We just moved into a new home, and recently had some painting done prior to move-in. The contractor and painter asked me if we planned to reuse the window shades, or if we’d buy new ones. I said that we planned on replacing all of the curtains and window shades.
There are some shades in a closet and in a corner of the garage, but for the most part they’re all gone. Which is what we wanted.
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But now we’re moving in, and with everything on our plate, we have not yet arranged for new shades.
What to do? White flat bedding sheets and painter’s tape? But then we learned about Redi Shade’s temporary pleated paper shades.
Well, no, that’s not entirely true. Redi Shade was not our first discovery. I asked my wife to look into Ikea’s window shades, thinking maybe that their roller shades would be economical enough to install for a few weeks or months until we figure out what we wanted to do.
She found that Ikea makes window shades for as low as $3 each! They stick to the top of a window frame, and can be fixed in place with clips. For full extension, you could Velcro them to the bottom of the frame.
After she told me this, I was all set to head over to the local Ikea, but I did a quick Google search and discovered that other brands also make temporary window shades that work in the same way.
Redi Shade seemed to be popular, and had decent reviews, so I headed out to the local home center and bought a couple of 6 packs of their white shades, for just under $20 each. It came down to around $3 per shade.
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Cutting each down to size takes a minute or so maybe less, and that includes measuring by eyeball.
I used a standard retractable utility knife to cut each shade mostly down to size, and some sharp Milwaukee scissors to cut the rest of the way and through the adhesive strip. I’m sure that if I popped a fresh blade into my utility knife, the scissors might not have been fully necessary.
What worked for me was making a pass or two with blade, folding the cut section over, and repeating the sequence. This helped prevent the creation of little slivers cuts that need to be cleaned up.
Oh, and do be careful with those Milwaukee scissors, they are sharp and powerful. I cut through a too-thick portion of paper, and while it worked well, I also happened to nick a small part of my left palm. This might have been the first time I’d been bit by scissors. How embarrassing!
Some of the downstairs windows were perfectly matched by the shades’ 36″ widths, which helped speed things up further. Installing these shades is almost too easy when you don’t have to cut them down to size.
Overall, I’m quite pleased with how the shades turned out. We stuck them to the inside top of most windows’ frames, and the outside of the dining room windows.
We were prepared to do some creative flat sheet butchering, but it seems highly unnecessary when you can get something better for cheaper.
We don’t plan to keep them up for very long, but I’ll be sure to update this post in case we experience any snags, such as fallen-off shades. We stuck the adhesive strip to the inside of the frame, and so they should be easily removed without peeling off any paint.
Redi Shade makes their shades in a couple of colors and lengths.
Buy Now(via Amazon, but you might get better pricing locally)
fred
It’s been a long time since I personally moved – but have helped moved the kids around a bit. Old shades – particularly heavy-duty darkening shades – can be repurposed as roll-up bench covers. Just mount some shade hardware on small blocks of wood or L-brackets – attached to the short end of your bench top – attach the shade and voila.
Mike I
These have been available at Lowes for almost 10-15 years now. Everything old is new again. 🙂
GMA15R
They put these up in my office as a temporary measure. When I left 15 years later, they were still hanging there. The boss was big on not spending any money.
chris
These served us well for 4 years after we moved, ultimately being held up by tacks. The little clips make great chip clips, too…
Farid
I second that!
Tom
We used these when we first moved into a house and they were great. But they are privacy shades and not much else. They won’t help block light for bedroom windows, as we soon learned.
Eric
Amazon has them in black to act as black out shades. The reviews seem to be pretty positive.
Dave in VT
There’s a move in my future, so it’s good to know these exist. And Stuart, I had the same scissor bite experience for the first time last Friday! Of course I was rushing, and of course it was the last cut. Right into the fleshy part of the tip of my ring finger. Felt silly. Must have had this WTF? look on my face as I just stared at the cut for a few moments. 🙂
R Dogg
Ikea ones are a synthetic material and I’ve found look nicer/last longer/more durable than paper ones bought at HD/lowes.
KokoTheTalkingApe
Looks that way. Also, the IKEA version, the SCHOTTIS, is cheaper, literally less than a trip to Starbucks. The reviews of the Redi-Shade say it is literally a folded sheet of paper (and that the listed length is the _unfolded_, stretched out length.) The Redi-Shade does come in opaque black, but I am betting some spray paint could make the SCHOTTIS version opaque. Even white paint would work.
Peter
Redi Shade makes their shades here in the USA for over 20 years. The IKEA shade is made in China, as are many of their products.
Support local business!
john
Support quality
Tomas
I used one of these (not sure if the brand is the same but got it at the Home Depot) for about a week. It worked well, but when I went to take it off I wound up removing a little paint around the window! So be careful when you remove them.
Wayne Ludviksen
Can I take down and re-locate my redi-shades? I just bought them and didn’t get them up exactly right.
Stuart
I don’t know?