Kids' Rooms in Lakeville: Cordless Blinds Near Burnsville

For a kid's room, cordless is the easy part. Every blind and shade we sell for homes around Lakeville and Burnsville comes cordless or motorized. So the real questions are about your kid. Who's going to work the shade? How dark does the room need to get? And where does the bed or crib sit?

Cords aren't the question anymore

Under current U.S. safety standards, new blinds are made without dangling cords. You can pick a cordless lift, a wand or a motor. All three keep cords out of the picture.

If you've been searching for child safe blinds, start here. Got any old corded blinds left in the house? I'd replace those first, kids' rooms before anything else. When we put in new ones, we take the old ones down and haul them away.

A nursery: you're the one lifting it

A baby doesn't touch the shade. You do, and you'll often have the baby in one arm while you do it. So I'd look for something you can move with one hand. A cordless cellular or roller shade works well. You push it up or pull it down by the bottom rail. If the window is tall or sits behind the crib, I'd go motorized. A remote by the rocking chair is a lot easier than leaning over the crib rail with a baby who has finally fallen asleep on your shoulder.

Naps matter too. A nursery gets used in the middle of the day, so I'd go with a room-darkening or blackout fabric.

Little kids, big kids and teens

Around four or five, kids decide the morning shade is their job, and that's a good thing. You just want something they can actually reach and won't break. A cordless shade they push up from the bottom works when the bottom rail is in reach. On a taller window, it may not be. A blind with a wand is a nice fit for this age. Small hands can tilt the slats open and closed without lifting anything. Shutters are another option I like for little kids. They're cordless by nature and kids can tilt the louvers themselves. There's nothing to pull or wind up.

Older kids are different. They open and close the shade all day. They want privacy, they want to sleep in on Saturday, and they'll yank on whatever you give them. For this age I'd look at three choices.

• A cordless shade if the window is easy to reach. It's the simplest choice.
• A blind with a wand if they like adjusting the light through the day. Tilt it for privacy and still let some daylight in.
• A motorized shade if the window is tall or tucked behind a desk. They'll use the remote or the app, and they'll actually close it.

Keep in mind the toddler room turns into a big-kid room fast. Pick something that still makes sense five years from now. And think about the street. A bright print in one upstairs window can look busy next to plain shades everywhere else. I usually suggest a calm color that matches the other windows from outside. Put the fun inside with bedding, art or a valance. A basement playroom can be as bold as you like.

How dark the room gets, and where the bed goes

Bedrooms where kids nap usually need a darker fabric. So do rooms where bedtime comes while it's still light out. On a long May evening, kids come in from the yard and have to fall asleep in a room that's still bright. A playroom or homework space is the opposite. It needs daylight without glare on a screen, and a light-filtering cordless roller or cellular shade fits that job. Is the room a playroom by day and a bedroom at night? Ask us about putting a light shade and a darker one on the same window.

Before we talk fabric, though, I'd ask you to sketch the room. Furniture changes what works at the window. If the room allows it, I'd put cribs and beds on a wall away from the window. It keeps little climbers away from the glass.

When the bed has to go under the window, think about reach. Say your seven-year-old's bed is pushed right under the only window. They'd have to stand on the mattress to grab the bottom rail. A blind they can leave down and just tilt with the wand is a better fit there, and so is a motorized shade. A deep sill or a window seat raises the same question. A shade that's hard to reach stays wherever it was last left. Usually that's down.

Common problems with cordless, and a quick reach test

Cordless shades are simple, but a few things trip people up. Push up one corner and a wide shade can go up crooked. Lift from the middle of the bottom rail and it stays level. Kids also tug, and for a child who pulls hard, a wand or a remote is easier on the shade than a bottom rail they hang on. And a cordless shade that came with the house may be pretty old. If it won't stay where you set it, it's time to replace it.

A quick reach test settles the lift question. You raise a cordless shade by the bottom rail. When it's all the way up, that rail sits near the top of the window. So raise the shade in your child's room all the way, then have them reach for the bottom rail in their socks. If they can grab it, cordless works. If they can't, plan on a wand or a motor. Try it at the tallest window in the room, since that's the one they'll fight with.

Start with the hardest bedtime

As for which room to do first, pick the one where bedtime is hardest. In late spring that's often a bedroom facing east or west. Our post on how Burnsville rooms differ by the direction they face can help you spot it. If you're building in Lakeville, put the kids' rooms on your list early. Our new-build window plan for Lakeville and Rosemount shows when to measure and when to order.

You'll find the kid-friendly shades, blinds and shutters on our child-friendly window coverings page. We can also bring samples to the house for a free in-home visit, and your kids can try the lifts and wands themselves. They'll have opinions, and it's their window. Our page on cordless blinds in Burnsville is the easiest place to set that up.

Kevin Sill is CFO and co-owner of the family-owned Budget Blinds franchises serving the Southern Twin Cities.