I need shades! Which are safe for the children in my home?

Lafayette Interior Fashions Allure© shade with a child safe continuous cord loop.

Seven years ago, this may not have been a concern for any family moving into a new home, or a couple that entertains their grandchildren or other young children in their home. How could shades, blinds or other window coverings be a safety concern? Don’t they simply block sun or provide privacy?

That was the perception, when several national retailers voluntarily recalled large quantities of Roman shades and other products, because the dangling cords that were necessary to operate the products lead to the strangulation of a few small children and pets.

These recalls launched the world-wide window coverings trade into developing new methods to operate shades and blinds with operating cords that children or pets could not become entangled in. More importantly to develop operating options that would eliminate exposed cords altogether!

Lafayette Interior Fashions real wood blind with “cordless” lift.

Because of those unfortunate incidents and national recalls, this pushed “cord” standards to be developed by ANSI (American National Standards Institute). Anyone that manufactures these blinds or shades must follow these standards set by ANSI for cord safety. Interior Designers, window covering installers, and anyone that provides window coverings are charged with educating consumers on cord safety and being sure that unsafe products are not installed in homes.

October is National Window Coverings Safety Month

This is a month dedicated to educating consumers on which are the safest products and operating options as well as raise awareness on the risks of corded products. You may not know about the risk involved with having corded products, so interior designers like B Burton Custom Decor make it our mission to inform you the danger of corded products around pets and small children. We urge buyers to purchase window coverings without cords or with cords that are inaccessible.

What to Look for when Purchasing

• Continuous cord loop, with a cord guide that is permanently attached in place and a long loop that cannot be twisted. (Hunter Douglas calls this “Easy-Rise”; Lafayette Interiors – “Continuum”.)
• A retractable cord which can be cut short enough, so that children and pets cannot reach. The cord retracts into headrail when you raise the shade. This eliminates cord “puddling” (the gathering of excess cord at the bottom)!

Lafayette Interior Fashions honeycomb shade with “Sure-lift”.

• Cordless, which means you raise and lower shade with your hand on a bottom rail. This usually adds more time to the operating life of the shade also. (Hunter Douglas call this “Lite-Rise” ; Lafayette calls it “Accu-Rise, “Care-Ring”, “Easy-Lift”)

• Motorized shades. The cost of motorization has declined dramatically in recent years because it is one of the most child safe and pet safe blind and shade options, as well as providing energy efficiency. It can also be tied into other home automation systems.

We recently installed these Hunter Douglas Solera Romans with “Lite-Rise®”

Hunter Douglas offers “Powerview”; other manufacturers of shades offer Somfy, Lutron and other systems.

Lafayette Interior Fashions is offering their “For Kids Sake” promotion during the months of October and November.

The Upgrade to “cordless lift” on almost any product that they sell is free!

Let’s schedule an appointment to discuss child safe and pet safe window coverings for your home!