TOP Chianti Translucent Fabric
12 colourways, light-filtering, 300 cm roll. TOP Window Covering fabric, made into honeycomb shades in our Fort Lauderdale workroom and installed from Miami to Palm Beach.
Light-filtering honeycomb that shows its colour to the street as well as the room
Chianti Translucent is TOP Window Covering's light-filtering honeycomb with its colour on both sides of the cloth: a point-bonded polyester non-woven, 0.18 mm thick and 150 g/m2. That decides where it goes. A Sage or Black shade reads Sage or Black from the street as well as from the sofa, so the shade becomes part of the elevation. Twelve colours run from White, Ivory and Cream through Sand, Dune and Taupe to Sage, the grays and Black, each in a 25 mm or a 32 mm cell, and TOP lists the cloth free of PVC, lead, halogens, formaldehyde and phthalates.
TOP publishes light figures for eleven of the twelve colours, and they sort the card cleanly. White passes 33 percent of the visible light and Ivory 30, which keeps a room bright with the glare taken down. Sand and Cream sit at 26; Sage, Taupe, Gray and Dune at 18 or 19, which reads as soft, even daylight; Black, Dark Gray and Opal at 15, the calmest end. Take the pale end for a family room, the middle for a dining room or a study, the dark end for a television room. Whatever you pick, the view goes when the shade comes down.
What Chianti Translucent does on your glass, and what it does not
Best use
Family rooms, dining rooms, studies and front rooms where daylight matters, the outlook does not, and the shade colour is meant to be seen from outside. White or Ivory where the room must stay bright, Sage, Taupe or Dune beside wood and stone, Black or Dark Gray for a television room. Use the 32 mm cell on tall windows. Where an association rules the facade, choose White.
Privacy
By day the room is hidden and there is no view in or out. After dark it behaves like any light-filtering cloth: the lit room makes the shade glow from outside, and anyone close to it shows as a shadow. White and Ivory, at 33 and 30 percent visible transmission, show that most; Black, Dark Gray and Opal show it least, but still show it. For a bedroom, use Chianti Blackout.
Glare control
With no openness, direct sun turns into an even glow rather than a beam, so a television or a laptop stays usable in most rooms. The colour sets how bright that glow gets: at 15 percent visible transmission Black, Dark Gray and Opal keep the shade calm, while White at 33 becomes the brightest surface in a west room by late afternoon. A low sun square on the window still lights the whole shade.
Limitations
TOP marks Chianti unsuitable for humid rooms, so keep it out of bathrooms and pool baths, and its datasheet lists no fire listing, which rules out hotel rooms and condo common areas that need one. It gives no view with the shade down. Where a window is there for the water, take a solar screen instead: it cuts the glare and keeps the horizon in sight.
Chianti Translucent
12 colours. Light-filtering (TOP: translucent); 300 cm (118 in) roll.
Colourways
82338-25/32
82337-25/32
82336-25/32
82335-25/32
82318-25/32
82334-25/32
82319-25/32
82317-25/32
82316-25/32
82313-25/32
82311-25/32
82310-25/32
Swatch pictures and room photos: TOP Window Covering. Screens and monitors shift colour: judge on the sample.
Chianti Translucent 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 Chianti Translucent 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 Chianti Translucent works here
On South Florida glass, settle the outside colour before anything else. Many condo associations govern what a building shows to the street or the water, and Chianti has no white side to fall back on, so in a tower we would specify White or Ivory and keep every window the same. In a house, Sage or Taupe on a garden elevation looks deliberate from both sides. On west glass the pale end also returns more of the sun's energy, and the cells slow what still comes through.
Chianti Blackout is the film-laminated twin in the same twelve colour names and both cell sizes, for the bedrooms beside a Chianti Translucent living room.
Chianti Translucent: frequently asked
Does a dark colour make the room hotter?
It makes the shade hotter. On TOP's datasheet Black reflects 19 percent of the sun's energy and absorbs about two thirds, so the cloth warms at the glass, while Cream reflects 40 percent. The air held in the cells slows that heat on its way into the room, but on an unshaded west window we would still choose from the pale end, or accept a warm shade for the look.
Is a honeycomb better than a pleated shade here?
For heat, yes. A pleated shade is one layer of cloth, so it filters light without holding air, while each Chianti cell traps a layer of air between the glass and the room and slows heat on its way through. On a shaded north window the difference matters less and a pleated shade can be the simpler choice; our pleated vs cellular guide sets out the trade.
Can the bedrooms match in blackout?
Yes. Chianti Blackout comes in the same twelve colour names and both cell sizes, and it also carries its colour on both sides, so a living room in light-filtering Taupe and a bedroom in blackout Taupe read as one scheme from inside and from the street. A laminated blackout is a different cloth, so we compare the two samples in daylight before ordering a matched set.
How wide can a honeycomb shade in TOP Chianti Translucent be?
TOP makes Chianti Translucent in a 300 cm (118 in) roll. The roll width is the widest single piece we can cut, so one honeycomb shade can be made a little under 118 inches wide. Wider openings get two honeycomb 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 Chianti Translucent?
Chianti Translucent is a honeycomb shade fabric: the cells come formed in the fabric. We buy it from TOP Window Covering, cut it to the opening in our Fort Lauderdale workroom and build the shade cordless or motorized (Somfy Cord Lift WireFree in the headrail), and our own team installs it from Miami to Palm Beach.
Can I see Chianti Translucent 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 Chianti Translucent with
Mogri Translucent
The light-filtering honeycomb for bathrooms and listed spaces, with a woven look
Lonato Translucent
A heavy light-filtering honeycomb in a deep 32 mm cell, for large windows
Barolo Translucent 25 mm
A dense light-filtering honeycomb: soft daylight in White and Ivory, near-dark in the rest
Ripasso Translucent 20 mm
Light-filtering honeycomb in the smallest cell, 20 mm, for small windows and doors
Soprano Translucent
A textured light-filtering honeycomb in six colours, chosen from the cloth
Primitivo Translucent
Light-filtering honeycomb in 25 colourways, with a blackout twin for the bedrooms
TOP Chianti Translucent honeycomb shades in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Boca Raton & Palm Beach
We buy Chianti Translucent from TOP Window Covering, make the honeycomb 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 Chianti Translucent 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.