Roman Shades
Roman shades, also known as fabric shades, combine the beauty of fabric window treatments with the easy operation of a shade. Elegant and versatile, they come in a wide variety of styles and features from insulated, to room darkening and blackout, to light filtering and sheer.
Styles
Romans come in two principle styles: flat fold and teardrop. Flat fold offers a more classic or modern look, while the teardrop style lends toward more formal, elegant settings and decors.
Materials
Since these shades are also called fabric shades, that should be a signal that you have many choices here. Many of the fabrics are a polyester blend for durability and stain resistance. But you can also choose linen, cotton, faux suede, patterned fabrics, weaves such as bamboo and textured fabrics.
Options
Adding to their versatility is the range of available options including, top down bottom up, cordless lift, and motorized lift. Consider cordless if you have small children in your home, as dangling cords can be dangerous. Plus, cordless shades offer a cleaner, uncluttered look. Top down bottom up allows you to lower the shade from the top, raise it from the bottom, or both – this is a nice privacy and light control feature. Motorized window shades provide the ultimate in convenience and is especially useful for high or hard to reach windows.
Light control
Opacity is just a fancy name for the light filtering properties of a material. Roman window shades come in every opacity imaginable – from sheer (nearly translucent) to semi-sheer (light filtering) to semi-opaque (medium room darkening) to opaque (room darkening or blackout). So, there’s no shortage of options. Blackout roman shades, which use opaque fabrics, are a perfect choice for bedrooms and home theaters.
Colors
Romans are available in a wide selection of colors. And, it’s not just solid colors you can choose from. You can choose from many styles, including different patterns, stripes, textures – even two tone.
Roman Blinds
Roman shades are window shades. All window shades operate by either rolling up (like roller shades on a spring-loaded roll), or they fold up. Romans fold up. Each unit of the shade, folds unto itself.