“These are amazing,” I said as I raised the shades my new apartment.

It was 2019 and my husband and I had just moved into our apartment in Hoi An, Vietnam.

I’m now one to care much about furnishings. I like my home clean and rather sparse. It needs to have a good seating area where I can read a book while sipping a glass of wine or mug of hot chocolate. If there is a deck/balcony/porch where I can do the same, all the better. But, I’ve never been one to put up pictures and create a theme, unless Jenga-style piles of books count as decorating. My furniture is mostly second-hand, curated from the internet and friends’ or neighbors’ cast-offs. I’m on the FIRE path and, really, I’m rather frugal.

So, it takes something incredible to attract my attention. The shades reminded me of Zebras, with their colored and clear stripes. They can be fully colored, striped, or raised up entirely. I hate cleaning blinds and my husband hates the look of curtains, so they were a win-win.

I loved them so much that when we moved into our house in Oregon this year, they’re the first thing I purchased for the home. The actual brand is ShadesU, but you can find them just as easily by searching “zebra blinds”. (affiliate link)

I will caution that reading the measuring directions is important and know that they provide all the hardware in case you want to hand them outside or inside of the window frame and the directions aren’t amazing, so don’t be alarmed if you have pieces left over. Overall, though, I am thrilled with the ease of putting them up and we constantly get people asking where we got them (and this coming from people whose dogs we’re sitting, so for the shades to catch their attention during a meet&greet is even more of a testament to how awesome these things are).