Dining Room Shades & Blinds

A dining room gets judged on looks, and it gets used at the hours when windows misbehave. Dinner often lands just as a low western sun comes straight across the table, and once the lights are on, a lit dining room is on full view from the street. The shades on this page handle both, and they lean toward the textured and tailored styles that suit a room you set for guests.

Shades that suit a dining room

Woven wood shades are the natural fit, in bamboo, jute and ramie weaves and three fold styles. Waterfall hides the headrail behind fabric that flows from the front for a smooth, continuous face. Flat Fold hangs in a crisp flat plane when lowered, with the lift chains at the front. Hobbled holds soft cascading folds at any height. All three work with cordless, clutch loop, wand and motorized lifts.

Lining matters more in a dining room than almost anywhere. Unlined, a woven shade is roughly 50 percent see-through, lovely by day and revealing at night. A backing liner closes off the open weave: light filtering keeps the room bright, and blackout shuts the light out completely. When you add a liner, the valance gets it too, so the face stays consistent.

Light filtering roman shades give a tailored fabric face and are built on the same cassette hardware as our rollers. Light filtering roller shades are the clean, quiet option. Solar shades, in 1, 3 or 5 percent openness, are the ones to reach for when evening sun glares across the table, and the lower the number, the more light they hold back.

Woven wood sizes and configurations

Woven wood reaches 96 inches wide on every lift system. Clutch loop starts narrowest, at 11 3/4 inches, while cordless needs 19 3/4 inches and the lithium ion and AC motors need 25 1/4 inches. For a narrow window that still wants a motor, the standard DC motor starts at 12 3/4 inches. Cordless reaches 106 inches high, and clutch, wand and motorized versions reach 118.

A long run of dining room windows can take several shades on one headrail, up to 118 inches in total, with a common valance up to 96 inches. Two shades sharing a headrail can operate separately, or run from a single clutch or motor for synchronized movement and a tighter light seal. Valance returns are complimentary on request. One trade-off to know: top down bottom up woven wood cannot be combined with a movable liner, and a movable liner makes the headrail about 3 1/8 inches deep.

Measuring and installing

For a woven wood inside mount, measure the width at the top, middle and bottom and use the smallest, rounded down to the nearest 1/8 inch. Measure the height on each side and use the smaller. You need at least 1 5/8 inches of frame depth, and 2 5/8 inches for the shade to sit flush. Send exact measurements, because the factory takes the 1/4 inch deduction. The bracket itself is compact, 1 3/8 by 1 3/4 inches.

Roman and roller shades hang from a cassette bracket that needs a 6 mm drill bit and two screws on opposite sides. Two anchor types ship in the box, one for drywall and one for masonry. The valance hooks onto the bracket latch and clicks back into place, and you should check that the top and rear are both locked before letting go.

Everything is made to measure and shipped direct, with a limited lifetime warranty against defects in materials and workmanship, and motors and controls covered for five years. Keep woven wood away from heavy steam, since moisture damage is excluded from its warranty.