Roller and zebra shades in Miami, the two that fit almost any window
A plain roller for the rooms that should disappear, a zebra for the room that has to give you a view by day and close at night. Made to measure, cordless as standard.
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- Somfy motorization
Same tube, two very different jobs
A roller shade is the quiet workhorse: one fabric on one tube, minimal stack, sits inside the frame and disappears when you raise it. Light-filtering weaves in dozens of colours and textures. If you want the architecture to be the feature and not the window covering, this is the one.
A zebra shade, sold in Miami as a dual or a banded shade, runs alternating bands of sheer and opaque fabric on the same tube. Line the bands up and you see straight through; offset them and the room closes. One shade, two settings, no second product. It is the shade condo owners ask us for most often.
Both use the same hardware, the same cassette options and the same motor, so the choice is about how the room is lived in, not about how well the shade is built.
Roller or zebra, side by side
Same tube, same brackets, same installation. What changes is what happens once the shade is down.
| Roller shade | Zebra / dual shade | |
|---|---|---|
| View with the shade down | Only what the weave lets through | Clear view through the sheer bands when they are aligned |
| Light control | Two positions: up or down | Adjustable band by band, without moving the shade |
| Privacy after dark | Depends on the fabric you choose | Offset the bands, the opaque ones overlap and the room closes |
| How it reads in the room | Flat and silent, the window disappears | Striped and visible, it becomes part of the decoration |
| Where it belongs | Offices, hallways, any room where the wall should win | Living rooms and condo glass facing a neighbour or a walkway |
The four decisions we take with you at the window
- Inside or outside the frame
Inside gives the cleanest line and is what most windows get. Outside covers the gap at the edges, so it is what a room that has to go dark needs. More on that on the blackout shades page.
- Cassette or open roll
A cassette hides the tube behind a fabric-wrapped or aluminum headbox and closes the gap at the top, which matters in a room with a high sun angle. An open roll is lighter and shows the fabric rolling. Both work with the same shade.
- Roll direction
Standard roll drops the fabric away from the glass and clears window handles and deep frames. Reverse roll keeps it tight to the glass, which looks better and lets less light past the sides. We decide it at the measurement, window by window.
- Cordless as standard, Somfy if you want it
Every shade we make lifts without a pull cord. Somfy motorization is an option on all of them and has to be decided before we order, because the motor sits inside the tube. If it is a maybe, we quote both. See the motorized shades page.
If you live in a condo building
Most associations require the street-facing side of every window covering to read white or off-white, and Florida law lets the board enforce it (Fla. Stat. §718.113(5)(c)). On a roller it is solved with a white-backed fabric. On a zebra it matters more than people expect, because the bands are visible from outside too: we specify a white reverse so the facade stays uniform and the color you chose stays indoors.
We ask your building for its window covering rules before anything is ordered, and the quote goes out with the specification sheet in the format your association asks for.
The shades looks amazing. The installation team was very professional on time and neat.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is a zebra or dual shade?
A shade with alternating sheer and opaque bands on the same roller tube. Align the bands and you see out through the sheer sections; offset them and the opaque bands overlap and the shade closes. It behaves like a solar shade and a privacy shade in one product, which is why it is so common in Miami condos.
Roller or zebra for a condo living room?
If the glass faces a neighboring building or a walkway and you want to keep the view during the day, the zebra earns its place. If you already have drapery, or you want the window to go unnoticed, a roller behind the drapery is the cleaner answer. We look at the orientation and at what is across the street before recommending either.
Do zebra shades give privacy at night?
With the bands offset the shade closes and nobody sees into the room. What it will not do is make the room dark: the fabric is not blackout, so a lit room still reads as a lit room from outside. If you need darkness as well, look at the blackout shades page.
Can I motorize a roller or zebra shade later on?
It has to be decided before we order. The motor lives inside the roller tube, so adding it afterwards means replacing the hardware. When motorization is undecided we quote both versions so you can compare them side by side.
How wide can a single roller shade be?
There is a practical limit, and past it the fabric starts to deflect in the middle. When an opening is wider than that we split it into two shades on one continuous headrail, which reads as intentional rather than improvised. We tell you which case your window is when we measure.
Where do you install?
Miami-Dade and Broward, with our own installation team, no subcontractors. Call (786) 361-9747 and we book the measurement.
Book your free in-home measurement
Tell us about your windows and we will call you to set a time. In English o en español.
- Free and with no obligation, across Miami-Dade and Broward.
- We bring the fabric swatches to your actual windows.
- You get a fixed written quote before paying anything.
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