Roman window shades in Sunnyvale, CA may be a window covering that you’ve heard about and would like to consider using for some of the windows in your home, but you don’t know much about them. Here’s a great summary that should help you get familiar with them.
Roman window shades, as you might have guessed, originated in Rome. Roman window shades date back to the heyday of the Roman Empire, when they were used as a way to provide shade for Rome’s elite class when they attended events in the city’s public stadiums and amphitheaters.
The Mediterranean sun is incredibly hot during the late spring, summer, and early fall, so Rome’s most wealthy citizens were protected from its oppressive heat and glare when they were able to sit under huge, elaborate awnings made out of cloth. These awnings were opened and closed with a system of pulleys and ropes. This design feature has been preserved in modern Roman window shades.
Of all the types of window shades on the market, Roman window shades are the hardest to manufacture. Whereas many window shades can be mass produced using technology, Roman shades require human effort to ensure that they work the way they are supposed to. If a Roman window shade has an imperfection during the manufacturing process, the shade has to be scrapped and the manufacturing process started over with a new cloth.
Roman window shades will require that you work with them initially to make sure they fold in the right places when they are first installed. However, over time the thick fabric will begin to naturally fall into place correctly as it adjusts to being folded and unfolded.
Roman window shades work well being mounting on the inside or the outside of your window frames. If you want the trim of your window frame to accent the Roman window shades, then you’ll want the window shades mounted on the inside of the frame. However, you can make a small window look bigger by having the Roman window shade mounted on the outside of the window frame.
Roman window shades have a variety of features. Because they are made out of fabric, the choices of colors and textures Roman window shades come in is almost unlimited. Roman window shades are available with top down/bottom up, room-darkening, cordless, and pleated options.
If you want pleated Roman window shades, you have several different types of pleats you can choose.
One Roman window shade pleat style is flat. A flat pleat Roman window shade is nice if you don’t want to spend a lot of time styling or adjusting of the fabric so that it folds properly in a neat stack at the bottom of the window shade.
Another Roman window shade pleat style is the butterfly (also known as tulip, swag tail, or Venice) pleat. A Roman window shade with a butterfly pleat has two gathered seams at the top of the shade. These will make the window shade gather at the bottom with a slightly longer edge on the right and the left of the window shade with a rounded middle part when it is opened.
A final Roman window shade pleat style is a relaxed pleat. Relaxed Roman window shades have no rigid supports built into the shades, so the fabric sags gently into folds when the window shade is raised, which creates a slight curve at the bottom of the shade.
If you’d like to learn more about Roman window shades in Sunnyvale, CA, you can speak with our knowledgeable team at Windows & Beyond, Inc.