The creative potential of drapery and the minimalism of modern blinds rolled into one big visual treat – that’s roman shades for you. They are beautiful and low-maintenance no doubt, but what if you just want the look of roman shades without the functional aspects? That’s exactly where our faux roman shades come in!
Faux or fake roman shades look like functional roman shades that have been stacked up atop the window, but they are in fact, stationary, non-operational shades/valances that can neither be pulled up nor drawn down.
Faux roman shades are beautiful, low-maintenance, and affordable. Ours are stitched with a 2.5-inch rod pocket, so they can be mounted inside a window frame with a tension spring rod (ideally one-inch diameter) or outside window frames on a decorative pole. Clients can choose any fabric from our collection of more than 3000 fabrics, and further accessorize fake roman shades with any of our delightful trims!
INTRODUCING FAUX ROMAN SHADE VALANCES TO YOUR HOME
Faux roman shades are excellent window dressings and the topline choice for your windows when:
- You don’t need to ensure privacy or light control but need an excuse to bring in a punch of color or pattern to the window decor.
- You need fully functional window treatments but cannot fit them in your budget right away. With these affordable faux/fake roman shade valances, you can start off dressing your windows and layer them with coordinating drapes/shades whenever your finances are favorable.
- You love roman shades but simply don’t need their full-on functionality for certain windows.
- You have fully functional roman shades throughout your home and want to carry forward that look to windows that don’t need to be covered.
- You want to layer your drapes or shades/blinds with these decorative shades for aesthetic depth and extra insulation.
- With fast and easy installation ensured by the rod pockets, faux roman shades can serve as an emergency purchase for a quick transition to a new house. If you have drapery poles installed already or can get hold of a few tension rods, faux shades can be installed instantly without any professional help.
If any of these settings apply to you, you may be ready to dress your windows with our svelte faux roman shades. But before you go off shopping, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
CONSIDER LENGTH CAREFULLY: A faux roman shade doesn’t fold, so think of it as a static fixture that will block light and view permanently. Therefore, decide the length/drop of your faux roman shade thoughtfully based on how much of the window you want to cover, and the amount of natural light you want to allow in. We advise a minimum length of 10 inches to avoid the shade getting cluttered with hems and folds, and then extending further based on personal preferences. Also, if you’ve chosen a patterned fabric for your faux shade, allow ample sizing for any oversized motifs to be presented without abrupt cuts.
STAND-ALONES: Faux shades do an excellent job of dressing up a window without any layered treatments. Hence, windows with the minimum requirement for light blockage and privacy are excellent candidates for stand-alone faux roman shades. Living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, sunrooms, and porches are some of the spaces where faux shades fit right as decorative accessories. They present the opportunity to add a layer, a texture, a color, and a soft furnishing to the home decor. It’s so much better than leaving your window bare just because you don’t need light control or privacy, as they may come across as unattended windows.
BRIGHT, BOLD, BODACIOUS: Small decor accessories can easily host a bold color or pattern without risking going over the top. And faux roman shades are no exception. If you want to experiment with a daring hue or pattern, you have a great means at hand. Perhaps, you want a punch of bright lime green and know well how too much of it can be blinding. With faux roman shade valances, however, you can go for a bold splash of color, while being confident that it will be nothing but a delight to the eye.
COMBINE WITH DRAPES: For windows that need full coverage and high insulation, pair your faux shades with drapes. If you have a double curtain rod already installed, the job becomes pretty easy: install curtains on the inner pole and faux shades on the outer, in which case your faux roman shades will function like a layered valance. If you have a single drapery pole, mount the faux shade inside the window recess and it will appear like a fully functional roman shade that’s layered with drapes.
ACCESSORIZE: If your decor style favors embellishments and details, don’t let ‘faux’ be read as ‘forsaken’. Take advantage of our roman shade trims to add a decorative detail and textural variety to your faux shades. Let them have their moment and air a custom look at the first sight. Depending on your style of decor and the theme of the room in reference, you may choose from between our grosgrain or velvet ribbon trims, playful pom pom trims, or stylish tassels and gimp braids. These delicate details can go a long way to making your faux roman shade a true embellisher.
COHESIVE BLENDING: Faux/fake roman shades can be coordinated with other fabric accessories in the same space to forge cohesiveness and high-end appeal. Bed runners, table runners, or cushion covers stitched from the same fabric go a long way to say ‘It’s bespoke!’
Spiffy Spools’ faux roman shades are excellent fabric accessories for a space that’s looking for a je ne sais quoi moment without over-committing to a hue or pattern. With the pleasing aesthetics of roman shades, they bring you the looks minus the function – just what you need in certain situations and spaces. Trust us with your custom soft window treatment requirements and accessories to decorate your home exactly as you desire. And the pleasure is all ours in partnering with you.
Unlike drapes and shades that often need surgical precision in measuring, valances are relatively forgiving and sizing comes down to personal preference to some extent. That said, we recommend the following guidelines to get started.
TIPS TO MEASURE LENGTH
- The ideal drop (vertical height) for most valances would be 1/4th plus 1 inch of the total height measured from the point of installation of the valance to the window sill. For example, if the total length from the top of your valance to the window sill is 48 inches, your valance drop should ideally be (¼ of 48 + 1) inches, which is 13 inches. Using that as your default drop, you can then make your valance a few inches longer to shorter based on space/window layout, and personal preferences.
- When measuring for a valance to be layered with curtains, it’s important to ensure that your valance is not too long or short relative to drapes. In this case, consider a valance drop that is 1/6 of the curtain drop as your starting point.
- For scalloped, swag, and sheffield valances, make sure you are measuring the length of the deepest point of the drop.
- If ordering valances with jabots, you’d also need to specify the length of jabots, which again is driven largely by personal taste. Some clients opt for dramatic jabots longer than the window itself, whilst other jabots sit a few inches longer than swags. Two most common guidelines are for jabots to be either one-third of the full drapery or window length, or double the drop of swag, with room for adjustments based on how demure or dramatic you’d like your valance to be.
TIPS TO MEASURE WIDTH
- While valance width can be taken to precisely fit a window frame, we do not recommend this approach. Instead, we recommend valances that extend at least 2 inches on either side of window trim to ensure proper coverage and finish.
- If layering valance with curtains, extend your valance up to 6 inches to allow room to stack curtains on the sides. This can be further adjusted based on size of window as well as fullness of drapes.
- If you’ve picked any of these pole mounted valance styles – rod pockets, tab tops or grommet tops – do factor in extra valance width required to gather these valances into rich pleats. While the level of fullness you’d like is a personal choice, we recommend fullness of 1.5x-2x for most valances. This means that if your pole is 36 inches long, for example, you’d ideally order a valance of width 48 – 72 inches to get rich gather.
SPIFFY BONUS TIPS
- When measuring valances intended to be mounted on top of another under-treatment like curtains or roman shades, leave a minimum 2 inches space between the drapery hardware and the installation point of the valance. This is to ensure free and easy operability of the layered window treatments.
- If you’d like to specify fraction measurements (.25, .50 or .75 inches) for your valances from Spiffy Spools, please note under the Special Instructions section at time of check out and tailors will pick up from there.
Curtains, Roman Shades, Valances, Dining & Bed Linen: Window treatments and dining/bed linen orders are targeted for dispatch within three weeks, though we are able to ship out many orders ahead of schedule. We use DHL or FedEx with typical transit time of 3-7 days. Majority of our clients receive their packages within three weeks from date of order, but if our pipeline happens to be busy – especially during holiday season – we do ask for your patience and aim for delivery in four weeks.
*Some drapes and roman shades with trims *may* take up to six weeks as our trims are sourced from Turkey & London, thereby adding to processing timeline in some instances.
Swatches & Fabrics by Yard: Fabric samples and fabric bought by yard are dispatched within 1-2 days and typically delivered within 7 days of order.
Cushion Covers, Tiebacks, Dining Napkins & Placemats: We do NOT sell pillow covers, tie backs, dining napkins or placemats standalone. These accessories are sold and dispatched only as part of window treatment orders. Please see above for applicable timelines accordingly.
If there are any delays due to non-availability of fabric, or holds by customs officials for inspection, we will write to you as soon as possible.
OF NOTE
- All import duties and taxes are included in our prices for shipments to USA. For shipments to other countries including Canada, United Kingdom and other European countries, our prices do *not* include import duties and taxes that individual countries may impose. Buyers from these countries are solely responsible for paying any import charges once the shipment reaches their country.
- We cannot deliver to PO Box numbers so please provide non-PO delivery address at checkout.
- All our products require a signature for proof of delivery. After three delivery attempts, if no one is available to sign for delivery or the package is not collected from the depot, the shipment is returned to sender. We do NOT bear cost of return/refund in this scenario, and therefore request our clients to accept within the carrier’s timeframe.
For detailed information on returns & cancellations, please click HERE.
In summary:
- Since each article at Spiffy Spools is cut and tailored to our customers’ exact specifications, by default, we do not accept any returns.
- From start to finish, every single product is manually handled from picking and cutting of fabric to sewing, ironing, folding and wrapping. In light of this rather intense human process, it’s not uncommon for end products to sometimes show minor signs of handling such as light tailor chalk marks, a rare stray thread, or specks of smudge from fabric production run. These minor flaws are unfortunately unavoidable, and we therefore do not accept requests for replacements or returns on these bases under any circumstances.
- We follow standard industry guidelines for constructing custom window treatments, which include articles sewn with joining hems to achieve custom widths. Since joins are necessary to achieve certain sizes, we do not offer any compensation, return or replacement whatsoever on account of necessary joining hems.
- We also recommend ordering a fabric sample before placing an order as computer monitors/device screens vary in colour and shade representation and we do not accept returns based on feedback on colour variance or personal aesthetic preferences.
- Under rare circumstances where we may have made a mistake, we do accept returns on a case-by-case basis only as long as any issues/faults are first communicated within five business days of receipt of merchandise.
- Cancellation of orders will result in a 100% refund only if work has not started on the products. Please note, in most cases, work starts on orders within 2-3 hours of order being placed. After that only the value of the order less costs incurred up to that point can be refunded. Since made-to-measure products are unlikely to be able to be resold, we do not offer refunds for cancellations after order is ready.
