Can You Use Roman Shades as a Privacy Panel?

Construction

• Roman shades are made with fabric panels that are cut to fit an opening. Thick, weighty fabrics work best to make a roman shade. The fabric panels attach to a wooden strip at the top and have plastic or metal rings guiding several strings along the back side of the panel. The strings allow the shade to be raised and lowered in folds.

Interior

• Roman shades offer as much interior privacy as other shades and blinds when lowered in front of any window. These decorative privacy panels typically fit to the window sills when lowered, but certain designs bring the shades below the sills. The width of each roman shade panel fits to cover the window glass often inside the window frame, but the shades also can cover both sides of the window frame. Roman shades that fit to the outside edge of the side window frame and that fall slightly beneath the window sill may offer more privacy than those that fit inside the window frame.

Exterior

• Hang roman shades between the vertical support rails of a screened-in porch or an open porch as instant privacy panels. Make or have custom roman shades made to fit each section using thick, exterior-grade fabric, so your privacy is protected when the shades are closed. When the shades are open, they fold into themselves along the top porch rail. The design is unobtrusive during times when privacy in't an issue.

Room Dividers

• Create a room divider privacy panel using roman shades and wood trim. Build three frames using 2-inch square wood furring strips equal to the desired size of the room divider. Connect the frames together with hinges along the common vertical sides. Hang a custom made roman shade at the top of each frame section. Lower the shades to create the privacy screen. If the room divider is visible from both sides, hang a roman shade on both sides of the frame. Hanging a roman shade allows you to open portions of the privacy panels as needed for light or as a decorative option.