Relaxed Roman Shades

Relaxed Roman shades are a good treatment for a window where you need privacy or to control light. They are less tailored looking than a flat or pleated roman , and less fussy than Balloon or Butterfly shades. They are very easy to raise and lower with the use of a cord lock, though they sometimes require a bit of "dressing" at first just until the fabric is trained. They are most often done on a single window but the shade above is done as a triple to move as one. It uses four rows of rings and cords. It will require perhaps a little more "fidgeting" after raising and lowering than a single ..but it is a good solution when you need the option of privacy and don't want to have a very fussy treatment.


Here's an example of two relaxed romans side by side instead of making one large one. They can be raised and lowered individually. The single Relaxed Roman uses just two rows of rings and cords. The cords are run up the length of the shade, through screw eyes and into a cord lock. If you prefer not to use a cord lock then a cord cleat is necessary to tie off the cords at the height desired.

This cozy window seat required three shades, with the two on either side slightly narrower than than the center.

This shade has two rows of trim to add a little punch.

Each shade has a batten sewn into the bottom row of rings to keep the fabric from bowing into the center. This spaces the bottom to the stay at the same width as the top. It is most often a piece of rodding or dowel , cut to the width of the shade. Fabric tubing is a real time saver for this because otherwise a seperate fabric sleeve would have to be made to cover the batten.
In this case the three individual relaxed romans are just used to break up what would be a wide expanse of window under the silk panels.

A sheer relaxed roman is just enough to add a sense of privacy , when drawn , to a walk-in closet.

The fringe on this shade doesn't keep it from being masculine.

A lovely linen print...

This relaxed roman in an embroidered fabric is bordered in a lighter linen to match the thread used in the embroidery.

This relaxed roman is done just as a valance to bring the fabric from a bedroom into the walk-in closet.