Are Roller Shades Suitable For Bedroom Windows?

For as long as roller shades have been around, more and more customers are beginning to appreciate the benefits of these versatile window shades.

There’s been one drawback about roller shades that’s worth mentioning to you. After installing the last batch of 9 custom roller shades in a single bedroom window, there’s “something” you may need to think about if you want roller shades in your bedroom windows as an inside mount (within a window frame).

The customer chose an inside-mount for her custom-made, cassette roller shades in her multiple-pane bedroom window. They were beautifully custom-made hobbled roller shades that fit her bedroom décor perfectly.

There was one flaw with the set up she disliked.

 See, the way roller shades are made, the side attachments and the mounting brackets take up extra room on each end of the shade. As a result, the fabric needs to be cut so that everything else fits within the measured mounting space. In our case, we had an inside-mount installation.

Because the shades were to go within the window frames, the gap between the shade’s material and the window frame was larger than she expected. Simply put, the light gap was just too much for what she’d feel comfortable with in a master bedroom window.

Another point worth talking about is the changing bulk of a roller shade headrail.  As you know, roller shades roll up and down.

As they do that, the bulk of the rolled up material changes.

Why does it matter?

The light gap around a roller shade’s headrail grows bigger as it’s pulled down to cover the window. Even with a tight installation, the bulk of the material on a headrail varies as it goes up and down. A solution to that problem is to order roller shades with cassette-covered headrails.

The solution to the gap problem along the sides is to measure for an outside-mount installation. Then, install your new roller shades above or on your window casings (if possible). The shades will overlap the window’s casings and eliminate the previously visible gaps.

If you think there will still be gaps around the roller shades on the sides and you’d rather have a cleaner, inside-mount installation, take a look at cellular shades with a blackout liner instead. These shades fit closer to the window frames, provide insulation, and come with a top-down, bottom-up option, too.