Redi Shade No Tools Original Blackout Pleated Paper Shade Black, 48" W x 72" L, 6 Pack

First, these shades work... very well. The material lets ZERO light through. Other than the light coming around the gaps between the shade and the window frame, no light penetrates the shade itself. Total darkness! But don't get it twisted... these are otherwise pretty flimsy. Don't buy them expecting hardware or anything "sturdy." They are essentially a 36" wide piece of pleated paper. The paper material seems to maybe be a mixture of paper, cloth and plastic. So it feels like it's going to hold up well (and the reviews I relied on to make my purchase indicated that it does). At the top of the shade is an adhesive strip (peel and stick). After cutting the shade to size, you peel the wax paper and stick it up. Its very sticky, so get it in the correct place before lifting it to the edge you plan to stick it to. There's no do overs. The set comes with 2 clips per shade to hold them up or down. That's the only hardware. No strings to pull. No screws or brackets. Just two clips. But this makes installation so easy. Installation tips... 1. Measure the window width at top, middle and bottom. You'll cut the shade to the most narrow measurement. 2. Measure and cut each window at a time. You'll learn from doing the first one (at least I did!). I didn't quite trim the first one narrow enough... and cut the rest a little more narrowly. 3. Once you know the measurement, use a cutting board and very sharp knife or razor to "slice" the shade. Keep it folded like a block (adhesive stip facing up) and you can slice through it. 4. First, inspect the window frames for dust or grime and clean them if needed to ensure adhesion. Then peel the waxpaper strip off the adhesive. Align it in the window about an inch from the top to be sure its centered and cut to the right width. Then stick it to top of the window frame (a clean, smooth surface. If your window frames are dirty, or textured, they won't hold). 5. Then let the rest of the shade unfold (drop). It will eventually relax and fill the window. Pinch two clips to the bottom. My windows are pretty long , so I didn't need to trim anything off. But you can trim them easily if you have shorter windows and don't want to leave the excess. 6. To raise the shade, just remove the clips and fold the pleats back up to near the top of the window and replace the clips to hold it up. I found putting them about 1.5" from the edge looked best (less sag). For $10, you CANNOT beat these for a quick, functional method to blackout light. I intend to buy true shades for close to $50 each at some point in the future. But since my wife works nights, and we have 11 windows in our room... that wasn't a viable option to get her a dark room to sleep in NOW. These worked perfectly for now (and much easier to install too).

So glad someone recommended these to me as a temporary solution to darken our littlest’s room. They’re easy to use, stay up, and do the job. I just wish they’d come on longer options, too. We kept the blinds that came with our new apartment as a temporary measure until we were ready to install something more permanent. The day before our move-in, I pulled on the cord of the blinds in our baby’s room and the whole thing came crashing down; blind slats were everywhere. Thank goodness my kids weren’t there. I panicked because the window is east-facing and the little room gets baked in the morning sun. I was relieved to find these shades. They arrived on our move day to our new place. In the midst of the chaos, we were able to cut and install one easily. We were hoping to have the a/c installed that day, but it didn’t work out. That meant the paper shades were too short to cover the window. My only wish is that the 48” width shades would come in longer options. I would have definitely purchased a longer set. For the first night we covered the bottom with a cardboard box. By the next day’s nap we had the a/c in and then the shade length was sufficient. It really blocks the light and lets our toddler nap comfortably during the brightest hours. This is only the third day with the shade up. We will see how long it stays up. Luckily, we have extras if it falls. It also remains to be seen how easily it can be removed and whether it will strip the paint. We just don’t know. These would also be great when traveling in case the windows aren’t sufficiently shaded for babies and kids who nap. The friend who recommended them said her mother used them while visiting Norway in the summer, during the long days of the midnight sun. Where she was staying there wasn’t good window cover, so she used these. I don’t understand the reviewers who complain that this is a temporary solution that’s difficult to open and close. It takes a bit of folding to clip them back up, but it’s all straight forward and easy to do. It’s also not intended to be a permanent replacement for proper window treatments. At $5/shade, these are great..

After successfully cutting two shades to length, I was actually very pleased with the installation. However, both window shades fell down by themselves within a couple of hours after putting them up. To make matters worse, the shades fell in such a way that the adhesive layer stuck to another part of the shade about one-third of the way down and basically ruined itself. Now I know why this product is sold in a six-pack. I found that I have to use thumbtacks to hold them up. Cutting was relatively easy. I used a sharp kitchen butcher knife and found a continuous sawing action to work best. Do not use a serrated bladed knife. You need to put a weight on the widest part of the shades while cutting. Otherwise, when you are almost finished cutting, it will unfold itself making it difficult to cut the remaining layers. As one other reviewed stated, the full length of these shades is about 72 inches. That means for a standard 3 foot by 6 foot window, you will not have a pleated appearance anymore. Yes, you can see where the folds are, but it really looks stretched out. And that brings us to the next point. I had to add my own double sided tape to the end to hold it against the window sill. It would have been nice if they had put peel and stick adhesive on both ends. But the ever so slight stretching to full length pulls on the upper adhesive thus pulling it loose after a couple of hours. It stretches out on its own, especially at the top where gravity is greatest due to the accumulated weight of the paper. After I finished my installation of these shades, I was ready to give it a solid 5 star rating. But after they fell and the resulting mess with it sticking to itself, I lost my enthusiasm. But now I know I must use thumbtacks to hold it up. I will still use the shades with thumbtacks. But I really do think they should have added enough length to maintain some pleated appearance in a standard 3X6 foot window. This is a very common sized window. Of course, for this price there is no pull cord to adjust the length if you want to let in some sunlight or look outside. Update: I think I made a mistake when I installed the adhesive side to the underside of the window opening because this is a painted drywall surface. (But it is a smooth flat surface.) So I changed where I put the adhesive side to the frame of the window itself. This is a fairly thin surface, but the adhesive sticks a lot better to the metal frame than the painted drywall. It has stayed put for neary two weeks now.) It is definitely opaque to sunlight. This is what I wanted for my home theater room. Prior to this, there was way just too much reflection in my new 65 inch Panasonic HDTV to watch a movie in the daytime. So these shades do work quite well. Make sure you cut it snugly to the right width to keep out unwanted sunlight around the edges. Measure the width at the top and bottom and the middle to find the narrowest dimension to customize the shade width.

These do what they’re supposed to do, block out light. There’s really not much more to say than that. Regarding some of the negative reviews specifically relating to the material; Yes, they’re made out of paper. I’m not sure why some people are surprised by this when they first open the box; it clearly says it in the product title, “ Redi Shade No Tools Original Blackout Pleated PAPER”. Yes, the adhesive to attach them is not that great. This is easily solved by using something stronger like a command adhesive strip to secure it. I used a 2 inch one, cut it into three pieces and attached one in the center and one at each end and the shades are firmly secured. Yes, because the shade is pleated and it’s made out of paper, even when you stretch it out the full length of the window it bounces back about 1/3 to 1/2 up because it’s not weighted. This issue is also resolved with a command strip - specifically the Velcro ones. I attached one side to the bottom of the shade and one side to the windowsill and when I bring the shade down I secure it to the windowsill. Are they as visually appealing as cloth ones? No, they’re not, because they’re made out of paper. You’re getting six of them for less than $30 dollars, the price for one cloth blackout shade. It should be expected that they’re probably not going to be as nice as the cloth ones. At an average cost of $5 each these are fantastic purchase to solve the problem of too much light. I will add, if you have curtains the visual quality aspect isn’t really going to be an issue because you really can’t see them even thru shear curtains. However, if you don’t have curtains and you don’t plan on putting any up and you want something nicer than a paper shade you may just have to bite the bullet and spend the money on a better quality shade that costs more than $5. If you’re just looking for something that blocks out light, doesn’t require drilling and screws to put up and is cost effective, then these shades are perfect.

The accordion shade itself is exactly what I needed to block the light inside the window behind my blackout curtains. Unfortunately everything ELSE you need to make it stay up is not included. You'll need: - Scissors or box cutter - Tacks - Some other kind of clip It does not work BY ITSELF as blackout, I use it behind my blackout curtains which are on a rod in front of the window, so the light came in the top and bottom. So these do block most of the light that the blackout curtains don't. Together I get like 90% blackout. There's still a little that comes in between the edge of the shade and the window, even if you cut it perfectly. (You'll need to cut it unless your window happens to be this exact size, so you need scissors or a box cutter.) This IS what I needed, the blackout curtains alone were not working and my slat blinds were a joke. Thick black paper inside the window that folds up and down is basically what this is, and what I needed. Getting them to STAY UP is the issue. Nothing included in the kit actually works. The sticky strip on the edge is nowhere near strong enough to hold it onto the wall. It IS good for is sticking two sheets together, which you'll probably need to do, to get a longer shade. To stick it to the window edge, I tried the largest 3M stickies and they fell. I tried cutting off the sticky edge and putting 3M stickies directly on the paper, it fell. I finally used thumbtacks and surprisingly it works! They've been up for weeks. TLDR skip the expensive 3M stickies and go right for tacks. Finally, the enclosed clips to hold the shade up and open, are a joke. I had two break as I was trying to put them on, and they regularly slip off. It's not that the amount of accordion is too thick, I can get them clamped securely, it will simply stay for a while then slip off randomly or with the slightest movement. I happened to buy a blanket from Marshalls that had these two nifty white clips, which don't even have a hinge, and they work perfectly. You'll need some other clip, at least 2 depending on the size of your window. This is fairly inexpensive for getting several actual accordion shades, so I'm not too mad about it, but you're really only getting the accordion paper, nothing else included actually works, and you'll need more supplies to make it stay up.

This review is for Redi Shade No Tools Original Blackout Pleated Paper Shade Black, 36" W x 72" L, 6 Pack. These Blackout shades are about as good as you can get without taping blackout shades to the outside of the window frame to completely obliterate any light entering. But that would look ugly. These are about 1" wide so I was able to mount them behind them behind the existing wood blinds, see pictures. I cut them with regular scissors, see picture for required tools. I cut the first blind about 1/8" less than the window frame see first picture. You can see a little light creeping around the edge. The next blind I cut 1/16th shy of the window frame. This cut out even more light, but still a little is creeping around the edges. I pushed the blind in tight and that helped tighten the blind to the edges of the window frame. I believe you could cut the blinds exactly to the length of the window and be OK, but it would be very tight and therefore difficult to pull down and put up without crinkling the shade. The third picture is the view of the wooden blinds pulled down with the blackout blinds hidden behind them. The fourth picture is the exact same as the third, but with the room light off. You can see where a smidge of light is sneaking around the edges, but it is very effective in blocking out the light. The final picture shows the tools used to cut and install the blinds. The bad reviews that stated the blinds were extremely difficult to cut to size, but I used regular scissors with little difficulty. it is not like cutting a piece of paper, more like cutting 10 pieces of paper all at once. I pressed the tape side to the window sill and they appeared to stick very well. I just did it, so I have to extended period of time to judge the adhesive. No knowledge of how they will do over time. But at $28 for 6 blinds is very reasonable.

We needed something to use as a blackout curtain and privacy screen for our 5 month old. We were taking her to our condo in Chicago for the first time, and I was a bit nervous in anticipation of where she would sleep. Our condo is a large studio, and no private bedroom. We decided to block off the kitchen area in order to make it her sleeping space, and therefore needed to make it as dark as possible. The easy part was putting curtains up in the doorway, piece of cake. The harder part was trying to find something to cover up the L shaped pass through. When I saw these, I thought these would be so quick, cheap and easy... and they were!! It took me 10 minutes max to cut these and install these. The ones I ordered weren't very tall, so I doubled them up on top of each other to make them longer. In addition to cutting them, I used hair scissors (that was all that was in the condo), and that seemed to work well cutting a few slats at a time. Installation was a breeze, as you just peel off the sticky end and stick it to the ceiling. The adhesive felt secure enough not to fall down and into our daughters crib. This blocked out the light as best as it could, and made her makeshift nursery work well. She slept like she does at home when she was there, so I was very happy about that! I attached pictures. You will notice I added some duct tape to secure it to the walls a little more only because the shades are a lighter material. The angle from which my husband would walk by the shades created a draft and would make the shades move. When we left the condo, we used the pins that come with the shades to pin the shades up higher. My husband stays there during the week for work, so he can now use the kitchen area as needed. Overall, I would definitely purchase these again!!!

Bought these for a new house to tie us over until we decide on permanent window coverings. Definitely adds privacy. PAPER: The blackout paper really does blackout. Good for bedrooms, when trying to sleep after the sun comes up. ADHESIVE: The adhesive does not adhere to walls/interior mount very well. Two of four have fallen. However, the adhesive does adhere well to glass or vinyl (window frame). I bought a different brand for my living room and the adhesive has stayed in tack on all four of those. So whatever adhesive is used on these, it’s just mediocre. TIME: It took about ten minutes to unpackaged, cut, and hang each shade. CUTTING: I tried using a box cutter. Didn’t work so well. Then I used scissors, cutting two folds at a time, nudging the scissors as far back as I could, then snip. With decent scissors, it’ll leave less than an eighth of an inch uncut. But at the end you can just rip that eighth inch off, like a perforated paper. You can’t tell it was ripped. Don’t worry about getting each blade the exact same size because once they are hung, you can’t even tell, as long as they are within an eighth or quarter of an inch of each other. Also, my window openings are 34”, so I cut the blades to 33.5”, leaving a quarter inch gap on each side when hung. ACCORDIAN: When they are first hung, the accordion is tight. So they might seem short initially. Give them a few hours and they will start to relax and lengthen. CLIPS: The clips provided to raise the shades don’t work very well. I had to use binder clips instead to keep the shade raised for natural light during the day. I’d buy them again. But next time I’d stick them directly to the glass or vinyl instead of the wall.