How to choose window shades

Most of the choice comes down to four things: how much light control you want, how much privacy, how the treatment should look in the room, and the conditions at the window, like moisture or hard afternoon sun. Here is what each type does well.

Roller shades

A single flat panel of fabric that rolls up onto a tube. The simplest mechanism, the widest fabric range, and the cleanest look, from sheer screens that keep the view to blackout fabrics that take a room dark. The default for most windows. Roller shades.

Roman shades

Fabric that draws up into soft horizontal folds rather than rolling flat. It reads as a soft furnishing, closer to drapery than to a shade, and suits rooms where the window should feel tailored. Roman shades.

Cellular shades

Honeycomb-shaped cells trap a layer of air across the glass, so these insulate better than any other shade and soften sound. The right choice for a cold or noisy window, or where energy matters. Cellular shades.

Woven wood shades

Natural reeds, grasses and bamboo woven into a shade, for texture and warmth that a flat fabric cannot give. They filter light with a natural weave and add a liner where more privacy or darkness is wanted. Woven wood shades.

Horizontal blinds

Tilting slats, in real wood or faux wood, that control light by angle rather than by height. Tilt them and you change the light and the sight lines without raising the blind at all. Faux wood suits kitchens, bathrooms and hard sun; real wood is lighter and takes stain. Horizontal blinds.

Shutters

Louvered panels mounted into the window, the most built-in and permanent of the options. They read as joinery, hold their value, and give precise light control on the tilt. Shutters.

Drapery

Fabric panels on a rod. Drapery does what a shade cannot: it softens a hard opening, absorbs sound, and reads as furnishing. It is most often specified alongside a shade rather than instead of one, so the shade does the daytime light control and the drapery does the evening presence. Drapery.

Deciding

If light control is the priority, compare fabrics on our light control and privacy guide. If the window takes moisture or hard sun, lean to faux wood or a performance fabric. If the room should feel soft, roman shades or drapery. If it should feel architectural, shutters. Any of them can be motorized: see motorization.

The surest way to decide is to hold the material. Order a sample in the fabric and finish you are considering.