I have just received the new Sonnette cellular roller shade sample book!
Here’s what Hunter Douglas has to say about their newest product. “An update on classic honeycomb shades, Sonnette cellular roller shades gently diffuse light through an innovative curved shape, providing ambiance and character while dispersing light to all angles of the room.”
I’m just going to start with what I’m not a fan of, the list is pretty short. The maximum width without motorizing the shade is 72x72. That’s six feet by six feet. While this is a pretty large window, I’d really prefer it to go bigger. Inevitably we’re going to have some customers who love the shade and our tape measure is going to say their windows width is 72 ½ or 73 ¼ or something just bigger than your standard six foot windows, it happens, that will present some issues.
If we add one of two motorization options, the Sonnette will be made up to 84x84, or seven feet by seven feet. Motorization is better than ever and with two different motors it’s a great option. The standard motorization, Powerview and the newer motorized wand option SoftTouch are our two choices besides the standard cordless manual option called LiteRise. Both motorization options add to the cost of the shade. The SoftTouch doesn’t need a remote but still requires the user to go to the window and touch the wand for it to operate. Powerview is a great motor but you would need to purchase at least one remote.
Motorized and cordless options are all the craze these days with good reason but I’d still like a cord option. My grandmother isn’t six feet tall like I am and some windows are higher up than others, I can see this being an issue. Yes I can motorize it but it’s going to add to the cost. Also there is no top down bottom up option. Alright, there’s the bad, let’s get onto the good.
It’s a great looking shade. It’s basically a Pirouette shade that doesn’t open. It even has Pirouette fabrics. Finally, a great room darkening shade that goes perfectly with Pirouettes throughout the house. With the room darkening fabrics and the very small light gaps, this will be a terrific bedroom shade.
I really like the new LiteRise cordless system, it almost goes up by itself once you grab the shade, very nice. It’s a cellular shade as well which will do a great job on keeping heat out and the A/C in. There aren’t a ton of color options yet, the product just launched, but I really think they nailed these fabrics and patterns, I don’t think there’s a single one that hurt my eyes.
I just got the book and can’t wait to start hanging them in homes to get some direct feedback. I know it’s going to be a great shade and can see it giving my favorite roman shade the Solera a run. It’s priced right along with the Solera too. The Solera has been so popular that they can’t manufacture them fast enough, we’re running 4-5 weeks on some Solera shades, that’s very unusual. So maybe the Sonnette will come in faster, I’m sure it will unless it gets as popular as the Solera.
that’s enough blind talk for one blog post, thank you for taking the time to read this, and please come in to the shop to look at all these shades. I’m still trying to figure out where I’m going to put my new Sonnette sample, I’m going to have a SoftTouch wand on it so we can play with it and give it a shakedown cruise.
