I loved my day/night shades when they were new but as time has gone by and not that much time, (less than 2 years) the shades that fit smaller windows are all breaking. I am a fulltimer and so I pretty much open my shades daily. The strings that go up through the holes of the shades have gotten weak finally until they snapped. Now my shades are worthless. I have to roll them up and "rig" it to stay up. 4 out of 5 smaller ones are broken and it makes me sad b/c the darkening half really did a great job of keeping sun out on really hot days. I will be looking for wooden shades, vertical for the large windows maybe. I am starting my search now and will replace them all once they all break or I get sick of messing with it, whichever comes first. One more annoying fact about this type of shade is the fact that in front of my large windows I have large pcs. of furniture like recliners, couch and dinette. I have to put all of my strength into pushing them up. I am not able to get really close to the window is why so my arms are out-stretched and I dont have the benefit of extra strength when your arms are closer to your body when lifting something. I either climb on my furniture like a monkey or strain myself. Either way is not pretty. I am looking for something easier to work....btw, I am in shape and 29 yrs old. Maybe its b/c I am so short (5'0")