Introducing Norman Blinds – Quality, Innovative Features & Competitive Pricing
When choosing custom window coverings, it is easy to focus on colour, fabric and style. But the best window coverings do more than look beautiful. They should solve practical challenges, provide the right balance of privacy and natural light, and function naturally within your home.
Recently, a group from the Blinds Are Beautiful team travelled to Toronto to see and experience Norman® Window Coverings firsthand. As part of becoming a Norman dealer, their onboarding includes hands-on product training because they believe the people recommending their products should understand how they look, feel and function in real life. Some of the photographs throughout this article were taken during our visit.
Duette® Honeycomb Shades – Energy-Efficient, Stylish, and Smart for Manitoba Homes
Duette® Honeycomb Shades are the perfect window treatment for Winnipeg homeowners seeking a combination of style, comfort, and energy efficiency. Designed with Architella® “cell-within-a-cell” technology, these shades offer exceptional insulation, helping your home stay warm in winter and cool in summer.
When paired with PowerView® Motorization, Duette® Honeycomb Shades provide effortless control, allowing you to schedule, adjust, and operate your shades with a smartphone or smart home system. Whether you are renovating or building new, these shades bring together modern style, energy savings, and smart home convenience in one elegant solution.
Why Choose Duette® Honeycomb Shades
Unmatched Energy Efficiency
The innovative cellular design traps air to create a powerful insulating barrier. The Architella® “cell-within-a-cell” design further elevates energy performance, helping you:
Retain heat in the winter
Block heat in the summer
Lower energy bills year-round
This combination makes Duette® Honeycomb Shades the top-recommended shades for Winnipeg’s climate.
Beautiful Light & Comfortable Ambiance
Control natural light while maintaining privacy. Duette® Shades provide a refined, inviting atmosphere in every room.
Premium, Eco-Friendly Fabrics
Choose from luxurious fabrics, including options with over 50% recycled content, combining style and sustainability.
Sound Absorption
The cellular design also dampens outside noise, making your home quieter and more peaceful.
Duette Honeycomb Custom Pleat Sizes
Available in ¾″ and 1¼″ sizes
Optional Enhancements for Maximum Control
Top-Down or Top-Down/Bottom-Up Designs – Flexibility for light and privacy control
Duolite® Dual-Shade System – Combines two fabrics in one shade
Vertiglide™ – An ideal choice for vertical side-to-side openings, sliding-glass doors or as room dividers.
TrackGlide™ – No drill tracks which run along the window frame, perfect for tilt and turn windows and garden doors.
ClearView® Sheers – Superior view-through without sacrificing light
PowerView® Motorization – Schedule, adjust, and control shades via smartphone or smart home system
When you walk into a beautifully designed Winnipeg home, your eyes are drawn to the obvious: the color on the walls, the flooring, the carefully curated furniture. But there’s one element that often goes unnoticed—until it’s done wrong. The one decision that quietly shapes every room’s light, comfort, and atmosphere: window coverings.
PowerView® Automation moves your beautiful shades to your schedule. It’s your home and your light to control.
Remote Control
Simple and easy. Remote control shades offer a no-fuss solution to light control.
Smart Device
Smart control. Use your phone or tablet to set room scenes and schedule movement.
Smart Home
We’re compatible. Use your Smart Shades with Alexa, Siri, Google Home & more.
What PowerView® Smart Shades Can Do For You.
Key Unique Features
Pebble Remote Design:
Control is available through an ergonomically designed, multi-channel Pebble Remote Control that comes in a wide variety of colors to match home decor.
Extensive Smart Home Integration:
The system works with major voice assistants and integrates natively with high-end home automation platforms like Control4, Crestron, and Apple Home via Matter.
Two-Way Bluetooth Communication:
Newer generations use Bluetooth Low Energy for real-time communication between your shades and the system, allowing commands to work smoothly even without a central gateway.
Custom Scenes and Schedules:
You can program personalized groups of shades—called “scenes”—to move to exact positions automatically at set times, or sync them precisely with local sunrise and sunset.
PowerView+ Wired Option:
Offers low-voltage wired power and control for ultra-quiet operation and enhanced reliability in larger custom setups. It utilizes a dedicated 16-Shade Smart Power Supply that connects directly via Ethernet to your home network, delivering power and commands over a 4-conductor control cable. It is available for Designer Roller Shades, Screen Shades, Pirouette, and Silhouette.
The beauty of smart shades is the ability to have them exactly where they need to be throughout the course of the day, thanks to Bluetooth technology, which features real-time, two-way communication between your shades and the PowerView system.
Here’s a list of automated shades, blinds & shutters from Hunter Douglas:
Vertiglide™ by Hunter Douglas is a great choice for vertical side-to-side openings, sliding-glass doors or as room dividers. It is available as a child-safe, cordless operating system on our Duette® and Applause® Honeycomb Shades.
Available with manual operation or with PowerView® Automation. For your convenience, the Vertiglide™ system features Dual Operation which allows you to activate the shade with any PowerView® control device such as the remote or app, or simply operate the shade manually by hand. This convenient feature is ideal for lost remotes, entering the home from outside and for guests without knowledge that the shade is motorized. Please note that PowerView® Automation is not available with Applause® Honeycomb Shades.
Meet with one of our Blinds are Beautiful window covering experts to learn more.
The Vertiglide™ system has stacking options to suit your window.
Turning Design Challenges into Beautiful Drapery Features
Custom drapery solves design challenges that standard coverings often cannot. It works for large windows, unusual shapes, and layered light control, but it’s especially valuable for tricky or unconventional spaces. Curved windows, cornered windows, narrow side lites by doors, and windows on short walls can all be difficult to cover with off-the-shelf treatments.
Similarly, rooms that require complete darkness for media viewing or walls where drapery is used to create a striking feature wall often demand wall-to-wall solutions.
With the right fabrics, hardware, and design approach, drapery can transform these challenging spaces into functional, beautiful focal points while maintaining style, proportion, and flow throughout the room.
Why Expert Design Guidance Matters
For many homeowners, this is where working with a design expert makes all the difference. Our Blinds Are Beautiful specialists guide clients through creative possibilities they may not have considered, turning challenging windows into exciting design opportunities.
Real Custom Drapery Projects in Winnipeg Homes
Explore the examples below to see how thoughtful custom drapery solutions have helped homeowners in Winnipeg and the surrounding areas achieve both function and stunning design.
Solution for a Curved Set of Windows
This space features a beautiful set of windows with an elegant curve. Custom sheers installed on a curved track were the ideal solution. They follow the natural shape of the window, creating visual continuity while highlighting the architecture and enhancing the overall appeal of the space.
Creating a Media Space
This homeowner had a set of windows in the lower area of the house in which they wanted to create a luxurious media space. Blackout lined crushed velvet drapery panels were the answer!
Working with Narrow Windows
Windows on either side of a door can be a challenge to cover at times because of their narrow width. This creative solution of custom sheer drapery on a rod that extends over the door addressed the need for privacy and also gave the front door an added wow factor.
Creating a Focal Point
This Primary bedroom was looking for an ultra luxe approach to covering two small windows and creating a focal point to showcase the bed. Custom drapery in a rich fabric and colour was the perfect solution!
Creating More Visual Space
The space between the windows and the corner of the wall was very tight, but this homeowner wanted drapery to customize the room. Drapery hung to extend around the corner created a beautiful statement which matched the scale the space demanded.
Covering a Corner Set of Window
What could have been an awkward corner to cover with blinds or shades was a custom drapery dream when combined with a specialty track that neatly covers both windows to create a seamless look.
Adding Character & Privacy
Some Winnipeg homes have windows which open into the room creating challenges when privacy is required. This creative approach not only provided a great solution but also added to the existing charm of the home.
Do you have a room that is in need of a creative solution that custom drapery may be able to solve? We have the expertise to help!
With Altex’s Imagin X service, the only limit is your imagination! It’s a way for you to personalize your window coverings and add unique flair to your interior design.
Whether you’re looking to find a creative way to display some of your best photography, personalize your space with unique copies of art or maximize your advertising opportunity, your product will be crafted by experts, using only the highest quality fabrics. The process couldn’t be easier!
So, don’t wait. Find out more. And make your home or business as unique as you are!
Exceptional print quality
A wide selection of fabrics
Printing width up to 126 inches and unlimited length
Odour-free. UV resistant ink
Shades printed and produced in Canada
Imagin X Dog
Imagin X Watercolour
Imagin X Wedding
Imagin X Sand Dunes
Our Blinds are Beautiful Imagin X specialist helped make some amazing artwork come to life here in one of our Winnipeg schools.
Do you have a project in mind that a Imagin X screen print from Altex, might be the perfect solution for? Let us know how we can help!
Operate Hunter Douglas SkyLift™ shades manually with a hand crank or telescoping pole. Turn the hand crank to raise or lower the shade. For hard-to-reach skylights, use a telescoping pole for convenient control from the floor.
SkyLift™ is available with both Hunter Douglas Duette® and Applause® Honeycomb Shades, making it an excellent solution for skylights and other hard-to-reach windows. These energy-efficient honeycomb shades help insulate your home while providing light control, privacy, and a clean, streamlined appearance. Whether you choose the premium performance of Duette® or the value-driven design of Applause®, SkyLift™ allows you to enjoy the benefits of honeycomb shades in challenging window locations.
Luminette® Privacy Sheers offer the perfect balance of soft light and refined privacy for large windows and patio doors. Designed by Hunter Douglas, these drapery-like sheers feature rotating fabric vanes that provide precise control over light and privacy.
At Blinds are Beautiful, in Winnipeg, we help homeowners customize Luminette® Privacy Sheers to suit their space, style, and lighting needs.
Features
Luminette® Privacy Sheers combine sheers and blinds, for doors and large windows.
Light Control and Privacy—from rotating fabric vanes.
UV Protection—provides a buffer between interiors and the sun.
