Our Story

The old saying “Necessity is the Mother of Invention” was the wellspring for ChicCleats.

My husband and I recently remodeled our small, but wonderful home in Santa Barbara, California. The last thing we had to do was to replace the front window.  Because the window is oversized, we needed a custom Roman Shade, which I ordered through a high-end furniture store. However, when they installed my beautiful, soft and dreamy shade, the installer used a very ugly $0.25 white cleat with two aluminum screws sticking out at odd angles.

"Our Competition"

Each morning, as I opened the shade, I flinched at the hideous cleat holding down my beautiful shade.  How could they do this to me, I lamented.  Okay, so I am a little fussy, but this was totally unacceptable! 

When I complained to the designer, she gave me a slightly less ugly brass-plated boat cleat. I don’t keep a rudder or anchor in my living room, why would I want a boat cleat for my Roman Shade?  I went to a national discount blinds store, several furniture stores, our big-box home store, the internet, designers and magazines.  I found nothing to tie off my lovely shade other than boat and flagpole cleats.  So, I designed ChicCleats.  I am now much happier, my window is complete and I have a little piece of art on my living room wall. I know you will love the new look in your home too.

To create ChicCleats, we first choose a theme, such as “Bamboo” or “Contemporary”. Then a series of unique designs is determined. We then sculpt a wax model or machine a prototype, carefully detailing each line, curve and surface. To manufacture ChicCleats we use a high quality lead-free zinc alloy.

The next step is a metal-finishing process plating each ChicCleat with a beautiful Antique Brass, Antique Copper, Dark Bronze, (sometimes called Hand Oiled Bronze), Pewter, Black, Chrome, Gold, or White finish.  It is then sealed to retain its color and finish for years to come. The resulting ChicCleat has the look and feel of a hand forged piece of art.  In fact, due to our processes you may find slight variations in each piece.  We consider ChicCleats to be window art!

Our cord pulls, called " TaradiddleTassels™" also make great ceiling fan pulls or lamp tassels!  

You may have other uses for our beautiful cleats, tassels and hooks – send us an email with your ideas.  We would love to hear from you!

PS: Taradiddle means "pompous nonsense" - it is important to keep things in perspective!

© Taradiddle Holdings, Inc. 2004