Customer Reviews

Redi Shade 1617201 Black Out Pleated Shade 36-by-72-Inch, 6-Pack

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I got these today and put them up about an hour ago - it took all of five minutes. I was debating whether to try them, and to tell you the truth, the review that made me decide to get them was the 1-star 'don't buy this product' review - it described exactly what they were and it sounded like they were exactly what I was looking for.
I live on a street just off of a major road in a very collegiate neighborhood. During the day I get a LOT of sun, and at night there is a very bright streetlight just outside my window, and it being a busy neighborhood, there are usually fire trucks going up the street at night (those wacky college kids and their candles...) As I rent, I didn't want anything too permanent, and I wanted something easily replaceable and affordable in case of any problems that might spring up. I put these up behind my white roller shades and they're going to work fantastically - I can't wait for my day off when I can finally SLEEP through the morning!
They are heavy, but flexible, very thick paper, thinner than oaktag/posterboard but very dense. The accordian pleat is very stylish. You raise and lower them by gathering the amount of shade you want to raise and clipping them with the plastic clips that are included in the box. To cut them, don't use a knife - a simple pair of scissors works just fine, as long as you don't try to cut the entire shade in one fell swoop.
The box of 6 shades was $30, with free super-saver shipping - at five bucks a pop, they're well worth it (I certainly couldn't fold posterboard this accurately, that's for sure!) My roomates will probably use a couple, and again we have extras as well as the lengths cut off from the shades to use for something I'm sure.
They're probably not good if you want to raise and lower them often as I'm not sure how long the adhesive would hold, but even so you could just get a roll of heavy duty double-stick should they come down.
I'm quite happy with these.

Edit: And now it's mid-March, and I've had ZERO problems with these. I raise and lower them once daily and the adhesive has held just fine. "Sleeping In" is now my favorite (in)activity thanks to these.

The shades are made from a single thickness sheet of paper with some double back tape on one edge. They are great for getting something up quick and easy, but not for long term unless you never plan to put them up and down much. The problem is that they don't gather up very easy after they have been hanging for awile. The shades can be cut to length with a sissors and a strong pair of hands which ensures a tight fit to your window frames. The things that trouble me a bit are : I'm concerned that the adhesive may stick to my wood window frames when I go to remove them. The shades tend to flatten out at the top due to weight of the shade itself and if you rest them in the lower sill they will eventually bag at the bottom and fall out. You can clip them to any length, but the clips are like clothes pins and you can see the handle part. They should have been more invisible IMHO. Finally, you need to pay attention to the edge that adhears to the window frame. It can be pleat in, or pleat out. I got one backwards from the others and it was a pain to remove and reposition.

These temporary shades work excellent blocking out most all the daylight. I actually cut them to size easily myself and installed them under my white 2" horizontal blinds. Whenever I need to block out light I let them down otherwise they stay up and I keep the regular blinds down. Along with a sound machine I put them in a room the baby sleeps in and he naps longer and wakes up more rested. I actually bought 6 of these and have installed them easily out of the way of regular window treatments so the rooms are ready for anyone that needs to rest in the daylight hours. I cut them with a sharp knife on a cutting board and put each one up in less than 5 minutes. I wish I had known about these shades sooner because nap time for baby would of been alot easier.

These are what other reviewers say -- thickened pleated paper with double-sided tape at the top and clips to hold them open. I figured they could be made more operable and sturdier with a little hacking. I stapled the top pleats together to make a holder for a dowel rod. I drilled two holes through the folded stack, a couple of inches from the ends (you can use a needle and thread but it is slower and hard to keep the holes straight). I ran thread through the holes and attached it to paper clips that I slid on the bottom of the shade, and tied the other ends to a clip or washer (string may work better but I didn't have any around). I got a couple of ceiling hooks to suspend the dowel rods, and voila -- working blinds! I already had cleats on the side of the window to anchor the strings when pulled up. If you are really ambitious you can figure out a pulley system that would be neater. For less than $50 and an afternoon's work, not bad!

These are great for what they're worth. The are a very effective, very inexpensive way to block light.

We use them in a vacation home to keep everything from getting sun bleached while we're gone. Do not expect them to look spectacular while you're there. We take them down when we arrive. Do not expect them to last a lifetime as they are single ply paper as noted elsewhere.

One trick we've used for hanging them is to make a loop at the top by folding over the adhesive onto the fourth pleat from the top. This turns the 2nd and 3rd pleats into a long tube. We then use a cheap tension style curtain rod through the tube. This addresses the issue others have raised about adhesive on your windows/wood and makes it relatively easy to put these up and take them down.

To be fair, install was a breeze. Measure, trim, apply. Its really that simple. 6 windows took about 15 minutes. Quick, easy, inexpensive. Couldn't be happier. That is until I came home the following day to find all but one shade crumpled on the ground. In short, the adhesive isn't worth the paper its stuck on. If I were you, I'd spend an extra 10 bucks buying some 3M double sided tape to make sure your precious shade doesnt come crashing to the ground. Because when it does, it will get crumpled, wrinkled, and the adhesive might even get stuck to itself causing tears and rips when you try and peel it off. It did to me. Hopefully it doesnt happen to you.

These blinds not only block out light but also heat. I used them behind the white roller blinds where the afternoon sun hits. We are renting so we did not want to drill any unnecessary holes any where. This was one task that I did not need to depend on my husband to fix. They look great, better than any makeshift paper and sticky tape which are flimsy. To open the windows/doors, I fold them up to the level I want and use cloth pegs to hold them there. Too easy!

Basically, it's just thick paper. It looks like it's plastic, even up close, but it isn't. You get 6 in the box and you have to double them up to totally keep out the light, so I have 4 in my bedroom window, which is pretty wide. It blocks out about 96% of light. Only a very small crack of light is let in from the sides of shades. I'm sure if it bothered you enough you can tape them tighter to the side of the window and totally block out all light. My biggest problem is that since they are paper, they don't stay still. Any breeze from your window on a windy or cool day will move them, allowing in more light. When it's hot and you have the a/c or fan on in your room, then they move around constantly, allowing in a lot of light. Again, they're just thick paper, so any breeze is going to move them. If you sleep in your room with zero breeze at all, then you'll be fine. If you ever turn on the fan, a/c, or heat, then you'll see them move. Since they're paper, they also get a lot of dents and stuff in them from moving around, so it's clear that they aren't going to last 5 years or anything. Also, I disagree with another review that says you can open and close these daily without a problem. They are so flimsy that I'm pretty sure they would rip within a month or more if you did that daily. They are a huge pain to deal with, so it's best to just put them up and leave them alone. I've noticed that if my fan doesn't hit them directly, they move a lot less. It's a good deal for the price, but they certainly aren't perfect.

these work really well for the price. I bought them to keep out heat and use them on a window on the west side of the house that gets blasted by the sun every afternoon (and thus the room gets very warm in the spring and summer). I put them underneath a decorative shade and it works well. Since they seemed to block out the light so much I put some of the others in a bedroom. I think if you measure and cut them carefully to fit the inside of the window frame they work well at keeping out light.

These are great for bedrooms when you're moving into a new place. My two young kids were able to nap with these up. And it kept out a lot of the heat from the sun beating on one particular window.