Solar shades lowered across a wall of glass in a San Diego living room, view to the garden still visible

Lic# 1134061

San Diego County · Made To Measure

Roller & Solar Shades in San Diego

Cut the afternoon glare and the heat without boarding up the view you paid for.

Call (619) 770-8300 Free In-Home Consultation All San Diego Services

Made in USA · Factory Direct · No Middleman

The Actual Problem

Most windows have two problems, not one

People call us about glare and they call us about privacy, often for the same window. The sun drops low over the Pacific and the living room becomes unusable at four in the afternoon. That same glass, after dark, puts the sofa on display to the street.

Those are different jobs, and they take different fabrics. A solar shade is not a lighter version of a blackout shade — it is a screen fabric with a measured weave that cuts glare and UV while you keep looking through it.

Solar Shades

Openness factor decides everything

Screen fabric is rated by how much of its surface is open weave. That single number controls how much you see out and how much glare you keep out, and it is the decision most online sellers never explain.

1% – 3%The most glare control. You still see shapes and light outside, but detail goes soft. Right for a screen you fight with every afternoon, or a west wall with no shade at all.

5%The one we specify most often in San Diego. A genuine view through it, most of the glare gone. If you are not sure, this is usually the answer.

10% – 14%View first. You keep the garden, the canyon or the water almost intact and accept that some glare comes with it. Good on north and east glass.

Fabric colourCounter-intuitive and worth knowing: a dark fabric gives you a better view out and less glare. A white fabric bounces light back into the room and hazes the view. Dark for seeing out, light for bouncing heat.

Bronze solar shades lowered over three sliding glass doors in a San Diego home, the garden still clearly visible through the screen fabric — Solar screen on a wall of sliders — shades down, view intact

Choosing

The fabric does the work, not the mechanism

Every roller shade we make runs on the same quality hardware. What changes the room is which fabric goes on the tube.

Glare

Solar screen

Open weave, view preserved, most of the glare and UV stopped. Living rooms, offices, anything facing west.

Everyday

Light filtering

A soft, even glow with no view through. Privacy day and night while the room stays bright. The default for street-facing windows.

Bedrooms

Blackout

Opaque fabric, and with side channels a genuinely dark room. For anyone working nights, or a nursery.

Two in one

Dual / zebra

Alternating sheer and opaque bands on one roller. Line them up for a view, offset them for privacy, from the same shade.

The Details Installers Argue About

Where a shade looks made rather than bought

Cassette or open rollA cassette hides the tube and the fabric roll behind a fascia. An open roll is cheaper and shows the barrel. In a modern interior the cassette is what stops it reading as a rental.

Roll directionStandard roll drops the fabric behind the tube and leaves a gap at the glass. Reverse roll drops it against the window — less light leak, and essential on a door.

Bottom barSealed inside a fabric hem, or exposed in aluminium. Sealed looks quieter; exposed is easier to grip and better on wide runs.

Inside or outside mountInside mount is cleaner but needs real depth and a square opening. We measure the depth before we promise it — San Diego stucco openings are frequently out of square.

Free In-Home Consultation

We bring the samples to your window, at the hour the sun is actually a problem, and quote from real measurements.

Book Your Free Consultation

Recent Work

Shades we have made and hung

Bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms and commercial frontages — all measured, made and installed by us.

Roller shade over a freestanding tub in a marble San Diego bathroom

Roller shades across corner kitchen windows in a San Diego home

Blackout roller shades in a San Diego bedroom

Roller shades in a San Diego living room with a stone fireplace

Solar shades on a commercial storefront in San Diego

Add A Motor

Every shade on this page can open itself

We are a certified Somfy Expert, and any roller or solar shade we make can be motorised — on a schedule, a remote, an app, or a voice assistant. On a tall west-facing window that is the difference between a shade you use and one you never touch.

See motorized roller shades

The Process

How a Shade Order Runs

Free consultation

We bring the fabric books to your house and hold the screens up against your own glass, at the hour the sun is actually a problem.

Measure

Every opening measured individually for width, depth and square. We do not work from a builder’s drawing.

Made to order

Cut and assembled for your openings. Typically two to three weeks.

Install

Fitted, levelled and tested by our own crew — not a subcontractor.

Service Area

Roller & Solar Shades Across San Diego County

La JollaDel MarCarmel ValleyRancho Santa FeEncinitasCarlsbadCoronadoPoint LomaPowayScripps RanchMira MesaChula VistaEscondidoOceanside

Questions

Roller Shades, Answered

What openness should I choose?

Five percent suits most San Diego rooms. Go to three percent if the window faces west with nothing shading it and the glare is genuinely painful. Go to ten percent if the view is the reason you bought the house. We bring samples and hold them against your glass before you decide.

Will a solar shade keep the house cooler?

It helps, meaningfully, because it stops the sun before it turns into heat inside the room. It is not air conditioning. The biggest gains are on large west and south-facing glass, which is exactly where the glare complaint usually comes from too.

Can I see out at night?

No — and neither can anyone see in during the day. Screen fabric works in whichever direction is brighter. In daylight you see out and the street cannot see in; after dark with the lights on that reverses. If you want privacy at night in the same window, that is what a dual shade or a second blackout roller is for.

How long does it take?

Two to three weeks from approved measurements to installation, for most orders.

Do you do commercial work?

Yes. Offices, storefronts and common areas across the county, including large spans and matched fabric across many openings.

Do you charge for the consultation?

No. We come to you anywhere in San Diego County, measure, and quote from real measurements — not estimates over the phone.

Which one are you actually solving?

Three jobs. Three different fabrics.

Almost every call we take is one of these three. They are not interchangeable, and the mistake that costs the most money is buying the fabric for one job and expecting it to do another.

Motorized solar shades on a wide slider in San Diego

Sun, glare and heat

West and south windows that put the sun on the television and turn the room into an oven by four o’clock. You want the light cut and the view kept.

FabricSolar screen, 3–5% openness

YarnCharcoal — sees out far better than white

BlocksMost of the glare and UV, and a real share of the heat

Common mistakeChoosing 10% because it looks open in the showroom, then still squinting at four o’clock.

Privacy

Street-facing rooms, bathrooms, a kitchen that looks straight at the neighbour. You want to stop being seen without living in the dark.

Fabric1–3% screen, light filtering, or dual/zebra bands

DaytimeThey see a surface; you still see the yard

After darkIt reverses — lit room, dark outside

Common mistakeAssuming a screen that is private by day is private at night. It is not, and that is the call we get most.

Blackout, for sleeping

Bedrooms, a baby’s room, anyone working nights. You want dark at seven in the morning in June, not dim.

FabricBlackout roller, or lined and interlined drapery

What mattersThe edges — cassette on top, side channels or a generous outside mount

ResultGenuine dark; a bare blackout roller still leaks a halo

Common mistakeOrdering blackout inside the frame, then finding a line of light down both sides.

Plenty of windows need two of these. A bedroom facing west wants a solar screen for the afternoon and a blackout layer for the morning. That is one window and two products, and it is why we quote per opening rather than per room.