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Blinds and shades have the ability to completely transform the look and feel of your home while providing privacy and light control. Still, traditional window treatments typically come with hanging cords to open and close them. These cords can be an eyesore and a nuisance, but, more importantly, they can be dangerous for children and pets. Cordless blinds provide an attractive alternative to traditional corded shades and are safe, secure, durable, and simple to use.

What Are Cordless Blinds, Anyway?

As the name suggests, cordless blinds are blinds without cords that feature various internal mechanisms that use tension to raise and lower your blinds and shades. Instead of raising or lowering your blinds with a cord, you simply lift your shade to your preferred height. Aesthetically, cordless blinds are mostly similar to other types of blinds and come in the same variety of styles, colors, and materials. 

What Are the Benefits of Cordless Blinds?

Cordless blinds come with various benefits, including their aesthetic appeal, since they tend to look more pleasing than traditional blinds, without having extra cords hanging around. They also fit well in multiple spaces since they don’t have cords interfering with other elements of your room. For example, cordless blinds are a great choice for kitchens because they won’t hang on counters and be in the way while cooking or get tangled in appliances.

Cordless shades are also simpler to use, as you don’t need to deal with pulling the right cord or having cords tangle or unevenly raise and lower, and they come in many different styles and colors. They can be made with anything from bamboo and wood slats to fabric blinds that help block or filter sunlight. Perhaps most importantly, cordless shades are much safer than traditional corded shades in a variety of ways.

Why Are Cordless Blinds Safer Than Blinds With Cords?

Corded blinds pose serious dangers to the people and pets in your home. In fact, according to NPR, “16,000 children in the US were treated in emergency departments for injuries caused by window blinds between 1990 and 2015.” Children are curious and, even if you’re watching them most of the time, you can’t keep an eye on them every minute of every day, especially during bedtime and nap time. The biggest risk facing children is for those under the age of 6 who can get their necks and limbs tangled in the cords. If this happens, you may not be aware your child is in danger if they’re having difficulty yelling for help due to the cords being wrapped around their neck. This makes cords especially dangerous because it only takes a few minutes to cause injury or even death.

Corded blinds also pose a great risk to pets, who face similar issues. Cats, who love to climb and play, can easily get tangled in unsecured blinds, and dogs can think the shade’s cords are chew toys and ingest them. Pets often panic when startled, leading to an additional risk of major damage when they get caught around the neck and do damage to themselves when they try to run. All these issues can lead to visits to the vet or even death. If a large dog is tangled in a cord and runs, they may also damage your windows, wall, and home as they tear down your blinds, leading to potentially expensive repairs.

If you do have corded blinds, it’s essential to make sure they are secured properly and out of reach of children and pets. They should be placed high enough to avoid risking your children’s and pets’ well-being and organized so they won’t tangle when in use. Replacing your corded blinds with cordless blinds, which will remove the risk entirely, is the smartest option.

Why Make the Switch to Cordless Blinds?

In November 2022, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted unanimously to enact more stringent standards that address the risk of strangulation deaths and injuries to children on all types of window cords on both custom and stock window coverings to make them safer. These rules are completely in effect as of 180 days after publication in the Federal Register. The gradual phaseout of corded blinds and more stringent regulations are great incentives to make the move to cordless blinds.

Another trend in window treatments that is an incentive to change to cordless blinds is the increasing popularity of motorized blinds. Today’s motorized shades are easy to use and integrate seamlessly into our homes’ device ecosystems, and they are continuously being improved upon. Upgrading to motorized blinds can increase your home’s convenience and sophistication, and can even help keep your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. You can do this by scheduling your shades to open or close during the day depending on when you want to allow the sunlight into your home, which will also reduce the cost of your energy bills over time.

Smart home assistants, like Amazon Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, have also led to a variety of new applications that can be integrated with your home’s motorized shades. For example, Hunter Douglas motorized window shades can be controlled by downloading the PowerView® app on your smartphone or tablet. This system can even be used to create customized “scenes” that raise and lower your shades to your preferred positions. 

Options for Cordless Blinds From Window Trends 

Ready to learn more? Stop by our Window Trends Morris Plains or Window Trends Chatham showrooms to speak with one of our team members about the specific features you’re looking for in your shades! You can also give us a call at 973-401-9048 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, or fill out the contact form here on our website for a complimentary at-home consultation.

If you’d like additional safety tips, please visit the Window Covering Safety Council’s website, and if you haven’t already, be sure to put window treatment cord safety at the top of your child-proofing checklist.