Sheer Shades & Sheer Blinds

You will also see them called sheer blinds, sheer shadings or sheer horizontal shades. The names differ, the construction is the same: the light control of a horizontal blind, with the sheers softening every hard edge. Our sheer shades use 2-inch fabric vanes, a proportion that reads as soft and tailored on most windows.

What makes them different from any other shade is that the light passing through never comes in as a hard beam. Even with the vanes fully open, the front sheer diffuses it, so the room fills with a soft, even glow rather than stripes of sun and shadow.

How the Vanes Work

A sheer shade does two separate things, and the vanes move independently of the shade itself. First you lower the shade to cover the window. Then you rotate the vanes to set the light.

• Vanes open: daylight floods in through the sheers, with a clear view out.
• Vanes partly closed: the light softens and the view becomes a gentle blur.
• Vanes closed: the vanes overlap into a solid soft panel and the outside world quietly disappears.

That is the whole appeal: you keep one shade down all day and simply turn the vanes as the sun moves, instead of raising and lowering it.

Light Diffusing or Light Dimming

The vane fabric is the entire difference between our two sheer shades.

Lumi Light Diffusing Sheer Shades have translucent, light filtering vanes. With the vanes closed, a soft, luminous glow remains in the room. They are the classic choice for living and dining rooms, in five colors: White, Off-White, Ivory, Beige and Pearl Grey.

Lumi Light Dimming Sheer Shades have opaque, room darkening vanes. Closed, they overlap into a solid barrier and dim the room significantly, which makes them the sheer shade for a bedroom or a media room. They come in White and Hazy Beige. Light dimming is not the same as blackout: some light still arrives through the sheer edges and around the shade, so for a room that must be fully dark, layer a blackout shade or drapery.

Privacy, Day and Night

This is where the two shades differ most, and it is worth knowing before you choose.

During the day, both give good privacy with the vanes closed, because the exterior is brighter than the room. After dark, with lights on inside, the light diffusing version gives daytime privacy rather than round-the-clock privacy: closed vanes will still show silhouettes. The light dimming version, with its opaque vanes, gives real privacy day or night.

So for a street-facing living room used in the evening, or a bedroom, choose light dimming. For a room used mostly by day, or one that does not face the street, light diffusing gives the softer, brighter look.

Sheer Shades Are Not Zebra Shades

The two are easy to confuse, because both use sheer fabric. A zebra shade is a single loop of fabric printed with alternating sheer and solid bands; you control light by shifting the bands so they line up or overlap. A sheer shade has separate fabric vanes floating between two sheers, and you control light by rotating the vanes. The result looks different too: a zebra shade reads as crisp horizontal stripes, a sheer shade as a soft, layered panel with more depth.

The Sheer Roller Option

For a simpler look, the Signature Sheer Light Filtering Roller Shade is a single layer of fine sheer fabric on a roller, with a fabric-wrapped hem bar. There are no vanes to turn: it raises and lowers, and when it is down it turns harsh sunlight into gentle, even light. It offers only a minimum amount of privacy, since objects outside can be seen quite clearly, so it suits a window where light and view matter more than cover. It comes in White and builds up to 120 inches wide, with cordless lift available up to 96 inches.

Controls: Cord Loop or Motorized

Our Lumi sheer shades come with a choice of two controls: a continuous cord loop on the left or right, or motorized operation with a remote. There is no cordless version of a vane sheer shade in our range. In a home with young children or pets, choose motorized – there is no operating cord at all.

Motorized is also the easier way to live with a sheer shade day to day, because lift and tilt both come from the remote. An optional smart hub adds app control, as across the rest of our motorized range.

At the top, every Lumi shade comes with a standard cassette that encloses the roll, with a fabric-insert cassette available to match the shade.

Where They Work

• Living and dining rooms: the classic case. Soft daylight all day, a view when you want it, a clean panel when you do not.
• Bedrooms: light dimming vanes for privacy at night and a dimmer room, layered with blackout if you need full darkness.
• Home offices: turn the vanes to take glare off a screen without losing daylight.
• Formal spaces: sheer shades give a softer, more finished look than a blind, without the bulk of drapery.

Measuring, Care and Ordering

Our Lumi sheer shades build from 24 to 96 inches wide and 12 to 96 inches high. Measure the opening with a steel tape in three places for width and height and give us the raw figure – we take the deduction. An inside mount leaves a small gap at each side, so where light at the edges matters, mount outside the frame with a few inches of overlap. Our measuring guide and installation guide cover both mount types.

Dust regularly, before it has a chance to settle between the layers: lower the shade, open the vanes and go over both faces with a feather duster or a vacuum brush on low suction. Our sheer shade cleaning tips cover spot cleaning.

Free samples are worth ordering: hold the vane fabric against the window to see diffusing and dimming side by side. Every shade is built to your measurements, shipping is free within the continental United States, and the MeasureSafe™ Guarantee covers you if a measurement goes wrong.