TOP Blues Fabric
9 colourways, light-filtering, 280 cm roll. TOP Window Covering fabric, made into roller shades in our Fort Lauderdale workroom and installed from Miami to Palm Beach.
A heavy textured light-filtering cloth that runs from near-dark to soft daylight
Blues is a heavy, textured light-filtering roller fabric from TOP Window Covering: 100% polyester with a heat-set finish, 0.46 mm thick and 230 g/m2, on a 280 cm roll (110 inches). The weave carries a zigzag relief, so the shade reads as texture rather than flat colour, and the cloth is dense for its class: Ivory, the brightest of its nine colours, passes only 19.8% of the visible light, and five of the nine pass under 2%. The palette is quiet and deep, from Ice White, Ivory and Cream through Cloud and Neutral Gray to Rock Ridge, Castor Gray, Gunmetal and Chocolate. It suits a room that should feel calm and dim without a blackout.
The choice is mostly about how dim you want the room and where the heat goes. Gunmetal and Chocolate publish Tv 0.1, as close to dark as a light-filtering cloth gets, which suits a bedroom or a television room. Cloud and Cream, at 8.2% and 10.1%, give a soft, low daylight. Ice White and Ivory keep the most light and reflect 75.1% and 74% of the sun's energy back out through the glass, where Chocolate reflects 40% and absorbs 50.1%, so the dark colours warm up at the window. The honest trade-off is the view: with the shade down there is none.
What Blues does on your glass, and what it does not
Best use
East bedrooms, guest rooms, a den or a television room: anywhere the aim is a low, even light rather than full dark. Take Gunmetal, Chocolate, Castor Gray or Rock Ridge for a dim room, Cloud or Cream for soft daylight, and Ice White or Ivory for a sunny wall where heat matters more than brightness. If the window has a view you want to keep, choose a different fabric.
Privacy
By day it is complete in every colour. After dark the colour decides: in the five darkest, so little light gets through that a lamp behind the shade gives away very little, while Ice White and Ivory pass nearly a fifth of it and will show a moving shadow. For a street-side bedroom in a pale colour, add a blackout on a dual roller.
Glare control
Blues is dense, which makes it one of the better glare cloths among the light-filtering rollers. Even its brightest colours stop over four fifths of the visible light, so a television stays readable at midday, and in Gunmetal, Castor Gray or Rock Ridge the room is dim enough for a film by day. The sky drops out of view; a low sun square to the glass still turns a pale shade into a bright panel.
Limitations
No view at any colour, which rules it out for the window a room is built around; on the water a solar shade is the right answer. It is not a blackout either, so light rims the edges unless the shade runs in channels. At 0.46 mm it is a thick cloth and a tall shade makes a large roll, so check the pocket depth before ordering. TOP lists no fire rating.
Blues
9 colours. Light-filtering (TOP: translucent); 280 cm (110 in) roll.
Colourways
71009
71008
71007
71006
71005
71004
71003
71002
71001
Swatch pictures and room photos: TOP Window Covering. Screens and monitors shift colour: judge on the sample.
Blues in TOP's room photos
TOP's own photography of the fabric on a window, to show the colour and the weave. These are not Exotic Shades installations.
Every Blues colourway, with TOP's published figures
Tv = visible light transmitted, Ts = solar energy transmitted, Rs = solar energy reflected, As = solar energy absorbed, Tuv = UV transmitted, in percent for the fabric alone, as published on TOP's datasheet; a dash means TOP publishes no figure for that colour. We bring TOP samples of the colours you shortlist to the consultation.
Where Blues works here
Blues earns its place in South Florida bedrooms that face east, where the sun arrives early and a blackout feels like too much: Castor Gray or Rock Ridge takes the room down to a low glow. In a west-facing family room we would go the other way, Ice White or Ivory, to send most of the afternoon heat back out. TOP lists it for humid rooms, so a bathroom can share the colour. We make it up on a Lutron, Somfy or Crestron motor or a chain.
Twinlight Blues puts the same nine colours on a zebra shade, alternating the textured stripe with a sheer band so the view can be opened without raising the shade; this roller cloth is the heavier of the two and covers the whole window evenly whenever it is down.
Blues: frequently asked
Is Gunmetal or Chocolate dark enough for a bedroom?
For most people, yes, with one condition. Both publish Tv 0.1, so almost nothing passes through the cloth itself. What you will still see is light around the edges of the shade, as with any roller. If you sleep by day or need the room fully dark, we add side channels or a blackout behind it; if a faint glow at the edges at dawn is acceptable, Blues alone will do.
Which colour hides dust and marks best?
The middle of the card. Dust shows on the deepest colours, Gunmetal and Chocolate, and hand marks show on Ice White and Ivory, while Cloud and Neutral Gray hide both. A textured face also hides marks better than a smooth one. TOP's care instruction is a damp cloth, so wipe rather than scrub, and raise the shade when the windows are being cleaned.
How wide can a roller shade in TOP Blues be?
TOP makes Blues in a 280 cm (110 in) roll. The roll width is the widest single piece we can cut, so one roller shade can be made a little under 110 inches wide. Wider openings get two roller shades side by side, set to move together, or a split placed where a mullion hides it. We confirm the exact limit for the operating system when we measure.
Which shades can be made in Blues?
Blues is a roller shade fabric. We buy it from TOP Window Covering by the roll and make the shades ourselves in our Fort Lauderdale workroom: cut square, finished with a weighted hem bar and fitted to a Lutron, Somfy or Crestron motor or a manual chain, then installed by our own team from Miami to Palm Beach.
Can I see Blues samples before ordering?
Yes. Shortlist the colours here and we bring TOP samples of them to the in-home consultation, so you can hold them against your own glass in your own light. Our Fort Lauderdale workroom (4539 Powerline Rd, by appointment) and Miami Beach showroom (500 South Pointe Dr #150) have motorized shades running if you want to see one move.
Compare Blues with
Trento Translucent
Twelve quiet colours for daylight rooms, with a blackout made in the same colours
Verona Plus
Thirteen washed colours, from whites that pass nearly half the light to a dim Anthracite
Swing Translucent
A textured light-filtering cloth in ten colours, with a zebra twin to match
Perugia Translucent
A woven-look light-filtering cloth on a 300 cm roll, with a blackout to match
Garda Translucent
Five bright neutrals on a 300 cm roll, for daylight rooms and wide windows
Flamenco
A textured light-filtering cloth in five neutrals, from White to Anthracite
TOP Blues roller shades in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Boca Raton & Palm Beach
We buy Blues from TOP Window Covering, make the roller shades in our Fort Lauderdale workroom and install them with our own team from Miami to Palm Beach. Both showrooms, 4539 Powerline Rd in Fort Lauderdale (by appointment) and 500 South Pointe Dr #150 in Miami Beach, have motorized shades running so you can see how a shade moves.
See Blues in your own light
Book a complimentary in-home consultation. Shortlist the colours you like and we bring the TOP samples, demo motors, and honest answers about light, privacy and what your windows need.