From ordering to installing, everything went smoothly. The only issue is the shade material tends to crimp at the top causeing the rolled up shade to be hinky unless I position it correctly.

I bought these shades because they were needed to block sunlight out of a bedroom and master bathroom from the morning sun. I had one thing that I was looking for in window treatments that may not fit most peoples normal criteria when shopping for blinds. I had a transom window over a double hung. They were split with 5” trim board so I wanted the blind to cover the entire window yet also pull the blinds up all the way to expose the transom when the blinds were up. I had another snafu to contend with as both windows in bedroom and bath were trimmed off into a slanted vaulted ceiling on one side. So outside mounting way up high above the trim was not an option. I was able to install brackets just to the top of the window trim but not above it. I have 38” wide windows and was able to fit in a 36”x64” shade mounted right at the top of the trim board. I tested the distance from the top of the trim with another roman shade I had with soft material and it cleared the transom perfectly when pulled all the way up. So I ordered the blackout shades in white in a flat style thinking that it would fold up flatter then the other options, i.e. hobbled, classic. The material in the blackout shades is very ridged and hard. It almost has a cardboard stiff feel. So ridged that when they pack the shade each baffle is filled with a strip of bubble wrap so it does not crimp the baffle. It makes it look a bit industrial and not quite as soft as you would want in a bedroom. So when the blind is pulled all the way up it looks almost hobbled in nature and the fold does not lay flat, they bulge out. When down they look pretty good. They let a little light in on the sides as it is an outside mount but I think they would be perfect blackouts if mounted inside. That was not an option for me. I agree with other reviews that the pull cord kind of crimps the top part of the curtain and gaps it. It is the design of the ridged valance that causes it to gap on the cord I think. My windows are too high up to reach it to fix it every time. I also have one cutain that when you let it all the way down one side won’t fall on its own. You can see the cord up high not retracting out. I have to pull on it to extend it all the way down manually with my hand. I think for a blackout shade it does its job but be aware that the material is ridged and when they are all the way up they hang down 13” from the top of the mounting point or valance top. For me, it covers about half of my transom, which I didn’t want to do. Because each baffle hobbles out when up they bulge out in a rounded fashion especially on the side view. It is not very attractive. I am sure if I ordered a material that was not blackout that it would not have this problem as I have some other regular Romans that do not do this. I am thinking that I could of lived with some light in my rooms for a ascetically pleasing window treatment that would of work better for me. I think that Select Blinds should show photos of their curtains when pulled all the way up. All photos only show them down or half way. It does not help when trying to shop for treatments. If I saw a photo of these prior I would of not ordered them for my needs. Select Blinds should also allow consumers to post photos on the reviews to help in future purchases. In all fairness I never called Select blinds to ask prior to ordering what they would look like when up or how far down the curtains hung down when all the way up. It really did not occur to me how ridged the material would be and it never crossed my mind since I tried it with the ones I had and it looked fine. I also never ordered a sample of the material and that may have prevented me from ordering them if I had seen how stiff they were. It would be helpful for the specifications to include that the material is stiffer if it is a blackout shade and also the specs of the blind from top of valance when drawn all the way up. I realize the longer the shade that lower it hangs but some sort of an estimate of height when retracted up giving ballparks within each style, i.e. hobbled, flat or classic would prove useful.

The blind was perfect, excellent quality.

This product was easy to order and hang. The custom look makes our guest room look very elegant and put together.