Redi Shade No Tools Original Arch Light Blocking Pleated Fabric Shade White, 72" W x 36" H

Our last two houses have had these half moon windows. And each time these windows faced due East and/or West. We needed light filtered thru them and this product is perfect. Great easy to follow instructions. They lasted approx 7 years. I have to state, we never touched them once we had installed them. And this past summer when we had the windows replaced, they were taken down and, yes, they fell apart. WELL, what would you expect after 7 years of direct sunlight? They are a great value and we loved the fact that they filtered out the direct sunlight. And so easy to install.

I bought this to replace a presumably, 20-year-old version of a similar shade. The old one was dingy and dusty, and we wanted one that would block more light and insulate the window because the window it’s in gets a ton of light during the day and the room gets very warm. And frankly we need all of our windows replaced as well. So this shade is sort of reflective on one side, so we have that facing outward to repel sun rays and it seems to be working really well especially in tandem with the blackout curtain. We got to keep the room nice and cool. It was pretty easy to install. I was able to cut it to size just with the box cutter very easily. Our original purchase did not come with the little plastic thingy that you need in the center of the arch. It just was not included in the box. But after speaking with Amazon customer support, they just sent me a second one so it all worked out. I really only needed the little plastic piece but they were unable to send me just the little plastic piece so now I have a back up shade. We tried to use the existing plastic piece that we had from the old shade, but it was too thin. But it all worked out!

This was easy to install. Looks good, but I don’t know about durability. It’s made of a fibered sort of paper that is not going to be something that you can wash. Maybe run a vacuum attachment over it now and then. It also attaches to the window frame with double sided tape, so wash your window first because once installed, it’s not coming down, although I suppose one could buy more double sided tape and redo that. I had wanted to do a half round curtain rod with fabric, but couldn’t find one to fit…and this one solves the problem quickly and easily for now.

I recently moved to a new office which has a nice arched window, but unfortunately at certain times of the day the sun shines through the top of the arch and creates a disturbing glare in my face when I'm at the desk. I ordered this shade to diffuse the direct light through the top. The window is not a perfect arch though. The height is a bit more than half the width, so a simple straight cut as described in the directions wouldn't be suitable. The instructions for imperfect arches suggest fanning out the shade and then tracing the window outline on to the shade and cutting along the outline. That seems like it would be finicky though, especially since my window is quite large. Instead I measured for the top and bottom lengths and marked both on the folded-up shade as seen in picture #1. Then I made two angled cuts from the first mark to the second (picture #2). The middle of the folded shade corresponds to the top of the window in my case so I wanted that part to be longer, but probably you could make a V-shaped cut instead of a point if your window is opposite. Fanning out the shade then gives a smooth transition in length between the sides of the arch and the top. The final result is shown in picture #3. This method is likely easier than the trace-and-cut suggested by the directions, but the arch needs to be fairly close to a semicircle. In my case the required deviation in heights was less than 5%, and I'd guess it might be OK up to about 10%. Regarding the shade itself, I'd say it's quite nice, especially considering the low cost. The fabric looks good, the fan is very even, and overall fit with a careful cut is excellent. The light diffusion is perfect; I can now sit at the desk and work comfortably without the sun hitting me in the face. I can't say yet about the durability of the shade, but I don't expect a problem. And even if it needed to be replaced after a few years, it was cheap.

Extremely happy with this purchase. The shade looks nice, adds privacy and tones down direct sunlight without leaving the room dark. Most importantly, installation was easy. The rest of my review compares installation of this shade to a much more expensive department store shade. This shade replaces two failed shades from a mall anchor store that cost 75 bucks a pop and look identical. The expensive shades disintegrated in the sun after only 15 months. Stupidly, I bought a second identical one to replace the first. Again, after just over a year the shades began to tear leaving my window looking like someone had cut a pie slice out of the covering. Admittedly, when I opened this package the shade seemed chintzy. Instead of a plastic strut across the bottom edge, I found flimsy cardboard with two sided tape. It took less than a minute to cut the shade to size with a utility knife. I had to use a band saw on the more expensive shades, so plus one for the Redi Shade. Installation is where this shade won me over. The expensive shades couldn't support their own weight which meant "fat guy on a ladder" yoga poses while I attempted to both hold the shade and drill and mount the support tabs. The Redi Shade fabric is light and the length is perfect to "spring" the shade into place under tension. The more expensive shades that I bought were inexplicably long which meant almost no tension, and as a result, they required plastic tabs for support. The flimsy cardboard that I mentioned is partly responsible for easy installation. The shade with the plastic channels had to be snapped into place prior to sticking the base to the sill, which was difficult to do while holding the shade up. The plastic center mount has no channels so you only have to drop the cardboard end into place and press firmly. Tip: Find the center of your window opening and make a small pencil mark. Center the plastic piece on the mark. To install, peel the double sided tape paper where the two ends meet in the center. You can peel the paper back while pressing the shade into place. I can't speak for longevity. The sun could certainly destroy this fabric like it did on my other shades, but ease of trimming and installation have won me over. Couldn't be happier.

East to install and cut. Blocks light. 3 stars because advertising as fabric but mine is shiny plastic!!! Not happy about that but in 90 temps direct sun was desperate to block window so keeping it up for time being. Also our arch window is 70” wide -so top heavy -and was falling into room -so had to use double side tape to keep it up. Maybe allowing extra 1/2” so touches frame of window may have been better. Not a cellular shade so very little structure to this shade but it does the job.

Works really great.

For my previous house, I had purchased arch window shades for $100+ for each window. This time, I decided to try these out first. They were simple to install. There’s wiggle room if you cut them correctly. Remember to sharpen your knife before you start. I did 3 windows. Pics are from the first window I did. First window required me to cut the shade 3x, 2nd window, I had to cut it 2x, and the last one only required 1 cut. For me, it was better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, my arch wasn’t a “perfect arch size.” The window pictures displayed size was 67 1/2 x 33. So doubling the height would’ve only gotten me to 66” and the directions want you to take of 1/4”. In regards to the measurements, I cut it to 65 3/4. Make sure you center the plastic stand in the center. I used some clear shipping tape to keep it steady. From there I fanned it out and it was a perfect fit (remember I cut it 3x on my first try.) Here comes the wiggle room. I stretched it out to reach the end of the arch before actually taping it down and did the same for the other side. Keep in mind that the length was 67 1/2 but I had to trim it to 65 3/4 to fit the height. Voila!! Perfect arch! Make sure you clean the sill very well to ensure adhesion. Also, please note that one side is white (a bit shiny like it’s laminated) and the other side is like a fabric gray color. It looks a bit ombré because it’s so dense at the base. It appears to be quite sturdy and should last for a good long while. It actually looks better in person. I promise! ; )