The Shade Store

Very disappointed. After spending A LOT of money, our curtains and shades arrived. A number of the shades had holes in them and parts were missing for the curtain. I still can’t believe it. Safe to say that we will never order from them again.
⁹⁄₂₂ Update
Unbelievable. After their first mistake, they ordered replacement shades and parts. One of the new shades had a big stain mark on it and one of the curtain is not even in terms of height. I am dumbfounded by the quality control and the poor workmanship. I promise that I will NEVER use them again and neither should you.
⁹⁄₂₃ Update
We received a nice email from Sandie, director of customer service who is taking the right actions to correct our situation. Thank you.

Holy flippin’ moly! My experience here was 5 stars from start to finish.
I had walked past the Shade Store many times but only recently did I need to go in and see the types of window coverings they offered. I bought a new home and it doesn’t come with any valances, curtains or window coverings of any kind. Which is cool because I’m left with a blank slate, but also scary because I (at the time) had no idea what to pick or where to begin. And let’s be honest, it’s not a cheap project.
Let’s first talk about the cost, though. I had literally no clue what I was going to be spending… And I spent about 4x as much as I had guessed I would. But here’s the deal — window coverings are designed to last a long, long time. And they exist in your house daily. It’s like when people freak out about spending a lot of money on shoes or mattresses. Buddy, if you aren’t standing up, you’re lying down! Certain things just cost more and with quality, I now totally understand that you get what you pay for.
Turns out, the building I moved into has preferred vendors and the Shade Store was one of them. Just a few blocks away, they were an easy and obvious choice to investigate. And because this store was doing dozens of other units that were similar (if not nearly identical) to mine, I felt confident going in as a first-​time-​buyer because I could learn about what everyone else was getting done in their condos.
Kristin greeted me as I entered and it happened to be a hot, sunny day. Which was perfect because I could see the shades in-​use and understand how effective they were at blocking light and keeping spaces cool. It was also great because Kristin offered me a complimentary bottle of water. Nice touch! I really did need that.
We chatted about my nearby building and she was extremely familiar with the project. This was great because she toured me around the show room, explained certain products and features, and then showed me specific colors and examples in-​person that my very own neighbors had already bought and had installed. This took a lot of pressure off me because I could just follow someone else’s lead. So now I had both the suggestions of Kirstin from The Shade Store, and ideas and inspiration from other neighbors.
Having no idea what I wanted, I didn’t fully expect to have everything resolved that say day… but truly, thanks to Kristin answering my millions of questions and showing me samples, and offering thorough explanations and pricing on everything, I ended up choosing shades I was really, really excited about.
The Shade Store has a freelance installer they work with, too. So Kristin immediately set up and email chain and had the installer come out and do measurements. It happened that within that very hour he was free. Yay! No more sleeping without curtains! His name was Gene and he was super friendly and super fast with his job. Once measurements were done he sent another email back to Kristin (I was cc’d) and included the measurements. With all that done, Kristin was able to place the order for the shades and send me a final quote. It all happened so fast!
Within about 10 days the shades were made and arrived at my doorstep. Gene was again contacted through the Shade Store about their arrival and we quickly set up an install appointment. The install took about 90 mins and now I have blackout shades in my bedrooms with solar shades in front. So I have 3 options in each room. No coverings, partial coverings, and complete privacy. Bonus? The shades are on a REMOTE! I feel like such a bad ass with remote controlled shades.
Very, very happy. The install price is an additional cost but I highly recommend just biting the bullet, paying the big bucks, and then living out the next many years like a total baller because you have gorgeous, high quality shades. One more thing I won’t have to spend money on for years to come!

Recently redecorated six windows with different shades purchased at The Shade Store. Big plus– the website lets you browse and plan so you have focus before visiting the showroom. In fact, I think I ordered five or six free swatches there.
My showroom visits went well– Kristen got my thumbnail, looked at pics on my phone, then showed my displays and swatches. Low-​key, relaxed atmosphere (once your done dealing with Belltown parking).
Ordering was a breeze, product exactly as advertised, and they gave me a great referral to a installer. Finally, follow-​up from the store to see how things went. In fact, all of my emailed concerns /​questions were answered promptly. Thumbs up, The Shade Store.

I had a fantastic experience at the Shade Store in Seattle. As an interior designer, I value companies that not only have excellent products but also superb customer service — I received both. My client was incredibly happy with her experience from start to finish — including sourcing materials, home measurements and the final installation and outcome. I worked with Mallika who was extremely knowledgable about the options available for our custom project and a pleasure to communicate back and forth with. Looking forward to working with this company again.

Disappointed I wasted $ 1.75 to park, only to walk in, get sluggish service from someone who didn’t seem all that interested in selling a product. But that was strike two in my book…
Strike one was that when I called, they told me they do not do in-​home consultations and instead require that you visit their showroom to view products and obtain design and pricing info. Then you have to pay them to come out and measure, etc.
To take the time out of my day to drive downtown, park, and spend less than 2 minutes in the (empty) store only to find out they do not have adequate solutions for angled windows (despite my asking about this on the phone and them not answering me but instead insisting that I come into their showroom) added insult to injury.
I was really hopeful about the company, as we have several angled windows in our house. Unfortunately, the Shade Store’s solution to that is to hang blinds/​bar halfway down the window, leaving the angle exposed and a bar essentially splitting the window. Ughs.

The review below was for the NY store as we did the majority with them prior to the opening of their store in Seattle. This is as good as it gets! They have both customer service and product quality nailed down tightly. We have gone with roller blinds throughout our home and The Shad Store hardware looks so nice that there is no need to hide it with a valance. Furthermore, The Shade Store wrapped our prints with white backing so that only white was visible when rolled up… The whole thing disappears nicely.
We still have more to purchase (including a curtain) and we would be fools to go with anyone else.
My only advice… Make sure you pay to have someone come out and measure for you. I cannot trumpet that advice loud enough!
Below is my initial post for NY and purchasing everything online…
We purchased a new home with LOTS of windows. It’s modern architecture and we added a lot of personalization. Our first order of custom blinds came from a competitor of The Shade Store and it was an expensive disaster. I am so glad we only did the master bedroom with them!
Being stung once we decided to do a small order with The Shade Store. Our representative Nissy was patience, understanding and knowledgeable. When she didn’t know the answer she took the time to find out. The order came in and was much easer to install than our previous order was… And the mounting hardware was clean, elegant and simple; no need for us to want to cover it up.
After mounting we had two minor issues and Nissy was able to put us in touch with someone at The Shade Store who knew the simple fix and provided it in a PDF which was incredibly easy to understand.
We just placed a second order of some very unique roller blinds which match the bold colors in our home perfectly. Nothing any of their competitors had even come close to this solution. We are very excited about this order and know if there are any problems The Shade Store will have us covered.