02 / Zebra
Zebra shades
24" – 120"
Two layers of alternating sheer and solid bands. Slide them a half inch and the bands line up for privacy; slide them back and they open into stripes you can see through. You change the light without changing the height of the shade.
Alpharetta, GA · living room
What it is, in numbers.
As installed
- Width
- 24" – 120"
- Height
- 24" – 120"
- Lift
- Cordless · continuous chain · motorized
- Light control
- Sheer · light filtering · room darkening
- Mount
- Inside or outside
- Cassette
- Fabric-wrapped or aluminium fascia
- Lead time
- 2 – 3 weeks from measure
- Warranty
- Limited lifetime on mechanism
Options we quote
- Lift systemRequired
- Continuous chain · Cordless · Free-stop · Motorized
- Light controlRequired
- Sheer · Light filtering · Room darkening · Blackout
- MountRequired
- Inside mount · Outside mount
- Control sideRequired
- Left · Right
Fabrics are chosen from the sample books at the estimate — we carry the full range to your house rather than asking you to pick from a screen.
How much daylight each fabric actually stops.
These are the figures we quote at the kitchen table. They shift a few points with the mount and the direction the window faces, which is why we measure before we promise.
Louver angle
34% → 88% blocked
- Bands open
- 34% blocked
- Half aligned
- 62% blocked
- Bands closed
- 88% blocked
Full view out. Daylight reads as horizontal stripes on the floor.
The setting people actually leave it on all afternoon.
Privacy day and night, with the fabric still glowing.
Light: 58% blocked34°
Drag the slats. This is the range a zebra shade covers on a typical window — from 34% at its most open to 88% closed. Your actual number depends on the fabric, the mount and which way the window faces.
Get the exact number for your windowYour office window and your bedroom window want opposite things.
One needs glare control at 2pm. The other needs black at 6am.
Why people keep them half open
The whole point of a zebra is the middle setting. Fully open is a bare window and fully closed is a roller shade — the value is everything in between, where you keep the backyard and lose the glare on the television. Most of our customers set them once in the morning and never touch them again.
What they do not do
A zebra will not black out a room. Even with the bands closed, the solid stripe is a room-darkening weave, not a blackout, and light passes through the fabric itself. If the same window also has to go dark at night, we put a dual shade there instead and keep the zebra for the rooms where the view matters.
Rooms we install these in most: Living room · Home office · Breakfast nook · Sliding glass door · Stairwell
The same line, in four Georgia houses.
8 photographs
What people ask about zebra shades.
With the bands closed and a lamp on inside, you will read silhouettes from the street, the same as with any light-filtering fabric. For a ground-floor bathroom or a bedroom facing a sidewalk we recommend a room-darkening band or a dual shade.
Yes — that is one of our most common installs. We run a single wide zebra on a door up to 120", control side away from the handle, and mount it outside the frame so the fabric clears the door hardware.
Vacuum on a brush attachment, or wipe a spot with a barely damp cloth and let it dry open. Do not soak the bands — the sheer sections take a while to dry flat and can hold a water line.
Free in-home estimate
See zebra samples in your own light.
We bring the zebra books to your kitchen table, measure every window, and price the job on the spot. Free, about an hour.