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.
Our Toronto visit gave us a closer look at what makes Norman different. Norman combines thoughtful design with practical innovation, creating window covering solutions that address real challenges homeowners encounter every day—from distinctive sheer shades and innovative honeycomb shades to motorization, shutters and solutions for large or challenging windows.
For Winnipeg homeowners looking for custom window coverings that offer more than a standard blind or shade, Norman provides some particularly interesting solutions worth discovering.
What Makes Norman Window Coverings Different?
Norman’s Canadian collection includes custom shades, honeycomb shades, shutters, blinds and motorized window coverings. What stands out is the attention given to how the window covering works, not just how it looks.
Some of the Norman innovations worth knowing include:
- PerfectSheer™, a distinctive sheer shade with rotating fabric vanes suspended between sheer fabrics
- SmartFit® Honeycomb Shades, an innovative Top-Down/Bottom-Up design with side cords rather than cords running through the middle of the shade
- Norman Smart Motorization, including a convenient wireless charging wand
- A charging-wand extension pole that makes higher shades easier to reach
- SmartSense®, a compact, lightweight device that clips directly onto the hembar (the bottom rail) of the shade to introduce active safety, gesture recognition, and manual fallback controls
- SmartDrape®, a fabric shade designed so you can walk through it without opening it
- Bi-fold 180™, allowing shutter panels to fold back from the opening
- Specialty Shutters, made to not only look good but also be functional.
These features aren’t simply technology for technology’s sake. They are designed to make window coverings more functional, convenient and appropriate for the way people actually use their homes.
PerfectSheer™: A Unique Sheer Shade for Winnipeg Homes
One of the most distinctive Norman products available through Blinds Are Beautiful is PerfectSheer™.
PerfectSheer is particularly interesting because it sits between two familiar window covering concepts: the banded shade and the sheer shading.
It has the clean, contemporary feel associated with a banded shade, but uses soft fabric vanes suspended between sheer fabrics to create a more elegant, layered appearance.
The fabric vanes rotate to control the amount of natural light entering the room, while allowing you to adjust privacy and maintain an outdoor view when desired. Norman offers both light-filtering and room-darkening fabrics.
How PerfectSheer works
Rather than relying on alternating horizontal fabric bands, PerfectSheer uses soft fabric vanes suspended between sheer layers.
As the vanes rotate, you can change the character of the window throughout the day.
Open the vanes to enjoy more of the outdoor view.
Adjust them to softly diffuse sunlight.
Rotate them further to increase privacy.
And with room-darkening fabric options, you can create substantially greater light control when needed.
This makes PerfectSheer particularly appealing in rooms where the window needs to perform several jobs throughout the day.
A shade that changes with the light
Morning sunlight, afternoon glare and evening privacy can all require different settings.
PerfectSheer allows the shade to adapt without changing the overall appearance of the window.
For a Winnipeg living room, dining room, bedroom or home office, that flexibility can make a significant difference.
PerfectSheer is also available with Norman Smart Motorization and AutoWand™, providing options ranging from simple one-touch operation to smart-home control.
For Blinds Are Beautiful customers, PerfectSheer is especially exciting because it offers a distinctive style and operating experience that is not duplicated elsewhere in our current collection.
SmartFit® Honeycomb Shades: Top-Down/Bottom-Up Without Cords in the Middle
Honeycomb shades are already one of the most versatile window covering choices for Winnipeg homes.
Their cellular construction creates insulating air pockets that can help reduce heat transfer, making them particularly well suited to homes that experience Winnipeg’s cold winters and warm summers. Norman’s Portrait™ Honeycomb Shades are available in different cell sizes, fabrics and operating configurations.
But Norman has taken the functionality of a honeycomb shade further with SmartFit®.
What is SmartFit?
SmartFit is Norman’s innovative cordless Top-Down/Bottom-Up honeycomb shade.
The shade can be:
- Lowered from the top
- Raised from the bottom
- Positioned from both directions to create the desired balance of privacy and daylight
The distinctive part of the SmartFit design is the tight-fitting side cords, which keep the operating cords out of the middle of the shade. Norman describes this as providing a cleaner view through the window without cords obstructing the centre.
This is an important distinction.
SmartFit isn’t simply another name for Top-Down/Bottom-Up.
Top-Down/Bottom-Up describes the functionality. SmartFit is Norman’s particular design for delivering that functionality.
Privacy where you need it. Light where you want it.
Consider a front-facing living room in Winnipeg.
You want natural light coming through the upper portion of the window, but you don’t want people outside looking directly into the room.
With Top-Down/Bottom-Up operation, you can keep the lower portion of the window covered while opening the upper portion.
The same concept can be useful in bedrooms, bathrooms, dining rooms and street-facing windows.
SmartFit provides this flexibility while maintaining a clean centre view.
SmartFit can also sit closer to the window
Norman’s SmartFit design positions the shade closer to the edge of the window, which can help minimize potential light leakage at the sides while maintaining a slim, clean profile.
For homeowners who value both privacy and a streamlined appearance, this combination of functionality and design is one of the most interesting aspects of Norman’s honeycomb collection.
Norman Smart Motorization: Designed Around the Everyday Experience
Motorization is increasingly popular for homeowners who want easier light control, privacy and automation.
But the quality of a motorized window covering isn’t just about whether you can operate it from a remote or phone.
It is also about what happens between uses.
One of Norman’s practical innovations is its wireless charging wand.
The Power Charging Wand
Norman’s charging wand connects directly to the shade to recharge the motorized shade.
For homeowners with rechargeable motorized shades, this provides a straightforward way to keep the system powered without removing the shade.
The wand is also designed with accessibility in mind.
An extension pole for higher shades
When a shade is installed higher than you can comfortably reach, the charging wand can be used with an extension pole.
That means you can reach the charging connection without climbing onto furniture or using a ladder.
This can be particularly useful for:
- Tall windows
- High transoms
- Two-storey spaces
- Windows above furniture
- Hard-to-reach windows
- Large installations with multiple motorized shades
This is one of those details that can be easy to overlook when choosing motorization.
The question isn’t only:
“How will I operate the shade?”
It is also:
“How will I keep it charged?”
Norman has designed a practical answer.
SmartSense™ and Intelligent Motorized Operation
Norman’s SmartSense™ brings a more intuitive approach to motorized window coverings. With a simple lift-to-operate gesture, shades can respond without reaching for a remote or opening an app. SmartSense also incorporates intelligent obstacle detection, allowing the shade to stop and reverse when an obstruction is detected.
It is a small detail that makes a noticeable difference—combining convenient gesture-based control with intelligent operation to make motorized shades easier and more natural to use every day.
For Winnipeg homeowners looking for smart window coverings, SmartSense is another example of Norman’s focus on practical innovation built into the everyday operation of the shade.
SmartDrape®: A Window Covering You Can Walk Through
Large patio doors present a unique window covering challenge.
They need privacy and light control, but they are also doorways that people use repeatedly throughout the day.
Norman SmartDrape® addresses that challenge with an unusual feature:
You can walk through the shade while it remains closed.
Individual fabric vanes part as you move through them and return to position afterward.
That means you don’t necessarily have to open the entire window covering every time someone walks through the patio door.
SmartDrape combines the softness of fabric with the functionality required for large openings.
The vanes can rotate to adjust light and privacy, and the shade can also be drawn open when you want an unobstructed outdoor view.
Designed for large openings
SmartDrape can be configured for different stacking arrangements, including left, right, centre and split configurations.
That makes it possible to tailor the opening to the room’s furniture placement and traffic pattern.
It is especially well suited to:
- Patio doors
- Large windows
- Walls of windows
- Frequently used exterior doors
- Open-concept rooms
SmartDrape is available with manual wand operation or Norman Smart Motorization.
Bi-Fold 180™: Shutters Designed Around the Opening
Large openings can create another challenge for shutters.
You may want the architectural appearance and durability of a shutter, but you also need to open the patio door or access the entire window.
Norman’s Bi-fold 180™ design allows shutter panels to fold back, helping clear the opening.
This can be particularly useful for doors and larger openings where the ability to move the shutter panels out of the way is important.
The result is a shutter that can function as both a beautiful architectural feature and a practical everyday window covering.
| Feature | Norman Bi-Fold 180™ | Other Standard Manufacturers |
|---|---|---|
| Open Position | Flat against the wall (180°) | Perpendicular to the wall (90°) |
| Room Intrusion | Micro-stack; stays out of the way | Protrudes heavily into room space |
| Louver Safety | AutoTilt™ automatically closes louvers | Manual adjustment required to prevent damage |
| Frame Bulk | Sleek; no box-out frame required | Often requires extended box-out frames |
Beyond the Frame: Fully Operable Specialty Shutters That Defy Geometry
The maple leaf shutter at Norman’s Toronto facility perfectly showcases why the brand leads the industry in fully operable specialty shapes. While competitors often lock complex geometries into permanent, stationary wall frames, Norman constructs massive, continuous custom panels that frame extreme perimeters while allowing the entire structure to hinge completely open for easy access. By replacing intrusive front tilt rods with the hidden InvisibleTilt® gear system and a micro-thin rear connecting wire, Norman allows the highly customized, variable-width louvers to achieve full rotation capability without compromising the clean, iconic lines of the architectural shape.
Window Covering Safety in Canada
Window covering safety is an important part of selecting the right product for your home.
At Blinds Are Beautiful, we consider applicable Canadian window covering safety requirements when recommending operating systems and products for residential applications.
Norman offers a wide range of cordless and motorized options designed to eliminate accessible operating cords. Norman also identifies a number of its products as Best for Kids® certified, including SmartFit Cordless Honeycomb Shades, cordless Top-Down/Bottom-Up Honeycomb Shades, SmartDrape, motorized honeycomb shades and motorized PerfectSheer shades.
This makes it possible to prioritize safety without giving up the functionality homeowners want.
For families with young children or pets, cordless and motorized operating systems can provide an important additional consideration when selecting window coverings.
Safety should be part of the window covering decision from the beginning—not an afterthought.
Why Norman Is a Valuable Addition to Blinds Are Beautiful
We believe the best window covering collection is one that gives customers meaningful choices.
Norman adds several innovative solutions that allow us to approach challenging windows and everyday needs in new ways.
PerfectSheer™ provides a distinctive sheer shade with soft rotating fabric vanes, giving homeowners refined light control and privacy in a design that is different from a conventional banded shade.
SmartFit® Honeycomb Shades bring Top-Down/Bottom-Up functionality together with a design that keeps operating cords out of the middle of the shade.
The Norman Power Charging Wand makes rechargeable motorization easier to maintain, while the extension pole provides a practical solution for higher shades.
SmartSense® a smart safety clip that adds gesture controls, touch operation, and automatic obstacle detection.
SmartDrape® makes large openings and frequently used patio doors easier to cover by allowing you to walk through the shade without opening it.
Bi-fold 180™ allows shutter panels to fold away from the opening when access is important.
Fully operational Specialty Shape Shutters
These innovations have something in common.
They are designed around how a window covering is actually used.
Discover Norman Window Coverings in Winnipeg
The best way to understand what makes Norman different is to see the products and experience how they work.
At Blinds Are Beautiful, our team can introduce you to Norman’s innovative collection and help you explore the features that make each solution unique. From the distinctive PerfectSheer™ shade and SmartFit® Honeycomb Shades to Smart Motorization, SmartDrape® and fully functional motorized shutters, Norman offers solutions designed around the way today’s homeowners use their windows.
Explore our custom window coverings to learn more about the options available for Winnipeg homes.
If convenience and accessibility are important, visit our motorization and automation page to learn more about the benefits of automated window coverings and how motorization can be incorporated into your home.
For unusual windows, patio doors and other challenging applications, explore our window covering solutions to see how custom window coverings can be designed around the architecture and function of your space.
If you’re considering Norman for your home and aren’t sure which product or operating system is right for you, our window covering consultation is a great place to start. Our team can assess your windows, understand how you use each room and help you choose a solution that combines design, functionality and ease of use.
Visit Blinds Are Beautiful in Winnipeg to discover Norman Window Coverings and experience these innovative products for yourself