Roman blinds are those window coverings that are made of soft, flexible fabric or similar material, which form pleats or rectangular folds when raised. These folds create a soft and tender look, giving the sensation of comfort and elegance without cluttering the space. Their simplicity translates into elegance, that’s why roman blinds are preferred by interior decorators and home owners who follow the minimalist current which ignores useless elements of decor in favor of simple, natural materials and shapes. Modern, expensive homes use roman blinds in combination with exterior shutters.

This is how elegance and functionality go hand in hand: the blinds complete the interior decorations, but they don’t offer too much of a privacy. This is accomplished by the exterior shutters. That’s because Roman blinds are the most beautiful when made of light, translucent fabrics or of thin bamboo sticks woven together with threads in pale shades of color. Sunscreen fabrics are another excellent option to increase your comfort in hot summer days.

However, if you want, you can make Roman shades from thicker, yet smooth fabrics, thus obtaining a better degree of light filtering and privacy. It’s possible to make blackout Roman blinds by adding a special lining to the fabric. You can either do this by yourself and create your own custom, DIY Roman blinds, or you can buy some ready-made ones, either online or in home and garden stores such as JC Penney.

Although most Roman window treatments models are manually operated via cords or chains, it is possible to automate them by attaching an electric motor operated by a remote control.

What To Know When Buying Roman Shades

Choosing Roman blinds for your windows or doors shouldn’t be too difficult, provided that you already know the impression you’d like to create with your decorations. Beyond this aspect, there are four more factors to be taken into consideration:

• Light control: light colors would filter less light, while dark colors would darken the room. If you want more light, choose lighter colors, otherwise you’ll have to either raise your blinds or turn on the lights during the day, if you want to see better.
• Privacy: Thicker fabrics would offer you more night time privacy, while thinner ones would expose yourself to your neighbor’s looks at night, when you have your lights on inside the room.
• Energy efficiency: Some materials are better insulators than others. Ask your shop assistant for advice, in case you are interested in improving a bit the r-value of your windows and decrease your energy bills.
• Style: This can be traditional or contemporary, simple or sophisticated, depending on the overall style of your home. Remember that your Roman blinds and their accessories must suit your home and your decor elements. Here you’ll need to decide if you want straight edge, pleated border, vertical border or tab headed Roman blinds. You’ll also need to choose the hardware: rails, rods, finials or window valances.

All important window treatments manufacturers offer a wide range of Roman blinds: Bali, Hunter Douglas, Laura Ashley, Hillary’s or Luxaflex, all of them offer beautiful models of window blinds and trained staff to help you with your purchase.

Other window blinds articles:

1. Vignette Modern Roman Shades From Hunter Douglas Vignette Modern Roman Shades are amongst the newest additions of Hunter Douglas, the well-known and appreciated window treatments manufacturer. They are elegant and versatile, thanks to the precision engineering which offers a clean appearance, and to the 94 possible color combinations, which can satisfy even the most exigent tastes of homeowners or interior decorators. The Vignette [...]...
2. Bamboo Roman Shades: Natural Look for Windows Bamboo roman shades have two qualities which make them an excellent choice for window treatments. First of all, they are made of natural materials, bamboo being well-known for creating a friendly and warm atmosphere in a room. Secondly, roman shades have the great advantage of being extremely easy to customize, therefore suitable for interior designers [...]...
3. Bali Looped Roman Natural Shades, Dimensional Look For Your Windows The Looped Roman Bali shades belong to the Natural Shades line of window treatments developed by Bali and they are made of renewable woods such as reeds, bamboo, grass or jute. This is good for our forests, which are already endangered my massive cuts. It’s also goods for our interiors, because such materials give a [...]...
4. Save Energy With Honeycomb Blinds Honeycomb blinds, also called cellular shades, are the latest invention in terms of energy efficient window treatments. Their energy efficiency is given by their special shape consisting of many cells bound together, thus creating some hexagonal air capsules which provide a better thermal insulation than in the case of simple blinds. Because of this property, [...]...
5. Hunter Douglas Sliding Glass Door Window Treatments We’ve talked a while back about sliding glass door window treatments, and the example I’ve chosen by that time to illustrate my point was the Hunter Douglas Duette 3/4″ Single Cell Sheer with Vertiglide Side Stack, which feature excellent insulation without the drawback of being opaque like other insulating window coverings are. That article seemed to [...]...