I will preface this review by saying that I’m not handy at all, and I’ve never put up a shade before. I’ve only ever put up curtain rods and, once, a blind.
I took away one star because the shade was hard to install. I found the installation instructions vague, because it gave instructions to measure and mark spots , but it didn’t say where I was supposed to position the brackets in relation to the marks that I had made. I also couldn’t figure out how to install the shade on the brackets. I ended up googling how to install a roller shade and found instructions for a different model that explained to position the bracket in the middle of my mark. The instructions also explained how many brackets to use. (I needed three for the width of my shade.) The instructions didn’t mention that either.
I do appreciate that the instructions mentioned that it’s important to make sure the brackets are level. I installed the shade alone, so I couldn’t figure out how to check if the brackets were level, and they weren’t the first time I installed them. I had measured a certain distance above the window frame, but apparently my measurements were wrong on one side, because one side was higher than the other the first time I installed them.
I also ended going back and looking at the photos of the product page on Wayfair to see how to install the shade on the brackets. Then I tried installing a bracket on the shade, before I installed the brackets on the wall, just to make sure I understood how the shade snapped in place.
I ended up having to drill a lot of extra holes and install the brackets three different times, because I couldn’t hammer the anchors in properly and the anchors pulled out of the wall after I screwed the bracket into it and, one time, because I put the bracket too high.
I also had trouble snapping the shade into the brackets once I had put up the brackets. That’s when the anchors pulled out of the wall. I also had trouble snapping the shade out of the brackets the several times I had to take it down. The instructions on how to snap the shade into and out of the brackets were good though.
Now that the shade is up, it isn’t flush in the brackets, even though it’s in the brackets properly — it looks like it’s pulling away from the wall slightly, and I’m a little bit worried that the shade will fall down. However, the brackets are securely screwed into the anchors, and the anchors are securely in the wall.
I do like the shade though. I wanted a thin blackout shade, not a honeycomb one, in the kitchen, because I didn’t want it to stick out from the window. I like that this one is thin and rolls easily.
Now that it’s up properly and level, I’m not taking it down!
The funny thing is that I put up a honeycomb shade in my bedroom afterwards, and I found the installation instructions equally vague, but I was able to put it up with no trouble because I had already put up this one. The brackets are different, and the shade snaps up into the underside of them (instead of snapping in horizontally). The shade and the brackets seem to be more secure
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