In the room
Listed at $29.99. listed starting price (9 colourways, all at 29.99, no compare_at). Made to order: width and length are entered in the configurator…
Catalogue photo from Two Pages, retrieved 2026-09-12.
Most guides answer blinds vs shades by describing how each one looks. The eight listings read for this page sort themselves on something else entirely, and they do it before anyone gets to look at a colour: each one publishes, or declines to publish, the smallest and the largest window it will be made for.
Those numbers are not decoration. On a narrow window, one of these three families is the only one that can be ordered at all; on a tall one, the list shrinks again. Whoever picks the word first finds that out on the last screen of the configurator.
Your window rules two of them out before you choose anything
Strip the names away and there are three movements. Slats that tilt and then lift on a headrail. Cloth that folds and stacks. Cloth that rolls onto a tube. Every product in the hard side of this category does one of those three things, and each movement carries a published size range that the others do not share.
Two Pages will make its Loma venetian blind from 16 to 94 inches wide and 12 to 118 inches long. Its Aura blackout cellular shade, which folds into honeycomb cells, runs 18 to 98 inches wide and 16 to 94 inches long. Its Alvin roller shade, cordless, runs 18 to 90 inches wide and 20 to 98 inches long. At Neutral Curtains, the Tavi roller shade is made 21 to 80 inches wide and 20 to 119 inches long, in eighth-of-an-inch steps. The Half Price Drapes tie-up shade is not made to anything: it comes in one ready-made size, 46 by 63 inches. Two of the eight, the Neutral bamboo shade and the Half Price Drapes roman shade, publish no size range at all.
The window sizes each listing says it will make
widthlengtha dot is a single stock size, not a range
Two Pages Loma Venetian Blinds Cord Lift
cord lift: 16-94 in wide, 12-118 in long
Two Pages Aura Blackout Cellular Window Shades Cordless
cordless lift
cordless lift: 18-98 in wide, 16-94 in long
Two Pages Alvin Light Filtering Cordless Roller Shades
cordless lift
motorised lift
cordless lift: 18-90 in wide, 20-98 in long; motorised lift: 22-98 in wide, 20-118 in long
Two Pages Brio Light Filtering Zebra Shade Cordless
cordless lift
cordless lift: 18-90 in wide overall; the drop ceiling rises with each size class, from 63 in on the narrowest to 98 in on the widest
Neutral Curtains Tavi Roller Shades
21-80 in wide, 20-119 in long, in 1/8 in steps
Half Price Drapes Millstone Grey Solid Cotton Room Darkening Tie-Up Window Shade
one ready-made size, 46 in wide x 63 in long
Neutral Curtains Willow Bamboo Blinds & Shades | Wheat
not published: this listing does not say which window sizes it makes
no size range published on this page; the size is entered in the page's configurator
Half Price Drapes Crisp White French Linen Roman Shade
not published: this listing does not say which window sizes it makes
no size range published on this page; the size is entered in the page's configurator
6 of these 8 listings publish the window sizes they will make. The floor counts as much as the ceiling here: the narrowest width any of them accepts is 16 in, so a window under that is outside the catalogue rather than outside the product. Ranges are shown as published; none is estimated, averaged or borrowed from a neighbouring listing. The 2 silent listings keep their line, and no range is invented for them.
Source: official product pages from Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages, checked 2026-09-12. Fold & Light does not measure products; any percentage is the one that brand publishes.
Line them up and the eliminations are immediate. A window 16 inches wide has exactly one candidate here, and it is the one with slats. A drop of 110 inches leaves two, the venetian at 118 and the Tavi at 119, and the cordless roller shade is out at 98. Neither result has anything to do with taste, and neither is visible from the category page you started on.
That is what the three words hide. They read like three aisles in a shop, and they behave like three different sets of admissions criteria.
Side by side
Size envelope: cordless lift: 18-90 in wide, 20-98 in long; motorised lift: 22-98 in wide, 20-118 in long
Size envelope: cordless lift: 18-90 in wide overall; the drop ceiling rises with each size class, from 63 in on the narrowest to 98 in on the widest
Source: official product pages from Two Pages, checked 2026-09-12. Fold & Light does not measure products; any percentage is the one that brand publishes.
One of these listings changes its maximum height when you change its width
The zebra shade is where this stops being a tidy rectangle. Two Pages publishes the Brio’s size range in five bands, and the maximum drop moves with the width you order: 18 to 27 inches wide gives 16 to 63 inches long; 27 to 35 gives 16 to 74; 35 to 51 gives 16 to 82; 51 to 78 gives 16 to 90; 78 to 90 gives 16 to 98.
The common misstep
| The habit | What it costs | Instead |
|---|---|---|
| Falling for the fabric before reading the size range The colour and the material are settled first, and the listing's published size range is read at the very end, in the configurator. | Made to order does not mean any size. A made-to-measure listing publishes a minimum and a maximum width and drop, and on some of them the maximum drop is not a single number: it moves with the width ordered, so a narrow window is capped shorter than a wide one. A window that falls outside gets refused at the last step, once the choosing is done and the alternatives have been dismissed. | Read the size range first, with your own width and drop written down, and check whether the maximum drop is given per width band rather than once for the whole listing. A window outside the range takes that listing off the shortlist before the colour is worth a thought. |
Where this usually breaks down, and the correction. No product figures are involved.
Read that on a stairwell window, or the tall narrow pane beside a front door. At 24 inches wide, a drop of 70 inches is refused, even though the same listing goes to 98 inches on a wide opening. Two Pages does not publish a reason for the banding, and we are not inventing one. What matters is the shape of the constraint: here a narrow window is also a short window, and how a roller shade is put together is what the band is quietly describing.
The same brand’s roller shade puts a second version of that trade in plain sight. The cordless Alvin stops at 98 inches of drop. The motorised version of the same shade goes to 118 inches, and asks for 22 inches of minimum width instead of 18. The motor is usually sold as a convenience. On this listing it is also 20 extra inches of window, bought at the cost of four inches at the narrow end.
Check it at the source
Two Pages · Loma Venetian Blinds Cord Lift
Listed from $29.99
What that covers: listed starting price (9 colourways, all at 29.99, no compare_at). Made to order: width and length are entered in the configurator, so this figure is a floor.
Build your size at Two PagesAffiliate link, disclosed: Fold & Light may earn on it, never as a surcharge to you, and it changes nothing about what Two Pages asks. The figure is dated 2026-09-19 and only the merchant page is current. Photograph from the Two Pages catalogue, retrieved 2026-09-19.
Blinds vs shades, as the three shops actually use the words
Verified on the three official catalogues on 12 September 2026, the vocabulary does not survive contact with the shelves.
Half Price Drapes sells no blind at all. Its blinds collection page returns zero products, the word does not appear once on its home page, and its own site search for “blinds” returns roman shades. Neutral Curtains titles its roman shades Roman Shades & Blinds and its woven bamboo panels Blinds & Shades, and a search there for “venetian” returns no slat of any kind. Two Pages has the one venetian in this group, and files its cellular and zebra shades under collections called Zebra Blinds and Day Night Blinds, where nothing tilts.
What each brand calls it
Two Pages
- Loma Venetian Blinds Cord Lift
calls it: blind
its own URL saysloma-aluminum-blinds-cord-lift: aluminum appears in the address and not in the title
Aluminium slats, headrail and bottom rail, baked-on enamel finish · listed starting price (9 colourways, all at 29.99, no compare_at). Made to order: width and length are entered in the configurator, so this figure is a floor. - Aura Blackout Cellular Window Shades Cordless
calls it: shade
100% Polyester · 225 gsm · listed starting price (7 colourways, all at 68.99, no compare_at). Size entered in the configurator. - Alvin Light Filtering Cordless Roller Shades
calls it: shade
30% Polyester, 70% PVC (except M171-2, M171-3 and M171-19: 55% Polyester, 30% Viscose, 15% Linen) · weight not published · lowest starting price across 23 colourways (41.99 to 43.79 by colourway), no compare_at. Size entered in the configurator. - Brio Light Filtering Zebra Shade Cordless
calls it: shade
fibre not published · weight not published · starting price, identical on all 8 colourways, no compare_at. Size entered in the configurator.
Neutral Curtains
- Tavi Roller Shades
calls it: shade
100% Polyester · weight not published · starting price, identical across all 11 colourways, no compare_at price. Size entered in the configurator, so this figure is a floor. - Willow Bamboo Blinds & Shades | Wheat
calls it: blind + shade
20% bamboo, 80% paper · 405 gsm · listed starting price for this colourway, no compare_at price. Made to order: width and length are entered in the configurator, so this figure is a floor.
Half Price Drapes
- Millstone Grey Solid Cotton Room Darkening Tie-Up Window Shade
calls it: shade
100% Cotton (solid cotton twill), off-white lining · weight not published · price of the single ready-made size (46W x 63L) on 2026-09-12, shown against a permanent 34.99 compare-at anchor that has not moved since 2026-08-22 - Crisp White French Linen Roman Shade
calls it: shade
100% Linen · weight not published · figure shown before the size calculation; the page carries a Price Calculator (Regular Price / Final Price) that recomputes on width x length. Sold per shade.
One listing carries more than one category word in a single title.
One page names its own URL with a material the title leaves out.
Source: official product pages from Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages, checked 2026-09-12. Fold & Light does not measure products; any percentage is the one that brand publishes.
Individual listings drift the same way. The Loma is titled Venetian Blinds and its own web address reads loma-aluminum-blinds-cord-lift, so the material is in the URL and not in the name. The Neutral Willow is sold as Bamboo Blinds & Shades, and its specification line reads 20% bamboo and 80% paper.
None of this is dishonest. No authority defines these words, and merchandising titles are written to be found rather than to classify. But it means the noun is a search term, not a specification, which is the same trap the wider vocabulary sets one level up. The part of a title that can be acted on is the verb hiding inside it: tilt, fold, roll. Each listing states which one it does, and unlike the noun, that word predicts what the product will ask of your window.
In the room
Listed at $115.00. listed starting price for this colourway, no compare_at price. Made to order: width and length are entered in the configurator…
Catalogue photo from Neutral Curtains, retrieved 2026-09-12.
What each movement asks of the frame, and what it leaves on the glass
Seven of the eight publish a minimum inside-mount depth: the cellular shade at 2 inches, the Alvin roller at 2 1/2, the Willow bamboo at 2 1/2, the Half Price Drapes roman at 2 3/4, the zebra at 2 7/8, the venetian at 3, and the Tavi roller at 3 5/8. The Tavi’s own FAQ answers 2 inches to the same question, which is a copy template rather than a second measurement; the specification block is the figure to use. All seven are numbers to check against the reveal you actually have before anything else.
The more useful disagreement is inside a single listing. On the Aura cellular shade, the description block publishes a minimum depth of 2 inches and the specification block on the same page publishes 2 1/4. The same pair of blocks disagrees about the deduction as well: 1/4 inch in one, 3/8 inch in the other, both for the buyer to take off the casing width before ordering. On a reveal that measures 2 1/8 inches, that product is either eligible or not depending on which half of its own page you read. A quarter of an inch is not a rounding error here, it is the whole decision.
In the room
Listed at $68.99. listed starting price (7 colourways, all at 68.99, no compare_at). Size entered in the configurator.
Catalogue photo from Two Pages, retrieved 2026-09-12.
What the movement leaves behind is the other half of the question. A roller shade takes its bulk up into a tube, so a raised shade returns nearly the full height of the glass. The Willow bamboo publishes a 7 inch stack when fully raised, which on a short window is a band of the view that never comes back unless the shade is mounted above the frame. And the zebra publishes something almost no listing does: the fabric finishes 1 1/2 inches narrower than the width you order, because the ordered width belongs to the tube and its cassette. That is daylight down each edge, announced in advance, on top of the 3/8 inch deduction that comes off the casing first.
How much window the ordered width really covers
fabric ends up 1 1/2 in narrower than the width you order · order 3/8 in under the casing width
order 3/8 in under the casing width
order 3/8 in under the casing width
order 3/8 in under the casing width
order 1/4 in under the casing width
order 1/4 in under the casing width
no measurement rule published
no measurement rule published
Two different numbers hide under the same word. A deduction is what you take off the casing before ordering; a light gap is what the finished shade still leaves uncovered afterwards. One listing here publishes the second. 2 of these 8 listings publish neither, and we are not estimating one.
Source: official product pages from Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages, checked 2026-09-12. Fold & Light does not measure products; any percentage is the one that brand publishes.
Check it at the source
Neutral Curtains · Tavi Roller Shades
Listed from $42.99
What that covers: starting price, identical across all 11 colourways, no compare_at price. Size entered in the configurator, so this figure is a floor.
Build your size at Neutral CurtainsAffiliate link, disclosed: Fold & Light may earn on it, never as a surcharge to you, and it changes nothing about what Neutral Curtains asks. The figure is dated 2026-09-12 and only the merchant page is current. The image above comes from the Neutral Curtains listing, retrieved 2026-09-12.
The shade that does not move at all
At the far end of the same word sits the Half Price Drapes tie-up shade. It has no lift mechanism of any kind: a 4 inch pole pocket slides onto a rod, and two 70 inch fabric ties gather the cloth by hand. The brand says so itself, describing the product as stationary rather than something to raise and lower daily. It comes in that single 46 by 63 inch size, in 100% cotton twill, and Half Price Drapes states that its privacy lining blocks approximately 60 to 65% of incoming light.
Judged as a working shade it fails on its own description: two 70 inch ties untied and retied by hand is not an operation anyone repeats twice a day. Read for what it is, it is a fixed fabric screen, and some windows want exactly that: a landing, a hallway pane, a window above a stair that is never opened and only needs softening. The single size is then the real constraint, and no configurator will help with it.
Worth doing
Dust it weekly so you never need the wet method
Run a vacuum brush attachment down the shade once a week, with the shade fully lowered.
A shade that folds or collapses closes dust inside its own folds and cells, where it settles unevenly and shows up against the light coming through from behind. Every listing that rules out immersion recommends dusting instead, and dusting only works as prevention: once dust is set into the cells, the method that would lift it out is the one the listing forbids.
Method, not merchandise. No part of this changes with where you bought the curtain.
The same merchant’s linen roman shade sits at the other end of its own vocabulary: cloth that folds instead of rolling, lifted on a continuous loop, needing 2 3/4 inches of depth, with opacity that follows the lining rather than the fabric. Both are called shades, and the word covers the whole distance between a hand-tied panel and a corded mechanism without flinching.
In the room
Listed at $12.25. price of the single ready-made size (46W x 63L) on 2026-09-12, shown against a permanent 34.99 compare-at anchor that has not moved since 2026-08-22
Catalogue photo from Half Price Drapes, retrieved 2026-09-12.
On price, nothing here can be ranked: five of these figures are configurator floors, one is a base price before add-ons, one is a ready-made size, and one is recalculated on width and length. Two sit under anchor prices that have not moved in three weeks, which makes the percentage a permanent display rather than an offer.
The check that settles it
Write down three numbers before you write down a word: the width, the drop, and the depth of the reveal. Then read the listing’s published size range and minimum depth against them. If the listing does not publish either, as two of these eight do not, it has answered the question for you.
The proportion to work to
Measure every window, even the identical ones
Two windows on the same wall are rarely the same size. Measure width in three places, height in three places, and use the smallest.
Frames settle, plaster is not square, and a made-to-measure order is cut to the number you send. The three-point measurement is not caution, it is the only way to find the number that will actually fit.
Trade convention and proportion, not something a merchant told us. A tape measure settles it faster than we can.
Questions people ask before deciding
What is the difference between blinds and shades? The movement. A blind lifts on slats that also tilt, which is how its light level is set; a shade is cloth that folds or rolls, and its light level comes from the fabric. The three merchants here do not apply that line to their own titles: Neutral Curtains calls its roman shades Roman Shades & Blinds.
Are roller shades a type of blind? Not by mechanism. A roller shade rolls onto a tube and nothing on it tilts. Titles say otherwise often enough that the noun cannot be trusted: Two Pages files its zebra shades under a collection called Zebra Blinds.
Which one needs the least window depth? On these eight, the cellular shade, though its own page gives two answers: 2 inches in one block, 2 1/4 in the other. Then 2 1/2 for the Alvin roller and the Willow bamboo, 2 3/4 for the roman, 2 7/8 for the zebra, 3 for the venetian, 3 5/8 for the Tavi roller.
Can any of these cover a very tall window? Three can: the venetian to 118 inches, the Tavi roller to 119, and the Alvin roller to 118 in its motorised version against 98 cordless. The zebra’s ceiling moves with the width ordered, from 63 inches to 98. Two of the eight publish no range at all.