The Best Roman Shades

Hello, my friend, hello again; today we come together to talk about The Best Roman Shades and hope the blog can help you.

The best Roman shades can increase privacy and filter or block out light, all while restyling a living space.

Roman shades offer both a stylish and functional addition to a living space. When closed, they filter (or completely block out) light to both maintain the privacy of a living space and offer shade in a room flooded with too much sunlight. Roman shades open in a unique way: Unlike standard shades, which bunch up at the top when opened, Roman shades fold or stack up evenly as they’re opened. As a result, they look sleek and smooth, as opposed to having the ribbed or bumpy appearance of other types of shades.

Since there is a wide variety of Roman shades on the market, it can be difficult to choose the product that will best meet your needs and preferences. This guide will help you identify the key factors to consider when shopping for Roman shades as well as highlight a selection of the best Roman shades available today so you can choose the ideal option for your living space.

1. BEST OVERALL: Blinds.com Premium Roman Shade
2. BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK: Nicetown Blackout Tie-Up Vertical Curtain
3. BEST LUXURY: Loom Decor Flat Roman Shade
4. BEST WOVEN: Windowsandgarden Cordless Woven Wood Roman Shades
5. BEST TOP-DOWN/BOTTOM-UP: Bali Casual Classics Roman Shades
6. BEST BLACKOUT: Blinds.com Premier Roman Shades
7. BEST MOTORIZED: Levolor Roman Shades
8. BEST FOR BATHROOMS: Arlo Blinds Thermal Room-Darkening Fabric Roman Shade
9. BEST FOR KITCHENS: Pottery Barn Custom Emery Linen Cordless Roman Shade
10. BEST FOR FRENCH DOORS: Homeideas Beige French Door Curtains

How We Chose the Best Roman Shades

When gathering our top picks for Roman shades, we made sure to only look at brands that offered a wide choice to shoppers in terms of styles, fabrics, colors, patterns, and lift types. Everything on our list of recommendations boasts multiple customization options to ensure you receive a set of Roman shades that are specific to your exact requirements. No matter the style or window size, the choices we listed above are sure to match what you’re looking for.

We made sure to include options that span a range of budgets, offering both budget-friendly choices as well as high-quality upgrades. Installation was also a major factor in our research. As such, we only included products that are easy to install without unnecessary hassle or poorly written instructions.

Our Top Picks

After conducting extensive research and taking into consideration the abovementioned features, we’ve selected these products, which cover a variety of categories and represent the top picks for the best Roman shades for every budget. Each of the featured products boasts top-notch construction, offers quality fabrics, and can bring both style and function to a living space.

Best Overall

Blinds.com Premium Roman Shade

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The Premium Roman Shade from Blinds.com offers numerous customization options to help shoppers personalize them based on their needs and preferences. Over 150 color and pattern options are available to coordinate with different home decor styles. Depending on the color and pattern selection, various fabric options are available, including 100 percent cotton, 100 percent polyester, cotton/polyester blends, rayon/viscose blends, rayon/linen blends, and a polyester/nylon blend.

Choose the fold style from flat fold, classic fold, hobbled fold, front slat fold, and relaxed fold (for widths over 30 inches). Both inside and outside mounting options are available but may depend on the selected fold style. These shades are offered in any height between 16 and 120 inches and any width between 12 and 115 inches.

Also available are corded, continuous-cord loop, corded top-down/bottom-up, cordless, and motorized-lift options. These Roman shades can be purchased without a valance; however, a matching fabric valance can be included for an additional charge. These are standard white-light filtering Roman shades, but liners are available to convert them to thermal sateen white-light-filtering, room-darkening, or blackout Roman shades.

Product Specs

• Material: Polyester, cotton, nylon, linen, rayon
• Lift type: Corded, continuous-cord loop, cordless, motorized
• Sample swatches? Yes

Pros

• Highly customizable; able to suit a range of home decor styles
• Multiple patterns and colors available
• Several upgrades to choose from; shoppers can meet most of their requirements

Cons

• Installation screws are fiddly; may be quite difficult for some users

Get the Blinds.com Premium blackout Roman shades at Blinds.com.

Best Bang for the Buck

Nicetown Blackout Tie-Up Vertical Curtain

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Nicetown’s Roman shades feature a simple tie-up design. Rather than pulling a cord or pushing up on the shades to raise or lower them, you can adjust them by lifting the shade to the desired height and tying the two ties on either side. Since there are no hanging cords, these are a more child- and pet-friendly option.

These reasonably priced folding shades are 54 inches long, with four widths available for windows between 34 and 46 inches wide. Note that these shades are only suitable for outside mounts since they need to hang from a rail. These blackout Roman shades are available in an extensive range of colors. They can offer up to 99 percent blackout light filtering with darker colors and down to around 85 percent blackout for the lighter color options.

Product Specs

• Material: Polyester
• Lift type: Manual ties
• Sample swatches? No

Pros

• Easy installation; great for multiple windows in the home
• Affordable compared to similar options
• Extensive range of colors to suit many room styles

Cons

• Fabric can look quite wrinkled; may need occasional steaming or ironing
• Manual pulling and tying can become tiresome compared to more automated options

Get the Nicetown blackout Roman shades at Amazon.

Best Luxury

Loom Decor Flat Roman Shade

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This flat Roman shade from Loom Decor can add a luxurious feel to any living space. The shade offers multiple customization options to match your needs and preferences. Choose from an extensive selection of colors and patterns in an abundance of fabric choices, including classic linen, classic velvet, lush linen, dapper, metallic linen, and Sunbrella canvas. A border or tape trim is also an optional add-on for select fabric choices.

Unlined, privacy, and blackout Roman shades are available to suit different light-filtering preferences. The shades come in any length between 12 inches and 126 inches and any width between 16 inches and 108 inches. Choose either an inside-mount or outside-mount option. A silver-beaded continuous-loop cord raises and lowers the shades and features a clasp to anchor it to a window for added safety.

Product Specs

• Material: Cotton, linen, polyester, velvet, Sunbrella canvas
• Lift type: Continuous-loop cord or cordless
• Sample swatches? Yes

Pros

• Made from high-quality materials; provides excellent durability
• Sophisticated designs and patterns; great as a room upgrade project
• Various light-filtering options; suitable for all rooms in the home

Cons

• Only 1 fold style; may not be to everyone’s taste

Get the Loom Decor Roman shades at Loom Decor.

Best Woven

Windowsandgarden Cordless Woven Wood Roman Shades

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These Roman shades from Windowandgarden feature woven natural materials that add a charming and inviting touch to a living space. The nine woven wood finishes include Ashbury camel, Eastfield ash, Eastfield teak, Eastfield umber, Hatteras camel, Hatteras cocoa, Sarasota camel, Sarasota cocoa, and Winthrop camel.

These cordless Roman shades are easy to raise and lower by gently pushing the shade up or pulling it down. Numerous size options for windows between 36 and 72 inches long and 29 and 72 inches wide are available. Select the correct measurement based on whether an inside or outside mount is desired; ⅜ inch will be deducted from the width for inside mounts, so choose a shade size that matches the exact dimensions of the window.

Product Specs

• Material: Wood
• Lift type: Cordless
• Sample swatches? No

Pros

• Easy installation; suitable for most window types
• Multiple colors available; easy to match existing wood decor
• Relatively affordable compared to similar options

Cons

• Limited privacy; can be peeked through when very close to the window

Get the Windowsandgarden Roman shades at Amazon.

Best Top-Down/Bottom-Up

Bali Casual Classics Roman Shades

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A top-down/bottom-up lift configuration is one of the numerous options for these Roman shades from Bali. The other four lift options include a standard corded lift, a continuous-cord loop lift, a cordless lift, and a motorized lift. Select either plain or soft fold as the fold style for the shades.

These Roman shades offer a wide array of fabric options as well: four sheer fabrics, 58 light-filtering fabrics, 13 room-darkening fabrics, and seven blackout fabrics. Choose from an assortment of fabric styles, including damask and linen. Select any height between 18 inches and 96 inches and any width between 16 inches and 192 inches for a custom-tailored look for both inside and outside mounts. Numerous trim options, including 1-inch teardrop crystal beads, 7/16-inch gimp, and ½-inch round bead crystal, can also be added to the shades.

Product Specs

• Material: Polyester
• Lift type: Corded, continuous-cord loop, cordless, motorized
• Sample swatches? Yes

Pros

• A range of fold styles is available; can suit a range of tastes
• Various light-filtering options; great for bedrooms
• Decorative trim options help satisfy a range of style preferences

Cons

• Somewhat limited range of colors and patterns

Get the Bali Roman shades at The Home Depot.

Best Blackout

Blinds.com Premier Roman Shades

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Add a blackout liner to the Premier Roman shade from Blinds.com to completely darken a room. Like blackout shades, these Roman shades can block out sunlight for sleeping or entertainment purposes. There are over 100 color and pattern options from which to choose to coordinate with just about any style of home decor. Numerous fabric options are also available, including 100 percent cotton, 100 percent polyester, 100 percent linen, polyester/cotton blends, polyester/viscose blends, polyester/rayon blends, polyester/linen blends, and a polyester/nylon/linen blend. These shades are available in any height between 22 inches and 120 inches and any width between 12 inches and 100 inches.

Select from corded, continuous-cord loop, cordless, and motorized-lift configurations for both inside- and outside-mount options. These blackout Roman shades also offer additional customization options for both hobbled-fold and plain-fold styles.

Product Specs

• Material: Cotton, polyester, linen, rayon, nylon
• Lift type: Corded, continuous-cord loop, cordless, motorized
• Sample swatches? Yes

Pros

• Simple installation with all parts included
• Multiple lift types as well as color and pattern options are available; highly customizable
• Ideal for bedrooms; great for room darkening and blocking out light for entertainment

Cons

• Wider shades can droop in the middle

Get the Blinds.com Premier blackout shades at Blinds.com.

Best Motorized

Levolor Roman Shades

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Customize Levolor’s Roman shades by adding a motor for seamless and effortless operation. Users can raise and lower the shades using either the Levolor app on a smartphone or tablet or with the six-channel remote control (available as an add-on purchase). Two power-source options include a standard battery and a satellite battery.

These Roman shades offer two fold styles: classic fold and soft fold. In addition to the motorized-lift option, cordless and corded top-down/bottom-up lift types are also available. Select any height between 18 inches and 120 inches and any width between 20 inches and 96 inches, with additional width options for nonmotorized lift types. The shades offer both inside- and outside-mounting options. Additionally, you can choose from semi-sheer, light-filtering, and room-darkening opacity. When designing these Roman shades, the manufacturer selected fade- and fray-resistant fabrics from 18 unique fabric collections, featuring an assortment of colors, prints, and textures.

Product Specs

• Material: Cotton, polyester, linen, rayon, nylon
• Lift type: Corded, continuous-cord loop, cordless, motorized
• Sample swatches? Yes

Pros

• App-capable operation; ideal for smart homes
• Multiple power options to choose from
• Lightweight and durable construction can look great for years

Cons

• Colors online may not match actual colors

Get the Levolor Roman shades at