So which of these shades will actually make the room dark?
It is the only question worth asking about blackout roman shades, and the listings answer it with a percentage. Three merchants, seven listings, and a set of numbers that run from 60% to 100%. The trouble is that two shades carrying the same percentage can give you two different rooms, and the gap between them opens above the fabric, in a part of the shade nobody photographs. Before any of those numbers mean anything, the window has to have a say.
The window decides before the fabric does
Two Pages publishes two minimum depths for its Liz roman shade on a single product page. An inside mount needs 2 1/2 inches of reveal if you operate it by hand, and 4 inches if you tick the motorised box. Same fabric, same shade, same merchant, one and a half inches apart.
Fold styles
Catalogue photo from Two Pages, retrieved 2026-09-11.
That inch and a half is not fabric. It is the motor and its battery sitting in a deeper head. The consequence is practical and slightly brutal: the shade you chose can fit your window in one configuration and be unbuyable in another, on a decision you made for convenience rather than for light. That is what motorising quietly costs the reveal. Two Pages prints the same split on its Patti deco fold, where the wooden headrail goes from 1 1/2 inches deep by hand to 3 1/2 inches motorised. Neutral Curtains publishes 2 1/2 inches for its Annie shade and publishes it only for the motorised version, so the manual figure is simply absent. Half Price Drapes asks 2 3/4 inches for its French linen roman shade.
Minimum window depth for an inside mount
Half Price Drapes
2 3/4 in
Crisp White French Linen Roman Shade
Two Pages
2 1/2 in
Liz Linen Roman Shade Cordless
Two Pages
2 3/8 in
Patti Linen Deco Fold Roman Shade Cordless
Measure the reveal before choosing a fabric. A shallow frame rules options out faster than a budget does.
Taken from the official Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages product pages on 2026-09-11. We measure nothing ourselves, so every percentage here is the figure the brand prints.
Reveals are rarely square. Measure at the shallowest of the four corners, because that is the corner the headrail has to clear, and write the number down before you look at a single swatch. A shallow reveal removes options faster than a budget does, and it removes them before opacity has been discussed at all.
Worth the twenty minutes
Measure the reveal depth before you choose the lift
Put a tape into the reveal at its shallowest point, front face to glass, and write that number down before you pick cordless, corded or motorised.
On a shade the fabric asks for almost no depth and the mechanism asks for all of it. A motor and its battery sit in a deeper head than a hand-operated one, so the same shade in the same fabric can fit one window and not the other purely on the lift you ticked. Reveals are also rarely square: measure at the shallowest of the four corners, because that is the one the rail has to clear. If the number is too small, the answer is an outside mount on the wall, not a thinner mechanism.
Method, not merchandise. No part of this changes with where you bought the curtain.
The head of the shade is the part that leaks
A roman shade is a rectangle of fabric that stops where the mechanism starts. The mechanism has to stand clear of the wall, because the fabric needs somewhere to gather as it rises. That standoff is an open slot running the full width of the shade, sitting at eye height above your window.
Neutral Curtains documents it on its own product pages, in an Attention box: for 100% blackout on an outside mount, the brand says to choose the front valance, because a back valance can let light in from the sides, the headrail depth being around 2 inches. Two Pages gives its own rail dimensions rather than a warning: 2 3/4 inches high by 1 3/4 inches deep on the Liz and Isabella in manual form.
Light entering a slot at that height does not land on your floor. It hits the ceiling and spreads, which is why a room can fail a darkness test with a cloth that passes one. Nothing you do to the cloth closes that slot. A valance across the face of the rail closes it. So does mounting the shade high on the wall instead of inside the reveal, because the fabric then covers the wall the rail is fixed to.
A measure worth keeping
close the head first
A shade leaks at its head before it leaks through its cloth
Budget for the band at the top of the shade: the rail, the brackets that carry it, and the gap between the rail and the wall. Close that band before you pay for a denser cloth.
A roman shade is a rectangle of fabric that stops where the mechanism starts, and the mechanism has to stand off the wall far enough to let the fabric roll up behind it. That standoff is an open slot running the full width of the shade, sitting at eye height above the window. Daylight entering there lands on the ceiling and lights the whole room, which is why a room can fail a darkness test with a cloth that passes it. A valance across the front of the rail, or a shade mounted high on the wall rather than inside the reveal, closes the slot. A heavier cloth behind an open head changes nothing at all.
Geometry and long-standing trade practice, not a brand claim. Check it with a tape measure, not with us.
Hold on to the detail that makes this section worth reading twice. Neutral Curtains is the brand that advertises 100% on the shade itself, and it is the brand that prints the leak warning. Both statements sit on the same screen, and neither is dishonest. They are describing two different things.
Blackout roman shades rarely publish an opacity for the shade itself
Go looking for an opacity figure on a roman shade listing and mostly you will not find one. The three words that organise this category, blackout, room darkening and light filtering, sit on an opacity ladder nobody regulates.
Two Pages publishes none for the face fabric of the Liz, the Jawara, the Patti or the Isabella. The number lives one step further down the configurator, in an option group called Lining Type, and it is billed as an extra. Neutral Curtains publishes none on the Lily plain fold listing. Half Price Drapes writes that opacity depends on the lining chosen, which is accurate and tells you nothing until you have chosen.
The same product is filed under shades by one merchant and under shades and blinds by another, and plenty of shoppers call it blackout roman curtains or blackout roman blinds. None of the three words changes what the listing publishes.
Opacity, as each brand states it
Two Pages says
not stated for the shade itself: the lining chosen sets it, and this listing sells four, rated unlined, 60%, 75% and 100%
Two Pages says
not stated for the shade itself, and the darkest lining sold on this listing is rated 75%: no blackout option is offered here
Two Pages says
not stated for the shade itself: the four linings are rated unlined, 60%, 75% and 100%, and on this listing the 75% one costs more than the 100% one
Neutral Curtains says
100%, stated for the shade itself rather than for a lining
Neutral Curtains says
not stated on this listing; the brand's liner guide rates its 350 gsm woven lining at 80% and files it under room darkening, while the product page calls the same lining blackout and rates it at 90%
Half Price Drapes says
depends on the lining chosen; the brand rates its blackout lining at up to 95% of light obstructed, when the treatment is installed properly
Half Price Drapes says
the brand states the privacy lining blocks approximately 60-65% of incoming light, and that darker colourways perform toward the higher end of that range
These are manufacturer claims, quoted as published. They are not measurements taken by this site, and the vocabulary is unregulated.
Taken from the official Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages product pages on 2026-09-11. We measure nothing ourselves, so every percentage here is the figure the brand prints.
There is one exception in this set. Neutral Curtains states Shading: 100% for its Annie roman shade, and states it for the shade itself: 100% polyester, 250 gsm, thirteen colourways. The figure is a property of the cloth, so it survives the order. On the other six listings there is no state of the product that a percentage describes until a line item has been ticked. The bare shade does not have an opacity. It has a choice of opacity, and the choice costs money.
Listed at $55.99
Listed at $35.99
Catalogue photos from Neutral Curtains, retrieved 2026-09-11. One colourway per product, so what changes between these two frames is the thing being compared, not the colour.
That distinction decides what you are looking at in the photograph. On the Annie, the picture shows you the surface that does the blocking. On the other six, the picture shows you the face fabric and the blocking happens behind it, in a layer the photograph does not include.
Where this figure comes from
Neutral Curtains · Annie Roman Blackout Shades
Listed from $55.99
What that covers: single floor price across 13 colourways. Made-to-measure: size, lining, valance and motorisation are billed on top, as the listing states with 'Total Price = Base Price + Add-ons'.
Build your size at Neutral CurtainsAffiliate link, disclosed: Fold & Light may earn on it, never as a surcharge to you, and it changes nothing about what Neutral Curtains asks. The figure is dated 2026-09-11 and only the merchant page is current. The image above comes from the Neutral Curtains listing, retrieved 2026-09-11.
One lining, four numbers
Here is where the vocabulary comes apart, and it is not because anybody is lying. It comes apart along the same seam as the rest of how a roman shade is sold.
Two Pages sells, in its roman shade configurator, a lining described as Blackout, Shading Rate 100%, 150 gsm microfiber 2-pass coated grayish white, for 25 dollars on top of the shade. Neutral Curtains publishes a liner reference guide listing ten linings, and one of them is a Blackout Standard, 150 gsm, microfiber coated, greyish white. Same weight, same fibre, same coating, same colour name. Two merchants describing one lining.
Neutral’s own guide gives that lining two different figures. The comparison table at the top of the page rates it at 100%. The detail card further down the same page rates it at 96-100%.
What each brand calls it
Two Pages
- Liz Linen Roman Shade Cordless
calls it: shade
90% polyester, 10% linen blend · weight not published · listed floor price, identical on all 38 colourways, with no crossed-out reference price. Made-to-measure: size, lift, lining and motorisation are billed through the configurator. - Isabella Roman Shade Cordless
calls it: shade
its own URL saysisabella-polyester-cotton-blend-roman-shade-cordless: cotton, polyester appears in the address and not in the title
76% polyester, 24% cotton · weight not published · lowest of two floor prices carried by the same listing (79.99 and 119.99 across 36 colourways). Made-to-measure: size, lift, lining and motorisation are billed through the configurator. - Patti Linen Deco Fold Roman Shade Cordless
calls it: shade
100% Belgian Linen · 248 gsm · listed price (9 colourways, all at 109.99, with no crossed-out reference price). Made-to-measure shade: size, lift, motorisation and Lining Type are billed through the configurator.
Neutral Curtains
- Annie Roman Blackout Shades
calls it: shade
100% polyester · 250 gsm · single floor price across 13 colourways. Made-to-measure: size, lining, valance and motorisation are billed on top, as the listing states with 'Total Price = Base Price + Add-ons'. - Lily Linen Roman Shades & Blinds | Plain Fold
calls it: blind + shade
80% polyester, 20% linen · 350 gsm · base price of the plain fold style only, with add-ons excluded
Half Price Drapes
- Crisp White French Linen Roman Shade
calls it: shade
100% Linen · weight not published · figure shown before the size calculation; the page carries a Price Calculator (Regular Price / Final Price) that recomputes on width x length. Sold per shade. - Light Ochre Solid Cotton Blackout Tie-Up Window Shade
calls it: shade
100% Cotton (solid cotton twill), off-white lining · weight not published · one ready-made size, 46 in wide by 63 in long, sold per shade
One listing carries more than one category word in a single title.
One page names its own URL with a material the title leaves out.
Taken from the official Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages product pages on 2026-09-11. We measure nothing ourselves, so every percentage here is the figure the brand prints.
The 350 gsm lining is where it gets genuinely confusing. In Neutral’s guide it is filed under the function Room Darkening, a cotton and polyester triple layer rated at 80%. On the Lily product page, the same 350 gsm cotton and polyester lining appears under the heading Blackout Lining with five stars, rated at 90% physical light blockage, and the page adds that it achieves this by weaving rather than by chemical coating. One lining, one brand, two functions, two numbers.
Listed at $59.99
Two Pages states: not stated for the shade itself: the lining chosen sets it, and this listing sells four, rated unlined, 60%…
Catalogue photos from Two Pages, retrieved 2026-09-11. One colourway per product, so what changes between these two frames is the thing being compared, not the colour.
The weaving detail is the useful part, because the two linings do different work in a room. A coated lining stops light with a surface barrier, and it presents a greyish face to the street. A 350 gsm woven lining stops it with thickness, weighs considerably more on the rail, and reads from outside as cloth. Moving up a rung is therefore not a small increase in darkness. It changes what your window shows the pavement, and it changes what the headrail has to carry.
Where this figure comes from
Two Pages · Liz Linen Roman Shade Cordless
Listed from $59.99
What that covers: listed floor price, identical on all 38 colourways, no compare_at. Made-to-measure: size, lift, lining and motorisation are billed through the configurator.
Build your size at Two PagesAffiliate link, disclosed: Fold & Light may earn on it, never as a surcharge to you, and it changes nothing about what Two Pages asks. The figure is dated 2026-09-12 and only the merchant page is current. The shot beside it is catalogue work by Two Pages, pulled 2026-09-12.
What blackout costs on a roman shade, and where the ladder stops
Two Pages runs a four rung ladder in its roman shade configurator. Unlined at no charge, Privacy at 60% and 90 gsm for 15 dollars, Room Darkening at 75% and 140 gsm for 20 dollars, Blackout at 100% and 150 gsm for 25 dollars. The privacy rung costs 15 dollars on all three of its shades here, so the ladder starts in the same place every time.
Then it breaks twice, in opposite directions.
On the Patti deco fold, the Room Darkening rung costs 30 dollars and the Blackout rung costs 25. The less opaque lining is the more expensive one, on the same page, on the same day. Whatever that pricing reflects, it is not performance, and once you have seen it you cannot read the ladder as a scale of quality again.
On the Isabella, there is no Blackout rung at all. The Lining Type group carries three values and stops at Room Darkening, 75%. That is not a warning printed anywhere on the page. It is an absence you find by opening the option group, and it is final: the shade cannot be ordered dark, whatever the fabric looks like and however well it suits the room. For a bedroom, that single missing option removes the product.
What each merchant charges for the same option
| Two Pages | Neutral Curtains | Half Price Drapes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Privacy lining | $15.00 · on 3 of 3 listings | not published | not published |
| Room darkening lining | $20.00 · on 2 of 3 listings $30.00 · Patti Linen Deco Fold Roman Shade Cordless | not published | not published |
| Blackout lining | $25.00 · on 2 of 3 listings | not published | $24.00 · on 1 of 2 listings |
Same options, different tickets. Two Pages prices 3 of 3 · Neutral Curtains prices 0 of 3 · Half Price Drapes prices 1 of 3. Nothing here is added up across merchants, and an option a merchant does not price is left empty rather than filled in from the other column.
Taken from the official Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages product pages on 2026-09-11. We measure nothing ourselves, so every percentage here is the figure the brand prints.
The same vocabulary runs through blackout blinds and shades of every family, and the other two merchants organise the decision differently again. Half Price Drapes sells its linings as separate items with their own prices: Lined at 6.50 dollars, Lined and Interlined at 10 dollars, Blackout Lining at 24 dollars. Its roman shade description mentions three lining options while four choices are actually sold, counting unlined. Neutral Curtains publishes the specification of all ten of its linings and the price of none of them.
In the room
Listed at $79.99. lowest of two floor prices carried by the same listing (79.99 and 119.99 across 36 colourways)…
Catalogue photo from Two Pages, retrieved 2026-09-11.
The prices themselves are not comparable in any direction. Two Pages lists 59.99 dollars for the Liz across 38 colourways, but 79.99 and 119.99 on the single Isabella listing depending on which colour you pick. Neutral lists 35.99 for the Lily plain fold, a figure that covers the plain fold and nothing else, and its Annie listing states in its own description that the total is the base price plus add-ons. Half Price Drapes shows 179.20 dollars before its calculator recomputes on your width and height. Seven floors, seven different things being floored.
What each price actually covers
| Brand | Listed | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Two Pages Liz Linen Roman Shade Cordless | $59.99 | listed floor price, identical on all 38 colourways, with no crossed-out reference price. Made-to-measure: size, lift, lining and motorisation are billed through the configurator. |
| Two Pages Isabella Roman Shade Cordless | $79.99 | lowest of two floor prices carried by the same listing (79.99 and 119.99 across 36 colourways). Made-to-measure: size, lift, lining and motorisation are billed through the configurator. |
| Two Pages Patti Linen Deco Fold Roman Shade Cordless | $109.99 | listed price (9 colourways, all at 109.99, with no crossed-out reference price). Made-to-measure shade: size, lift, motorisation and Lining Type are billed through the configurator. |
| Neutral Curtains Annie Roman Blackout Shades | $55.99 | single floor price across 13 colourways. Made-to-measure: size, lining, valance and motorisation are billed on top, as the listing states with 'Total Price = Base Price + Add-ons'. |
| Neutral Curtains Lily Linen Roman Shades & Blinds | Plain Fold | $35.99 | base price of the plain fold style only, with add-ons excluded |
| Half Price Drapes Crisp White French Linen Roman Shade | $179.20 | figure shown before the size calculation; the page carries a Price Calculator (Regular Price / Final Price) that recomputes on width x length. Sold per shade. |
| Half Price Drapes Light Ochre Solid Cotton Blackout Tie-Up Window Shade | $12.25 | one ready-made size, 46 in wide by 63 in long, sold per shade |
Not like-for-like. Each number starts from somewhere different, which makes ordering them meaningless. Check what each one includes first.
Taken from the official Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages product pages on 2026-09-11. We measure nothing ourselves, so every percentage here is the figure the brand prints.
Where this figure comes from
Two Pages · Isabella Roman Shade Cordless
Listed from $79.99
What that covers: lowest of two floor prices carried by the same listing (79.99 and 119.99 across 36 colourways). Made-to-measure: size, lift, lining and motorisation are billed through the configurator.
Build your size at Two PagesAffiliate link, disclosed: Fold & Light may earn on it, never as a surcharge to you, and it changes nothing about what Two Pages asks. The figure is dated 2026-09-11 and only the merchant page is current. The photo is a catalogue shot from Two Pages, retrieved 2026-09-11.
The one listing that names the condition
Half Price Drapes describes its blackout lining in a sentence the other two do not attempt: it obstructs up to 95% of light from passing into a room, when treatment is installed properly.
Read that twice. Up to 95% is a ceiling, not a value. And the second half of the sentence is the only place in these seven listings where a merchant admits that the number depends on what happens at the wall. It is the most honest line in the set.
The same merchant’s catalogue also contains the least honest title in the set, and the comparison is instructive. Its Light Ochre tie-up shade is titled a Blackout shade. The lining text on that page states that the privacy lining blocks approximately 60 to 65% of incoming light, and the description calls the shade privacy lined for room darkening. The word Blackout in the title corresponds to no figure anywhere on the page. The Millstone Grey tie-up from the same merchant is titled Room Darkening and carries exactly the same lining sentence, word for word.
What these listings do not tell you
- Two Pages Liz Linen Roman Shade Cordless: weight gsm, stack height in
- Two Pages Isabella Roman Shade Cordless: weight gsm, min inside mount depth in, stack height in
- Two Pages Patti Linen Deco Fold Roman Shade Cordless: stack height in
- Neutral Curtains Annie Roman Blackout Shades: min inside mount depth in, size envelope, stack height in
- Half Price Drapes Crisp White French Linen Roman Shade: weight gsm, size envelope, care cleaning method
- Half Price Drapes Light Ochre Solid Cotton Blackout Tie-Up Window Shade: weight gsm
Missing from the product page, so missing here too. A brand that prints the number is doing you a favour worth counting.
Taken from the official Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages product pages on 2026-09-11. We measure nothing ourselves, so every percentage here is the figure the brand prints.
One more line on that page is worth having, because it is the rare case of a brand publishing something genuinely useful about colour: darker colourways will always perform toward the higher end of the 60 to 65% range, while lighter colours let slightly more light through. So the colour you pick moves the result inside a single listing. If you are shopping a dark shade because you want a dark room, that is a real mechanism, and it is the only one on offer here that the title does not misdescribe.
In the room
Listed at $12.25. one ready-made size, 46 in wide by 63 in long, sold per shade
Catalogue photo from Half Price Drapes, retrieved 2026-09-11.
The rule that comes out of all this is short. Read the lining text. Never the title.
Where this usually goes wrong
| The habit | What it costs | Instead |
|---|---|---|
| Screwing the brackets straight into drywall The bracket goes up wherever the height mark landed, with the screws driven into plasterboard and nothing solid behind them. | Drywall has almost no grip. The screws work loose under the twice-a-day pull, the bracket tilts, and in time the whole rod tears out and takes a lump of plaster with it. | Hit a stud wherever you can. Where you cannot, use an anchor rated above the loaded weight of rod, curtain and lining together, and add a proper fixing rather than trusting the screw alone. |
A habit that goes wrong, and what to do instead. Nothing on this card was taken from a listing.
Buy the mount, not the top of the range
If you have a reveal that takes a shade and a room you want genuinely dark, the money is better spent below the top rung than on it.
An outside mount, fixed high on the wall with a generous overlap each side and the head closed by a valance, usually costs nothing extra. It is the same shade ordered a few inches wider and hung a few inches higher. Get that right and a middle rung behaves like a top rung, because the only light left is what passes through the cloth. Leave it wrong and the top rung behaves like a middle one, at the top rung’s price, because the light is arriving around the shade rather than through it.
Worth considering instead
Spend on the mount, not on the top of the opacity range
Mount the shade on the wall above the frame with a generous overlap each side, close the head with a valance, and put the money you saved on the darkest grade into the fabric you actually wanted to look at.
Opacity grades are priced as an upgrade ladder, and the top rung is the one everybody reaches for in a bedroom. But the last few points of cloth density are worth nothing while daylight is arriving around the edges, and an outside mount with real overlap is usually free: it is the same shade ordered a few inches wider and hung a few inches higher. Fix the geometry and a mid grade behaves like a top grade. Leave the geometry alone and the top grade behaves like a mid one, at the top price.
This is a layout idea rather than a purchase. The panels you have will do it.
There is a second reason to prefer the wall to the reveal, and Neutral Curtains publishes the figure for it. The Lily shade stacks to roughly 7 to 10 inches of gathered fabric when fully raised. Inside the reveal, that band sits on your glass every day of the year. Mounted above the frame, it sits on the wall, and the window keeps its full height when the shade is up.
Where this figure comes from
Neutral Curtains · Lily Linen Roman Shades & Blinds | Plain Fold
Listed from $35.99
What that covers: base price of the PLAIN FOLD only, add-ons excluded
Build your size at Neutral CurtainsAffiliate link, disclosed: Fold & Light may earn on it, never as a surcharge to you, and it changes nothing about what Neutral Curtains asks. The figure is dated 2026-09-12 and only the merchant page is current. Catalogue photography supplied by Neutral Curtains, retrieved 2026-09-12.
The question to ask before you order
None of the seven listings can be ranked against the others, and this article is not going to pretend otherwise. Their prices cover different things and their percentages are measured, described and named by whoever is selling them.
100% Linen
Catalogue photos from Half Price Drapes, retrieved 2026-09-11. One colourway per product, so what changes between these two frames is the thing being compared, not the colour.
What you can do is put one question to whoever you buy from, in writing, before you configure anything:
Does the percentage you publish describe the fabric on its own, and what do I need to add to this order so that the head and the sides are closed?
A merchant who sells fabric will answer the first half. A merchant who sells dark rooms will answer the second. The answer arrives before your money does, which is the whole point of asking.
Where this figure comes from
Half Price Drapes · Crisp White French Linen Roman Shade
Listed from $179.20
What that covers: figure shown before the size calculation; the page carries a Price Calculator (Regular Price / Final Price) that recomputes on width x length. Sold per shade.
Build your size at Half Price DrapesAffiliate link, disclosed: Fold & Light may earn on it, never as a surcharge to you, and it changes nothing about what Half Price Drapes asks. The figure is dated 2026-09-12 and only the merchant page is current. Catalogue photography supplied by Half Price Drapes, retrieved 2026-09-12.
Common questions
Do blackout roman shades really block all light? The cloth can be rated at 100%. The room is another matter: Neutral Curtains publishes its own warning that light enters at the sides of a headrail around 2 inches deep.
Is the blackout in the fabric or in the lining? In the lining on six of the seven listings checked here, billed as an extra. In the face fabric on one, the Annie, which Neutral Curtains rates at 100%.
How much does a blackout lining add? Two Pages charges 25 dollars for it in the configurator. Half Price Drapes sells its blackout lining as a separate 24 dollar item. Neutral Curtains publishes no lining prices.
Why do two brands give different numbers for the same lining? They describe the same 150 gsm 2-pass coated microfiber. Two Pages publishes 100%. Neutral’s reference table says 100% and its own detail card says 96 to 100%.
Can I add blackout to any roman shade? No. On the Two Pages Isabella the lining options stop at Room Darkening, 75%. The blackout rung is not sold on that listing at all.