Roman window shades can offer elegance to any room yet still provide the room darkening qualities of other forms of blackout blinds.
Roman window shades are typically used in the place of drapery because they look like drapery. The outer and inner layers of roman shades are generally made of drapery fabric such as silk, linen, cotton and polyester blends. The central layer is composed of a light blocking material such as mylar. We particularly like the look of flat panel roman window shades because they provide a tailored look to your window and the fabric of your roman window shades will hang smoothly when the blinds are lowered.
Roman window shades normally come with a top to bottom draw down. In other words, you draw the shades by pulling from the top of the window down to the bottom. If you want partial light, you would draw your shade half-way down. Roman window shades may also be purchased with a bottom to top draw up. This means you would close the shade by drawing from the bottom to the window up. Which you should choose depends on preference. For an upper floor window, a bottom to top shade would allow you have privacy yet be able to look out your window or allow light to come in. On the other hand, perhaps you would prefer to draw your shades half-way down to block out the direct glare of the mid-day sun but still allow some light to come in. Then a top-down shade would be better. Some roman window shades come with a variable setup so that you can draw them either up or down.
Also consider the style of control mechanism you want for your roman window shades. There is a normal cord, the kind that you would find on any window shade to raise or lower it. Roman window shades also come with continuous looping cords. These cords stay the same length no matter whether the shade is up or down. They are perfect to keep out of reach of small children or pets. Another good option if dangling cords concern you is to choose a cordless window shade. Finally, roman window shades come with automatic opening mechanisms so that they can be controlled by remote control.
