout fabric—perfect for bedrooms and entertainment rooms. The lowest opacity fabric is a sheer—prized for its elegant translucence, sheer shades provide little light control or privacy. Sheer shades are often found in living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms where they’re often layered with drapery or an additional blackout shade to provide privacy. In between sheer and blackout you’ll find light filtering and room darkening fabrics, which are at home throughout the house. Your Graber Design Expert has the knowledge to help you select just the right roller shade fabric.
Understanding Solar Shades
Solar shades are made of a very unique fabric. Solar shade fabrics are a woven grid or synthetic fibers that are formulated to stand up to damaging effects of the sun. And that’s important, because solar shades’ main job is to protect against harsh sunlight and UV rays, while at the same time providing a view to the outdoors.
The sun-protection power of a solar shade fabric is measured in openness. Fabrics with high openness levels—such as 10%—block 90% of the sunlight while maintaining a pretty good view to the outdoors, whereas a 1% openness fabric blocks 99% of UV rays but provides a much reduced view to the outdoors.
Solar shades are sleek and modern. Designers looking to create a modern look often turn to solar shades. The colors in Graber’s solar shade fabric collections work well in minimalist settings and with contemporary design features. For a fresh, up-to-date look, you can’t beat a solar shade.
There are some solar shades that are specially made to be environmentally friendly. There’s even a solar shade fabric made with plastic from ocean-recycled water bottles.
Why Choose Solar Shades?
The small gaps in the solar shade fabric let a small amount of light through into the room, and that tradeoff allows for the view. For homes with views of beautiful yards, gardens, local architecture, or mountain view or lake views, that view of the scenery is important.
For rooms that heat up during the day due to excess sunlight, solar shades are the solution. A solar shade can block the sun without blocking the view. The result is a well-lighted room that is much more comfortable. And that reduction in sunlight protects the furniture, flooring, and wall hangings of the room by reducing UV rays up to 99%. Glare is also greatly reduced, making it easier for seeing computer monitors and other screens.
Solar shades work just about anywhere in the home where privacy isn’t necessary. Designers use them in living rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, and home offices.
Roller Shades vs. Solar Shades: Functionality and Performance
Roller shades and solar shades both offer excellent light control options and can protect against glare and harmful UV rays. Roller shade fabrics come in a huge range of opacities starting at sheer and going all the way to blackout. Solar shades are made with fabrics with weaves that have openness levels ranging from 1% to 10%. Using the opacity and openness level measures of light control, your Graber Design Expert can help you select the shade that meets your light control needs.
Where roller shades and solar shades differ most is in their ability to provide privacy. Roller shades have a full range of privacy offerings, with sheer shades providing the least amount of privacy and blackout shades providing the maximum. But because solar shades have an open weave, they never provide full privacy—particularly at night. This is an important consideration when working with windows in bedrooms and bathrooms.
Choosing the Right Shade for Your Room
Roller shades offer the full range of fabrics styles, from simple modern neutrals to lively floral patterns. This abundance of options means it’s easy to match your existing décor to a roller shade fabric and to create specific effects. Solar shade fabrics are much simpler. While there are a number of textured fabrics, most solar shade fabrics are one solid neutral color. These neutral colors have been carefully selected to be on-trend and compatible with a vast range of popular design options.
Energy Efficiency
When it comes to energy efficiency, a bare window is an energy waster. Covering your window with a shade increases your home’s energy efficiency and increases your comfort.
Roller and solar shades excel in reducing the amount of heat from the sun that enters your home. A blackout roller shade provides the ultimate in sun protection. But solar shades are also excellent sun controllers: a 1% openness solar fabric reduces sunlight and UV rays by 99%. Less sun means less heat, and that means lowering cooling costs.
Easy Maintenance and High Durability
Cleaning a roller or solar shade is easy. Just use the upholstery attachment of your vacuum cleaner every month or so and you’ll have no problem maintaining your roller and solar shades for many years. Roller and solar shades are among the most durable of all window treatments, enduring many years of daily use.
Pros and Cons of Roller and Solar Shades
Advantages
The biggest advantage of roller and solar shades is their simplicity. The roller design that underlies these versatile window treatments is so easy to use. And the simplicity of these shades means you can install roller and solar shades in almost any setting.
For complete privacy, you can’t beat a roller shade in a blackout fabric. One pull of the hem bar and you have complete darkness.
For a long-lasting shade that can stand up to your sunniest windows, choose a solar shade. You’ll block up to 90% of the sun while still maintaining a view to the outdoors.
And roller and solar shades offer some budget-friendly fabrics that can reduce the cost of covering your windows without compromising durability or performance.
Roller and solar shades can also be customized with top treatments. By adding valances and fascia, you can achieve a highly finished look.
Disadvantages
There are few downsides to roller and solar shades. These two categories have something for every room—blackout roller shades for bedrooms, light-filtering roller shades for living rooms, 10% openness solar shades for a sun room, sheer roller shades for a dining room—and everything in between.
If insulating against heat and cold is most important to you, an alternative to roller and solar shades would be Graber Cellular Shades or Graber Tailored Roman Shades. And if you’re looking to create visual interest or increase your light control, check out Graber Custom Drapery.
Roller and Solar Shades Simplified
Here’s a summary of what makes roller and solar shades unique.
Solar Shades
Pros: Stand up to the brightest sunlight, reduces glare, blocks up to 90% of UV rays.
Cons: Does not provide complete privacy at night.
Roller Shades
Pros: Huge range of fabrics, excellent light control options, something for every room.
Cons: There are so many options, you might have trouble deciding.
Solar Shade Privacy Solution
Many people want to use solar shades in their bedrooms, but don’t because solar shades on their own do not offer privacy at night. However, there’s a solution that many people have found to be idea: combining a solar shade with a roller shade in a blackout fabric. This solution is referred to as a “Dual Shade,” and involves mounting a solar shade and a roller shade together. During the day, the solar shade is left down on its own to filter the sunlight and provide some view to the outdoors. At night, the blackout roller shade comes down to provide complete privacy.
Choosing Wisely
When you choose Graber, the deciding what’s right for you is easy. That’s because your Graber Design Expert has the experience and know how to find just the right window treatments for your home.
Your Graber design expert will take into account a number of things, including:
- How will you be using your room?
- What are your light control and privacy needs?
- What are your design preferences and goals?
- How do you want to operate your shades?
Sample Scenarios and Solutions
Scenario: A living room with a picture window overlooking a snowy mountain to the west?
Solution: A west-facing window is going to bring in serious heat in the afternoon. This calls for a solar shade. But because there’s a view we want to preserve, we’ll choose a 10% openness level solar fabric.
Scenario: An entertainment room where movie watching begins a couple hours before sundown.
Solution: To shut out the light for optimum movie viewing and video gaming, choose a roller shade in a blackout fabric.
Scenario: A bedroom where the owner wants to take advantage of the sun during the day but also have privacy at night.
Solution: This is a situation where a dual shade would work best. Pair a solar shade with a blackout roller shade for the best of all worlds.
Scenario: A home office.
Solution: Solar shades are excellent for home offices where you want to enjoy the light of day without experiencing the screen glare.
A Solution for Everyone
Roller-style shades offer a solution for nearly every issue related to light and privacy. They’re one of the most affordable window-treatment options and can provide many years of reliable performance. They’re available as cordless shades and can even be configured with motors to provide the ultimate in ease and convenience. The difference between roller and solar shades is in the fabric—spend some time looking at the available fabrics and order a swatch. Altogether, the two categories provide hundreds of options. Talk to a Graber Design Expert today to find the perfect shade for you.
