What's New

Four new Gallery pages have been added. These pages show four beautiful Roman shades made by readers. Each one was the first window blind made by the home sewer.

Cathy J sent a photograph of her Laundry room Roman shade .



Liane T sent a photograph of her sheer Roman shade.



Jamie S sent photographs of her appliqued Roman shade.



Joanna S sent photographs of her pieced Roman shade that was designed with a Navajo rug pattern.

The Ultimate DIY Shades

Mary Alice L sent photographs of 13 Roman shades that she made using fabric remnants and old curtains.

Increase in Shipping Charges.

We switched from FedEx shipping to United States Postal Service (USPS) for all of our packages in November of 2011. The rates are lower and your packages arrive sooner since we ship by Priority Mail. Since most of our deliveries are to residences, the FedEx residential surcharge was killing us.

The Priority Mail rates were increased at the end of January. We don't make money on shipping, but we don't like to loose a lot either. We've raised shipping rates in direct proportion to the actual post office increases. Domestic Priority mail increased 3%, International Priority mail increased 9% and International Express Mail increased 12%.

Decorative Rod shade and Romans mounted over wood blinds.

A popular variation on Roman shades is to "hang" them from a decorative rod. A custormer sent photographs and and explanation of how he and his wife accomplished this.

Lynne L sent photographs of Roman shades mounted over wood blinds.

Shades of Summer featuring three sets of stunning window blinds. An updated summary of all of Terrell's videos makes for easier viewing.

I've added three new Gallery pages showing colorful Roman shades completed this summer by three customers:

Catherine G made French door shades.

Megan C sent photographs of Outside Mount shades she made for a bedroom.

Windy M made two sets of French door shades for her breakfast nook.

I've added more content to the Video Clips page. This makes it much easier to understand what is covered in each video.

A new page describing the new safety requirements for the back lift cords of a Roman shade. Two new Gallery pages show shades mounted over the kitchen sink.

I've added a page describing the test used to verify the safety of back lift cords on a Roman shade.

Two new Gallery pages show photographs of Roman shades mounted over a kitchen sink:

Sylvia B sent photographs of several shades she made for a neighbor.

I made a simple pieced shade for a Junior League Show Home kitchen.

I have added a lot of content over the last 6 weeks. A great (new) way to keep up-to-date on the latest items is to sign-up for the Newsletter. Just click on the Lime-Green "Terrell's Newsletter" box near the top of every page in this web site.

I send out the Newsletter the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. I don't use the list for marketing or any other thing, so you won't get anything else from me. Promise. I've found that when I write a Newsletter, I might as well add that information, greatly embellished, to the web site. Some new and helpful information:

Instructions for making a Safety Compliant Classic Roman Shade

Facing the hem of your shade to save on fabric

A description of a reader's cordless shade technique

A Gallery page showing a banded silk shade

A Gallery page showing ten art shades

Safety Compliant Classic Roman Shade passes ANSI/WMCA Corded Window Safety tests

I received wonderful news on New Years Eve. A sample Classic shade with lift cord shrouds was tested for compliance with the ANSI/WMCA Corded Window Safety requirements. It passed all tests. I am now in the process of adding instructions on how to make a safety-compliant shade. The cord shroud will be in the warehouse later this week and available for purchase by the middle of January. This is the only additional item you need to make a safety-compliant shade. If you sell the shade or make one for a friend or relative, you will also need to attach Warning Tags.



We are in the final test phase of modifying the Hardware Calculator to include the Safety-Compliant shades. It should be online by early next week. There may be a little confusion with the directions until all of the information has been updated. For example, I have already begun to modify the "How to Use the Hardware Calculator" pages, even though the old calculator is resident on the site. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail or phone.