In the News

Your home should be a safe haven for your entire family, but there’s a hidden danger that you see every day, and you don’t even realize it. It’s estimated that a child between 7 months and 10 years old dies from this hidden danger every month, and that’s not even counting the injuries.

The scariest part? It’s 100% preventable.

Window covering cords are a deathtrap.

The CPSC says they’re “…one of the top five hidden hazards in the home.” Cords seem harmless at first glance, but they’re anything but.

It doesn’t take much for a child to wrap the cord around his neck or a limb. They are the silent killer. You could even be in the same room and not realize what was happening. Once that cord gets around his neck, he can’t call for help. Sometimes parents don’t even realize it’s happening until it’s too late.

Don’t let that be you and your child.

Step One – Awareness

Awareness is the first step to keeping your child safe. Part of that is getting rid of corded window coverings altogether. Even simple safety devices, like cord cleats, aren’t enough to protect your child. They can still get tangled in the wrapped cords.

Step Two – Be on the Lookout

Unfortunately, that’s not where it ends. It goes beyond that. Your children may be safe at home, but that doesn’t mean they’re safe anywhere. Window coverings are everywhere – in nearly every home and building. Before you let your child go play at a friend’s house or stay the night and grandma’s house, make sure you first understand the hidden dangers there, too.

Step Three – Go Cordless

Since foregoing window coverings altogether would mean privacy issues for your entire family, cordless window coverings are the safest option, period. Despite the continued safety concerns, corded blinds flood the market and most consumers don’t know how easy it is to go cordless. Cordless options are readily available and affordable for anyone wanting to make their homes safer.

The truth is that a corded window covering – no matter how affordable or how beautiful – is not worth the threat it poses to your children. There’s nothing to lose when switching to cordless, and everything to gain, including peace of mind. And that’s priceless.

To learn more about the danger of window covering cords and how to keep your children safe, please click here.

Did you know that one child every month dies from window covering cord strangulation? And that’s not counting those who are injured or those injuries and close-calls that aren’t even reported. And did you know that these types of deaths are silent deaths? Even if it’s happening in the next room, you might not know until it’s too late, until the damage has already been done, until you’ve lost your child.

Take a moment and think. How many windows do you have in your house? And how many of those windows have some kind of covering on them?

My Own House

I live in a decent-sized house, and it sports 25 or so windows with coverings. I’d like to believe that I was involved in the decision-making process when choosing them, but really that just makes me feel better about the fact that I was only involved in the paying part.

When it was all said and done, my wife and I had a good mixture of treatments on our windows. Because my house wasn’t a new construction, we left some up that came with the house. And that’s when I started comparing corded versus cordless coverings for windows.

Out of 25 treatments, only 3 of them had a corded lift system – all of them roman shades. Two I intentionally designed that way and the other was from the stack of returns SelectBlinds.com had received. After all, I wanted something for my man cave, and my only criterion was the size of the treatment. And if you were to come to my house, you’d agree that it’s the ugliest shade in the whole house, by a long shot.

Needless to say, these are my least favorite treatments in the house. Not only are the dangling lift cords visually unappealing, but they’re also unsafe. Even though this shade and all the coverings for windows sold by my company, SelectBlinds.com, prior to April 1st, 2016 were CPSC compliant with safety regulations, you can see how they still posed a threat to young children. The cords are knotted every six or seven inches, which is meant to make it impossible for a child or pet to get entangled, but it can lead to strangulation or even suffocation.

Even though I have no small children in my house, these tangled cords remind me of a noose. And that’s exactly what it could become, and what it has become for many families over the years.

Making a Difference

The safety regulations are meant to keep kids safe, but obviously the current regulations aren’t the right ones. These corded shades are coming off of my window and they have come off of SelectBlinds.com as well.

We’ve known for a while that we needed to do more, and so we did:

1. We offer the most free cordless options in the industry.

2. Our free cord cleat program is open to everyone, not just customers. Cord cleats are small parts that window covering cords can be wrapped around. This keeps cords out of the reach of children and pets. After all, we understand that not everyone can upgrade their current coverings to cordless ones. People just have to request them through our site, and they’re sent free of charge, no strings attached. Even so, a cordless lift system is the only 100% safe option. No cords = safe children.

And yet, we still felt the need to make more of a difference, to save more lives. And so…

At Select Blinds, 2016 is the year of cordless.

So why do all this? Why do it when it will cost us a lot of money, time, and resources?

Because it’s the right thing to do. Simple as that.

We’ve cut the cord!

We’re excited to announce that we’re the first custom window covering company to go 100% cordless! We’re committed to child safety, and we’re paving the way for this industry to make an essential change. It’s all about saving lives and protecting children.

Learn more here: https://www.selectblinds.com/gocordless.html

We’ve teamed up with Safe Kids Day and Safe Kids Worldwide to promote child safety. It doesn’t take much to make your home child-safe, and it can start with your corded window coverings.

Well-known designer, Carriann Johnson, was our spokesperson for the Safe Kids Day event in Los Angeles. She talked about general child safety, and even discussed our no-cost cord cleat program. Cord cleats allow you to wrap up dangling and dangerous window covering cords, keeping them out of the hands of little ones. Cordless window coverings are the safest choice, but if you do have corded blinds and you can’t upgrade to cordless right now, you can use cord cleats to make your home safer.

Do you need cord cleats? We’ll send them to you for free. Simply fill out this form. Every life is precious, and we are doing what we can to protect children everywhere. To read even more about our free cord cleat program, read this press release.

Take a look at some of the pictures of Carriann at the Safe Kids Day event:

Charlene Jimenez

Work is work, right? Another day, another dollar. Let’s face it, there are very few people that can actually claim that they love their jobs and the company that they work for. I have to admit though, after coming to work at Select Blinds, it is refreshing to work for a company that actually cares about their customer and people as a whole.

As a retailer, the company can boast about their new Google Trusted Store “A” rating for reliability and excellent service, or their Better Business Bureau accreditation and A+ rating. But really, when I am shopping online for products, I am not always interested in what the “company” is saying about themselves. What sets Select Blinds apart from other custom window covering companies is the amount of positive 3rd party reviews that the company has collected over the years from ACTUAL customers, who are excited enough about their purchase to take the time to write a helpful review for other people looking to make the same purchase.

SelectBlinds.com really is the highest rated and most reviewed blinds company in America. It is obvious online when you look at websites like:

Google Checkout (over 5,250 reviews!) “Awesome! Their service was quick and efficient. Even when I had mismeasured and called to correct my order, they were very courteous.”

Reseller Ratings (over 3,500 reviews!) “Great looking, easy to install, directions to measure were spot on.”

Nextag (over 1,350 reviews!) “Expected good for the price. GOT outstanding for the price!”

After working closely with our customer service team, I can see why the site has gotten such great reviews. Of course the company is proud of their high quality products, but the best sign of a good company is the happiness of their customers. So, while it may be a job.. and WORK.. watching the attention and care that is given to site visitors and customers makes me feel like I am doing something valuable. And I appreciate that!