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Outdoor living spaces allow you to enjoy nature while staying cool and comfortable in a homey environment. While selecting outdoor shades that complement your home and fit your budget can be challenging without much background knowledge, informing yourself of the options you have can make the decision easier.
Here’s a comprehensive buying guide to help you make the best choice for your home.
Why Choose Outdoor Shades?
You may be wondering why outdoor shades are so popular for patios, decks and California rooms. Here are some of the biggest benefits of installing outdoor shades in your SoCal home.
1. Extend Your Living Space
A good outdoor shade serves as an extension of your home’s interior by providing a framework for an additional living area. Whether you set up an outdoor kitchen and bar or create a comfortable space to gather around a custom fireplace, outdoor shades can help you achieve your vision.
2. Protect Against the Elements
Southern California is home to hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. Shielding your outdoor space from the weather does more than protect your belongings from damage — it also helps you keep yourself and your family safe from sunburn, extreme wind, heat stroke and rain.
Shades with zipper side closures can also stop insects and other pests from entering your space by allowing you to completely enclose the area. These features will increase outdoor comfort and help you create the most enjoyable space for your loved ones.
3. Make Your Outdoor Space More Versatile
Outdoor shades provide extra protection against the weather, creating a comfortable environment year-round. Instead of using your outdoor living space or California room only a few months out of the year, you can enjoy spending more time in the fresh air.
Adding a functioning fireplace, space heaters or strategically placed candles can help you create a cozy vibe for relaxing in the winter. In the summer, you can stay cool in the shade and enjoy a nice, cold drink.
4. Increase Privacy
Outdoor shades can help you keep neighbors and passersby from seeing into your space so you can feel more comfortable spending time outside.
Choose a fabric that is more or less opaque, depending on your preferences. Shades offer excellent privacy by ensuring you can see out while preventing others from looking in.
5. Elevate Your California Room
A California room is a partially enclosed outdoor room that provides access to the sun and fresh air while maintaining the feeling of an indoor space.
Installing outdoor shades can elevate your California room by:
- Creating a more cohesive aesthetic.
- Enhancing comfort by providing shade on hot, bright days.
- Protecting your family by blocking UV rays.
Outfitting your California room with outdoor shades can also help you boost curb appeal and raise the value of your home.
Types of Outdoor Shades
Choosing the right shade type is essential for achieving your vision for your outdoor space. Some of the most common styles you might find include:
- Cable: This style of tracked or guided outdoor shade uses a series of heavy-duty cables to lower or raise your shades. Their sturdy construction makes them ideal for windy areas or for spaces with tall openings.
- Zipper track: These shades use a zipper track system to raise and lower the shades while providing a tight seal against the weather. You can get motorized or manual options depending on your preferences.
- Trackless: Trackless shades use trackless cable systems to roll up and reduce the time it takes to lower and raise them.
- Keder: These shades attach the fabric to the shade’s frame using a flexible plastic called keder, which creates a waterproof barrier between the outside environment and your living space.
Viewing your options at an in-person or virtual showroom can help you determine which styles match your aesthetic preferences before you request a consultation.
What to Look for When Buying Outdoor Shades
When shopping for outdoor shades in Southern CA, carefully consider the following characteristics:
- Materials: The fabric you select will determine the opacity of your shades, so it’s important to look into several different options to find one that strikes the right balance between privacy and visibility.
- Measurements: It’s essential to ensure your outdoor shades fit your space to provide maximum coverage. Custom-made shade solutions built to your outdoor space’s dimensions can help you meet your unique needs.
- Mounting options: Custom shades can be made to fit the orientation of your space, so you can mount your shades from the ceiling or side wall as you need.
- Convenience features: Features like zipper side closures and motorization make operating and maintaining your outdoor shades a smooth, easy process.
- Pricing: Your budget will limit which shade options are the best investment. For example, while motorized shades are convenient and easy to use, they typically cost more than manual roll-up shades.
How Much Do Outdoor Motorized Shades Cost?
While calculating an exact price can be difficult without knowing the size and material you want, it’s still important to mention that choosing motorized outdoor shades will add to the overall cost.
The specific material, style and tier of shades you choose will also impact the price. Higher-quality products will cost more upfront than lower-quality alternatives but are likely to last longer.
Consulting with an experienced sales professional can help you gauge how much you’ll need to spend on a set of outdoor motorized shades.
Where to Buy Outdoor Shades
While you can buy pre-made outdoor shades at many home improvement stores, there is a chance that your purchase may not fit properly into your space.
Choosing a local company that can design and manufacture various tiers of custom shades is the best way to ensure your new shades meet your expectations for quality and appearance.
For example, we at Shutter & Shade Shoppe take your needs and preferences into consideration when we design your shades — and you have several different tiers to suit your budget. We also offer excellent customer service to ensure we address any of your concerns throughout the design, manufacturing and installation processes.
Beautify Your Southern CA Outdoor Spaces With Shutter & Shade Shoppe
If you’re looking for a custom outdoor shade solution for your SoCal home, Shutter & Shade Shoppe is your ideal partner.
We begin the process with an in-home consultation, where one of our experts will break down all your shade options and measure your outdoor space. We’ll also send you a digital mock-up of our design before beginning production to make sure you love it.
Create an outdoor living space you and your family will want to spend hours in. Contact us today to schedule your free in-home consultation.
