Downsides Of Using This Trendy Window Treatment In Your Home

If you're looking for a clean, contemporary aesthetic for the windows in your home, it's hard to pass up blinds and shades. In fact, roller blinds, including zebra blinds, have been designer-recommended in recent years for this very reason. The question is, are these affordable blinds actually worth buying, or are they more trouble than they're worth? The main concern people have once they hang zebra blinds is that they won't fully darken a room, with light seeping through the sheer panels innate to their construction.

The transparent stripes also provide less privacy than solid window treatments — you might want to reconsider hanging them in street-facing windows, for example. The light fabric won't block out noise and is only moderately good at insulating a room. They are, like all textile shades, less durable than wooden or metal options. And, if you opt for a motorized option, they may be difficult for the less DIY-inclined to install.

Zebra blinds are a type of roller blind or shade, the point of difference being that a continuous sheet of looping fabric features alternating bands of sheer and opaque color. As the textile shade rolls around the top mechanism — powered by a pull cord or a battery-powered motor — the bands of fabric cross over one another, allowing you to adjust how much shade or light you let into the room. As such, zebra blinds are sold under various other names: transitional shades, dual sheer shades, combi shades, banded shades, layered shades, cascade shades, or double roller shades, to name the most common.

Many homeowners have been disappointed to find that their zebra blinds only offer light filtering or room-darkening window coverage. The shades are made of two sheer fabrics of varying opacity, so they won't completely black out a room. What's more, manufacturers cut zebra blinds narrower than other window treatments, leaving a significant gap between the edges of the shade and the window trim to prevent the roll of fabric from fraying as it moves up and down. The gap might not be so noticeable with lightly tinted fabrics; if the blind is made of room-darkening fabrics or dark-hued material, it will be more obvious. Light also filters around the edges and between stripes. Choose a pull cord blind, and the space left for the mechanism to work will let light in, too.

What this means practically is that zebra blinds aren't well suited for use in the bedrooms of light-sensitive sleepers, any room you need to stay dark once the sun comes up, or if you need to block busy city lights. To achieve true darkness, you'll need to layer zebra blinds with blackout curtains or add another layer between the window glass and the blinds, adding to window treatment costs. If you're still unsure whether zebra blinds are right for your home, going in person to a showroom and holding layered samples up to a light source gives you an idea of the light-blocking capabilities and true-to-life fabric hues of the blind. A sheer white band, for example, may look quite different with the sunlight shining through it.

Another limitation of zebra blinds that results from their design is that they don't grant a home as much privacy as thicker, sturdier window treatments. The sheer quality of the fabric contributes to a relatively transparent blind. How much a zebra blind shades a room correlates with the level of privacy you'll be able to ensure. Blinds made from striped materials with high opacity and darker to black hues for each band will give you greater privacy than light-colored textiles and highly transparent bands. Depending on what you choose, you can expect that people outside will still see, at best, shadows inside your home when you've closed the blinds so the darker bands of fabric line up with one another. 

Solutions to this problem range from purchasing additional accessories to buying Roman shades in a blackout fabric instead. Choosing the darkest, most opaque fabrics available, turning the shades to the dark stripes, and using dimmed indoor lighting provides more privacy at night. Avoid installing zebra blinds on roadside windows. You can get blockers to close up those concerning gaps; they're basically a strip of plastic with a groove that fits neatly to your window trim. However, it's yet another thing you'll need to buy and install on top of the blinds themselves.

If you live on a busy street with the unrelenting hum of traffic and chatter of passersby, you're likely wondering how to soundproof a room for a quiet and serene home. While heavy drapes are surprisingly effective at soundproofing (for blocking out street noise in a home in a busy urban center, for example), the same can't be said for zebra blinds. Where the soft, dense fabric of curtains absorbs sound, the transparent woven textile of zebra blinds offers no such protection. If you're a fan of blinds over curtains, a better choice for soundproofing a room would be blackout or honeycomb shades.

Zebra blinds won't save you on the costs of heating and cooling your home for pretty much the same reason — the thin fabric, even when double-layered, offers only moderate energy efficiency. To get the most out of your shades, you need to install them right up against the trim and window glass, reducing gaps where hot or cold air can escape. Lining up the dark bands in winter may attract more sun — and therefore heat — to the window, but it will also mean a perpetually shaded room. However, if energy saving is your concern, insulated Roman shades, cellular shades, or thick curtains may serve you better. What's more, if you live in an area with temperature extremes, no matter if that's freezing cold or unrelenting tropical heat, installing zebra curtains could contribute to more dramatic temperature fluctuations inside your home.

The shade of zebra blinds is most often made from natural (linen or cotton) and artificial (polyester or polyethersulfone) fibers with aluminum mechanisms and fittings. To be flexible and sheer, the material must be relatively thin and lightweight. Zebra blinds, therefore, are less durable than other shades or even curtain options made from thicker fabrics. They could tear or sag over time, may not hold up well in high-traffic areas of your home, and quickly collect dust. Don't hang zebra blinds on windows facing a stunning view; the fabric obstructs the window, and pulling them up very often may cause damage over time. Zebra blinds swaying in the breeze may fray at the edges.

You might think these shades are a simple way to make your bathroom feel more private. In fact, they don't do well in humid or damp spaces. The woven textile attracts mold and mildew. They also don't hold up well under exposure to chemicals — think indoor spa or swimming pool rooms. Their flexibility can also lead to misalignment issues like waves across the shade or the shade coming loose from its mechanism and continually rolling down or staying stuck in the up position. This is a particular problem with corded blinds, where it's easy to pull the wrong cord. What's more, it can be difficult to ensure the blinds on multiple windows in a single room line up horizontally, negating the clean, contemporary look zebra shades are intended for.

Zebra blinds suit rectangular windows in standard sizes. Windows outside of the norm — that is, anything under 96 inches or over 120 inches in width — need multiple shades or something bespoke, increasing costs. Taking correct measurements of your window is crucial if you wish to reduce gaps and fit issues. These shades can be mounted inside or outside the window frame, and both options can bring disadvantages. The two rolling brackets often don't fit inside the window frame, and outside-mounted mechanisms stick out from the wall.

DIY installation involves a number of steps and takes about 30 minutes for inside-mounted blinds to one or more hours for outside-mounted blinds. You can cut the blinds to size yourself, but you need specialized carpentry equipment and skills. Corded blinds pose a significant safety hazard to children and pets, so look at continuous-loop corded lift systems and child safety sleeves to counter the issue, or invest in motorized zebra blinds. They run on rechargeable batteries lasting up to 12 months, adding yet another chore when it's time to replace them. Some companies suggest installing solar panels to charge the batteries, but if the solar panel has a short cable, it has to be placed close to the motor where it may get little sunlight and look unsightly. The mechanisms on roller blinds, both manual and motorized, contain lots of moving parts that require ongoing maintenance and add to the lifetime cost of the product.