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 A
Little Goes A Long Way to Make...
A
Little Extra
On The Side Give
Your Customer A Little Extra Security By Helping To Cover
Narrow
Sidelight Windows.
Sidelight
windows are one of the most common architectural features in homes
today. These are the long narrow windows you'll find at one or
both sides of a door. Sidelight windows may range from as
narrow as six inches to about eighteen inches wide. They are
usually close to the height of the door. These windows
present a challenging situation to window covering dealers. Since
they are generally at the front entrance to a house, your customer
will want to cover them for privacy. At the entrance, operation is
also essential in order to look out to see who is knocking without
opening the door.
Sidelight
windows look innocent enough, until you start trying to place a
blind, shade or shutter into them. That's when you'll find
the minimum sizes available in many products will not allow them
to fully function within a sidelight. But there are some
products that work well in sidelights.
Fully
Functioning Shutters
Shutters, like Summerwind Shutters by Designer Blinds, are a great
application for sidelight windows. They fit well into most
of the narrow widths and can fully tilt. The Summerwind ClearLight™ option is particularly well-suited for sidelights
because it doesn't have the visible tiltbar in front that may tend
to dominate on narrower panels. Down to twelve inches wide,
frames may be used, usually on all four sides. For panels
over eight but under twelve inches wide, you may want to install
with hinges only, using the frame of the window to support the
shutter panel. This can be difficult to adjust if the window
is out of square, but it can usually be accomplished fairly
easily.
Panels
over fifty inches tall use a divider rail that allows the upper
and lower sections to operate independently. Shutters
look and work great in sidelight windows even if there are
no other shutters in the house. The tilt operation is easy,
tilting all the vanes of a panel section by hand.
 Tilt
Only Silhouette Shadings
Silhouette® Shadings, in a special
tilt-only format, are also a terrific application for sidelight
windows. These shadings fit in as little as six inches
wide! They have a looped cord that looks much like the one
used on standard Silhouette Shadings, but the cord will only tilt
the vanes open an closed. The shading cannot be rolled up
into the headrail.
 Installation
is quick and easy, using standard Silhouette installation brackets
to attach the headrail and hold-down brackets to secure the bottom
rail. The hold-down brackets are shipped automatically with
all tilt-only Silhouette shadings. Without the hold-downs,
shadings in this size will tend to twist out of the window, so
they should be used on every installation of tilt only
shadings.
The
tilt only format is available for shadings that are under twelve
inches in width, down to six inches. Shadings in these sizes
are not available any other way. For sidelights twelve
inches wide or wider, standard Silhouette shadings may be used.
Uplifting
Duette®
Honeycomb Shades
 As
with most other window applications, Duette honeycomb shades are a
great option for sidelight windows. In the narrowest
windows, standard cord operation may be used. EasyRise may
also be used to keep the lift cord up off the floor.
But,
because of internal components, Duette with Ultraglide™ has a
minimum width of eighteen inches, which makes it unavailable for
most sidelight windows. Motorized applications, too, require
some width for internal components and may not be available for
narrow windows. As usual, consult the Hunter Douglas
Reference and Price Guide for full details and specification
requirements.
Top-down/Bottom-up
options are not always practical in sidelight windows because
there are cords on both sides of such a narrow window.
However, it may be practical to use free-hanging top-down only as
an option.
Make
Some Money On The Side
There are other products that can be used to cover sidelights, but
these three are the most practical and functional. Many
dealers leave sidelights uncovered. Go after these windows
to give your self a competitive edge and show your customers you
know what to do with every window. You'll find yourself
making a little more money on the side.
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