We have Bamboo Woven Shades in several of our rooms. I LOVE the warmth and texture they add. I have been using them for over 10 years and still love them. They aren’t going anywhere. And it is one of my most asked questions- “Where are your bamboo shades from in your front room?” or “Where are your roman shades from in your kitchen?” Someone was just asking me about getting new window coverings to replace their wood blinds. She was going to go with wood shutters. I advised her against it for several reasons. Don’t get me wrong, I know wood shutters are really nice and expensive, but that doesn’t always mean they are the best. If you want to cozy-up your home and add some texture do bamboo shades. If you don’t get a lot of light in your home going with something that you can roll up off of the window to let light in will be huge to the feeling in your space.
Adding bamboo shades or fabric roman shades to your windows was actually one of may Top Tips to Cozy up your Home!
Today I am sharing a round-up of sources for Bamboo Woven Shades and Fabric Roman Shades.
Bamboo Woven Wood Shades-
I did the above bamboo shades for THIS bedroom makeover for a client. They are cordless and super affordable. They do not have lining. But they do filter the light well. If you want complete privacy or have a window in a bedroom that is seen from the street you would want to do lining or a a roller shade behind if you have the room. (You can find them HERE on Overstock and HERE at Walmart)
We used the same cordless bamboo shades in THIS family room makeover. (You can find them HERE on Overstock and HERE at Walmart)
So you can see why I wanted to add them bamboo shades to our girls bedroom. Kevin even said how much the bamboo shades complete the room! They really do. And they do block out the light for when the girls want to sleep-in. Makes it super cozy! (You can find them HERE on Overstock and HERE at Walmart)
They pull up and down with such ease and no stressing about cords and kids playing in them.
We have a couple older window frames. So we had to ad a 1×2 inside the window frame to attach the brackets too. I always like to do inside-mount with my roman shades and bamboo shades. See below! And also remember to do the brackets under the top of the window frame rather than the sides of the frame, where you would see it.
I ended up adding the cordless bamboo shades to all the rooms on our upstairs level. So happy we did! The above room is our family room and guest room, so it is nice to be able to close the shades when it turns into a guest room. (You can find them HERE on Overstock and HERE at Walmart)
We added them to our master bedroom too!
THESE are the same cordless shades but in the darker version (from THIS teenage boys room)
We had these bamboo shades when we moved into our home. I love them. Even though they have no lining, not every room needs the lining. I like them that way so the light can filter in the room. Notice how they are inside-mount, fit exactly inside our molding. And all of the shades I am sharing below are all inside-mount. You can find similar bamboo shades HERE.
Both our bathrooms have THESE Bamboo Woven Wood Shades and love the texture they add to a bathroom. Again they hav no lining. But the bottom half of our windows are frosted so they shades don’t need lining for privacy. (THESE are really similar).
A way you can purchase inexpensive Bamboo Woven Wood Shades but still want lining you could add THESE Roller Shades behind your Bamboo Woven Shades. This does not always work if your window seal isn’t very deep. I guess you could mount your bamboo woven shades outside your window seal, but I would try to do inside mount bamboo shades when you can. It looks more custom.
Or you can add black-out lining yourself– I did a nursery makeover for my sister-in-law and we added THESE Bamboo Woven Shades with a light filtering lining. I thought they would be good enough for the nursery to darken the room. Wrong. We made-over the nursery in December, when it would get dark at 5:00 rather then in the summer when it gets dark at 9:00. December it was fine, but come Spring the bedroom is blasted with sun! It is also a west facing room. The light filtering lining would maybe be fine on a room that faces east. I came up with a quick, $20 solution to darken the room.
Below is what the bamboo shades looked like with the “light filtering lining”-
Below shows what the bamboo roman shades look like with the new added “black-out lining”-
Below shows the Bamboo Roman Shades pulled up with the black-out lining. The shades DID NOT pull up the same as they did before. Notice how they bunch up rather than pull up. But they were a quick, inexpensive solution. I bought the black-out fabric at a local fabric store. I attached the fabric with a hot glue gun.
Bamboo or Woven Wood Blinds Sources-
*** Great price for black-out lined and custom! Budget Shades- Home Depot – Bamboo/ Black-Out/ Customizable colors, sizes and lining – starting at $87
Home Decorators Collection- Home Depot – Bamboo / Light Filtering – starting at $27
Levlour – Lowes – Bamboo/ Light Filtering / Customizable sizes that can be cut to fit exactly inside your window- starting at $21 (what is in the nursery)
Pottery Barn– Bamboo/ Black- Out / Huge variety of ready-made sizes- starting at $180
Fabric Roman Shades-
I recently did THESE Roman Shades. They are super affordable, cordless and room darkening. They are like a canvas material, so be aware that they are not a cotton. But I have to say for the price we were super impressed! And they come in half sizes. (See this bedroom HERE).
We have custom fabric roman shades in our kitchen. I LOVE fabric roman shades. I wrote a complete blog post about our kitchen Roman Shades HERE. We put in ready-made fabric roman shades right when we moved into our home. They were perfect for what we needed at the time. I bought them on sale and knew they wouldn’t be forever because I wanted inside-mount roman shades. Custom roman shades are about double the price of ready-made so that is something to factor in. If you can find some ready-made that fit inside your molding that is a huge win!! Also if you don’t have nice molding it is totally ok to do outside mount roman shades.
Below is what THESE ready-made roman shades looked like. I did add some fabric to the bottom to add some length and interest. I didn’t even sew it on. I just ironed the fabric really well and then hot glued the fabric to the bottom. I can sew, just decided to do this project quickly and to show anyone can do it! Notice how the shade is mounted on the molding, it works but doesn’t show off the nice molding.
Fabric Roman Shade Sources-
Arlo Blinds– Fabric/ Black Out/ Roman Shades ready-made / Starting at $43
Elegant Home– Fabric/ Room Darkening/ Roman Shades ready-made / Starting at $49
Real Simple– Fabric/ Room Darkening /Roman Shades ready-made / Starting at $79
Pottery Barn – Fabric / Black Out / Roman Shades ready-made color options/ Starting at $156
Barn and Willow– Fabric/ Black out or Room Darkening/ Roman Shades custom size and colors / Starting at $200 (this is what we have)
How to measure for your Inside Mount Roman Shades and Outside Mount-
I hope that was helpful and gave you some insight into Roman Shades and all the options. Leave a questions below if I missed something!
Jodi cary says
Question: it looks like you always hang your bamboo shades with the “valence” overhang thingy facing the window, not facing out. Is that a flexible thing, i.e., you can hang them either way? Thanks.
[email protected] says
It is actually facing the room- it hides all the cords etc. so really just one way to hang it. You can buy them without the valance, just depends on where you get them from.
Cait says
Great post! Although it gives a slightly different look because they roll instead of gather, I bought these bamboo wine shades from Ikea because they are so affordable!! I used them on my Bay windows and dressed them with warm white linen curtains. To get the look for less since I had huge windows to work with!! https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40353702/
[email protected] says
oh yes! That is a great idea!! Thank you for sharing!!
Sarah says
How do they do in the bathroom? I’m worried about them getting moldy. Is one type better for that setting? Thanks!
[email protected] says
We have a fan in the light. But they are a type of wood so they actually do well! Mine don’t have a lining for privacy but we have frosted glass on the bottom part of the window.
Aileen says
Thanks so much for sharing! I love the way bamboo shades look from the inside of the house but the street view is less than glamorous! Also, in case you want the shades in the nursery to pull up normally, you need to pull the string out from the top and punch holes in the fabric for the metal rings to go through the blackout liner and then put it all back together again! It is kind of a bear to do, but worth it IMHO.
[email protected] says
Thanks! I personally like the look from the street! But I think it depends on each home.
And good tip on the strings in the back!
Emily says
Great post! I’ve always loved bamboo and Roman shades!
[email protected] says
Thanks Emily!
Kylee Maloney says
I love the look of bamboo blinds, but not the price, until I found these!! I just wanted to share because they are very reasonably priced & give the same warmth & texture. I absolutely love them & will be switching out all of my old blinds to these.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Decorators-Collection-Natural-Multi-Weave-Bamboo-Roman-Shade-29-in-W-x-72-in-L-Actual-Size-28-5-in-W-x-72-in-L-0258129/204595742
Paola says
HI, how do you add length to a Roman shade? My patio door window is 84 long and I can’t find anything longer than 72 and I don’t really wanna spend too much in custom made
Thanks!
[email protected] says
Oh really?? That is odd! You could add fabric to the bottom?? ORI guess might need to be custom…
Pamela says
Thank you so much for this post! I have Pottery Barn roman shades throughout my house but they didn’t come in a larger width for my double window at my breakfast nook. I finally went with another brand from this post. Crossing my fingers I like them just as much because the Potter Barns are 5 stars!
[email protected] says
oh yes, I hope you do too! Let me know!!
Emily says
Hi, Brooke!
Great post! I want to hang bamboo blinds on a window in my stairwell— the window is really high and I’m concerned about being able to reach the cord to pull the shade. Have you ever used these on a window that is located high? Any tips? I guess I could get a cute stool lol!
Tiffany Best says
I have the same dilemma. We have high windows and I’d love to do cordless but don’t think I’ll be able to push the shade up all the way. Motorized shades are an option… they just seem to be very pricey.
[email protected] says
yes, unfortunately you would want motorized. Maybe a grabber tool would work??
Judy says
Hi Brooke, thank you for all the information. I really like the look of bamboo shades and have wanted to try them. This post is really helpful.
Devon says
This is good info but I was hoping there’d be a bit more about alternatives to inside mount. I’m struggling right now to make a decision on shades for my living room… my windows are flush with the wall – no real sill. I much prefer the look of inside mount, so I don’t know what to do! Any ideas??
[email protected] says
Why can’t you do inside mount? I would still do it….
Becky says
I’m about to pull the trigger and purchase this for our kitchen window. However it’s only 36 inches high. And these come in 60 or 72 length. How dumb will that look? Can I cut them shorter? Ah I’m so nervous.
Jessica says
Love these! Do you screw the 1×2 piece of wood directly into the top inside of the actual window? We have a very shallow window. Thanks!
[email protected] says
yes! We did this because there was no where to attach the bracket to on a couple older windows!
Gloria says
Do you have to do anything special to hang from the top rather than the side?
[email protected] says
no, nothing special if you have wood for the brackets to attach to!
Esther Ellie says
Brooke – are the shades in your upstairs whitewashed or the tan color?
Lara says
Love all of these blinds but the windows in my 111 year old house are 79 inches long! I had custom made blinds done about 16 years ago and it was so expensive. I want new but just don’t know how I’ll ever afford. Could not find any options that are affordable and come in that length. Any other suggestions?
Debbie says
As always, another post with lots of useful information. Thank you. I do hope you still have the Friday Favorites feature. I do look forward to them.
Laura Leonard says
I just got bamboo shades for my livingroom. I’ve wanted them for years! The front window faces the street and I can’t help but notice all the strings on the outside when I’m walking up to my door! We did opt for the blackout option because the afternoon sun beats into our livingroom. I notice the lining you added to the nursery post….. did the mess up the way the blinds open? We’re got cordless. I’m not sure what to do.. . On the one hand it’s what I’ve wanted forever and I LOVE the look inside, in the other, it just looks messy from outside. Help!!
[email protected] says
I wouldn’t add the black-out fabric yourself- it was just kind of a solution to a bedroom that doesn’t get seen from the outside too much.
I bet that most of the time you have them pulled up so you won’t even notice the cords?
We have cordless on the windows upstairs and I LOVE them. I want to change the ones downstairs to that!
amy says
Do you know of any bamboo or Roman shades that also open from the top? Not sure if that exists. We have another type of shade in one of our bathrooms that does that, and it is so nice to get the daylight from the top of the window while we need the privacy of the bottom covering.
[email protected] says
yes they exists! Check select blings I think our hunter Douglas!