Twelve listings from three merchants (ten made to measure, two sold in fixed sizes) were read on their own product pages on 21 and 22 August 2026, with one question in mind: what happens to the number you write down. The answer is that it rarely survives intact. Six of those twelve listings publish how much width they take off, and they do not agree on the amount, on who removes it, or on whether the finished item has to land on the result.
The most rigid thing you can put in a window needs the least depth
Two Pages sells a hardwood plantation shutter: hardwood slats in a PVC frame, tilting louvers, no cord. It is the most substantial object in this set. Its page states a minimum inside-mount depth of 1 3/4 inches, the shallowest requirement of every listing here.
Neutral Curtains sells the Tavi roller shade: one layer of fabric on a tube. Its Specifications block asks for 3 5/8 inches.
So the reveal that will not take a roller blind will take a hardwood shutter, twice over. That is not a quirk of one page. It is what happens when a number describes a headrail rather than a material, and it is worth saying out loud before anyone measures anything: depth requirements are not a property of what the covering is made of.
One caveat belongs with that 3 5/8 inches, and it belongs every time it appears. Further down the same Tavi page, the FAQ answers the depth question with “2 inches”, on a block that talks about roman shades, on a listing for a roller. We keep the Specifications figure, we do not pick a winner between the two, and we say the page contradicts itself.
Three numbers stand between a tape measure and an object on a wall: what the listing takes off, who takes it off, and how far the finished piece is allowed to land from the result. Almost nobody puts all three in the same place.
What all twelve listings agree on
Start with the agreement, because it is short and it is real.
An inside mount means the ordered width is not the measured width. Every listing here that goes inside a reveal publishes a subtraction, or tells you to make one. None of them fits a covering to the raw opening.
The finished size is allowed to differ from the ordered size, and the brands print it. Neutral Curtains writes that “slight size variations of approximately 0.4 inches may occur.” Two Pages writes that “lengths vary by 1 inch due to handcraft.” These are not defects and neither brand hides them.
What arrives in the box is decided by the product type, not by the brand. A shade brings its own mounting hardware because it cannot work without a headrail: the Two Pages venetian blind lists “2 brackets, 4 screws, 4 nails, 1 blind.” A curtain brings hooks and nothing that holds it up: the same merchant writes “Curtain hooks are included. Curtain Rings and Rods are not included.”
That is the whole of the agreement. Every number underneath it diverges, including between two listings from the same merchant.
In the room
Listed at $89.00. starting price for a single panel in base configuration; size (width/length) and Lining Type are billed on top through the configurator
Catalogue photo from Two Pages, retrieved 2026-08-22.
The same quarter inch, and the opposite instruction
Two Pages publishes a quarter-inch deduction on two products, and means something different each time.
On the Loma venetian blind, the page reads: “A 1/4-inch headrail deduction is taken from your actual measurement.” The factory does it. You submit the reveal width you measured, and the blind that leaves the plant is narrower than what you typed.
On the Aura cellular shade, the page reads: “Inside Mount Order Width: Window casing width minus 1/4″.” Nobody does it for you. If you type the width you measured, you have ordered a shade a quarter of an inch too wide.
Same merchant, same fraction, opposite instruction. Apply the venetian rule to the cellular and the shade will not go in. Apply the cellular rule to the venetian and you lose half an inch of window to a gap you did not choose.
Between the window you measure and the size that gets made
| Listing | Taken off the width | Variance allowed after that |
|---|---|---|
| Two PagesTWOPAGES Veritas Hardwood Plantation Full Height Shutter | 1/2 inThe factory takes it off | not published |
| Two PagesAlvin Boutique Blackout Cordless Roller Shades | 3/8 inYou take it off yourself | not published |
| Neutral CurtainsTavi Roller Shades | 3/8 inThe factory takes it off | 3/8 in on the finished size |
| Neutral CurtainsCustom Bamboo Shades & Blinds – Alum. Headrail | 3/8 inThe factory takes it off | 0.4 in on the finished size |
| Two PagesLoma Venetian Blinds Cord Lift | 1/4 inThe factory takes it off | not published |
| Two PagesAura Blackout Cellular Window Shades Cordless | 1/4 inYou take it off yourself | not published |
| Two PagesBirkin Velvet Curtain Pleated | not published | 1 in on the length |
| Neutral CurtainsMaillard Velvet Curtains & Drapes Pleated | not published | 0.4 in on the finished size |
6 of these 8 listings publish a width deduction, and 4 publish a variance on the finished size. The two are separate numbers and they run in the same direction. Nothing here is averaged, totalled or borrowed from a neighbouring listing.
Source: official product pages from Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages, checked 2026-08-21 and 2026-08-22. Fold & Light does not measure products; any percentage is the one that brand publishes.
The pattern continues across the set. The Alvin blackout roller shade puts the work on the buyer too (“the size of the reserved blind should be 3/8 inch smaller than the window”) while the hardwood shutter takes it at the factory, and says so in terms of the finished object: “The finished shutter width is typically 1/2 inch narrower than your ordered width.” Neutral Curtains deducts at the factory on both of its inside-mount listings here, at 3/8 inch, in almost identical wording: “Our factory will make a 3/8″ deduction from the total width” on the Tavi, “We automatically make a 3/8″ deduction from your measured width” on the bamboo shade.
In the room
Listed at $49.89. starting price, identical on all 10 colourways, no compare_at. Size entered in the configurator.
Catalogue photo from Two Pages, retrieved 2026-08-22.
Six listings, three different amounts, and two opposite conventions about who applies them. There is no rule to learn once. There is only the sentence on the listing you are about to buy from.
Check it at the source
Two Pages · Alvin Boutique Blackout Cordless Roller Shades
Listed from $49.89
What that covers: starting price, identical on all 10 colourways, no compare_at. Size entered in the configurator.
Build your size at Two PagesAffiliate link, and worth saying plainly: we may be paid a commission if you buy through it, it costs you nothing extra, and Two Pages pricing is untouched. What you see here is a reading taken on 2026-08-22; check the listing itself before you order. The shot beside it is catalogue work by Two Pages, pulled 2026-09-02.
And then the finished size is allowed to miss
The deduction is the first number. It is not the last one.
Three of these listings put a figure on how far the finished piece may land from the ordered one, and each writes it differently:
- Neutral Curtains, bamboo shade and Maillard velvet: “due to manual measurement, there is 0.4 inch tolerance in the finished curtain size”: 0.4 inch, in the same words on both.
- Neutral Curtains, Tavi roller: written as a threshold in the merchant’s own returns wording, a “size discrepancy greater than 3/8 inch“.
- Two Pages, handmade curtains: “lengths vary by 1 inch due to handcraft”: 1 inch, and on the drop rather than the width.
These are separate from the deduction, and they run the same way. Put the merchant’s own two figures end to end (a shade ordered at the measured width minus 3/8 inch, then built with 0.4 inch of allowed variation) and it can legitimately arrive close to three quarters of an inch narrower than the opening. That sum is ours; neither page performs it. Nobody has broken a promise. The two numbers simply live in different paragraphs of the same page, and almost no buyer adds them together.
Neutral’s Tavi listing is also the only one here that explains what its deduction is taken from: the headrail width, not the fabric, and it says plainly that side gaps follow. It is also the only listing in this set that will cancel the deduction. On the bamboo shade the 3/8 inch applies by default and comes off on written request at the time of ordering. That option exists on one listing out of twelve, and it is invisible unless you read to the end of the page.
If you want the full build of a made-to-measure total rather than just its dimensions, that belongs to what you actually pay for on a custom order; the step-by-step for a curtain (rod width, fullness, drop) is in how to measure for curtains and shades. The curtain size calculator runs that same sequence and returns the rod length, the panel count and the length to order.
Check it at the source
Neutral Curtains · Custom Bamboo Shades & Blinds – Alum. Headrail
Listed from $65.00
What that covers: lowest base price of the six collections on the listing (Natural 65.00, Nomi 79.00, Ivy 81.50, Ramie 98.50, Willow 102.00, Hazel 125.00). The page states the rule itself: Total Price = Base Price + Add-ons.
Build your size at Neutral CurtainsAffiliate link, and worth saying plainly: we may be paid a commission if you buy through it, it costs you nothing extra, and Neutral Curtains pricing is untouched. What you see here is a reading taken on 2026-08-22; check the listing itself before you order. That picture belongs to Neutral Curtains and was taken from the catalogue on 2026-08-22.
Depth is a ladder, and it does not sort by material
Five listings here publish a minimum inside-mount depth, and the spread is wider than the products would suggest.
Minimum window depth for an inside mount
Neutral Curtains
3 5/8 in
Tavi Roller Shades
Two Pages
3 in
Loma Venetian Blinds Cord Lift
Half Price Drapes
2 3/4 in
Crisp White French Linen Roman Shade
Two Pages
2 in
Aura Blackout Cellular Window Shades Cordless
Two Pages
1 3/4 in
TWOPAGES Veritas Hardwood Plantation Full Height Shutter
Measure the reveal before choosing a fabric. A shallow frame rules options out faster than a budget does.
Source: official product pages from Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages, checked 2026-08-21 and 2026-08-22. Fold & Light does not measure products; any percentage is the one that brand publishes.
The hardwood shutter sits at the bottom at 1 3/4 inches. The Aura cellular shade asks 2 inches, and publishes a second figure on the same line for a flush installation: 2 1/4 inches. The Half Price Drapes French linen roman shade requires 2 3/4 inches. The Two Pages venetian asks for 3 inches. The Tavi roller sits at the top with 3 5/8 inches in its Specifications block, and, again, “2 inches” in its own FAQ, on a block written for roman shades.
Two listings publish nothing at all. The cordless Alvin roller shade gives no minimum depth, although the motorised version of the same shade publishes 4 inches. Neutral’s bamboo shade gives none either, although two other motorised listings from the same merchant publish 2 1/2 inches. In both cases the number exists somewhere in the merchant’s catalogue and not on the page you would actually buy from. Borrowing it from the neighbouring listing is exactly the mistake to avoid: the two products are not the same object, and we are not going to estimate one from the other.
What each shade family is and does is mapped in the complete category map for shades and blinds.
Check it at the source
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, and worth saying plainly: we may be paid a commission if you buy through it, it costs you nothing extra, and Half Price Drapes pricing is untouched. What you see here is a reading taken on 2026-08-22; check the listing itself before you order. Photograph from the Half Price Drapes catalogue, retrieved 2026-08-22.
When the reveal fails, the wall takes over, and one product refuses
A reveal that is too shallow is not the end of the job, for most products. It moves the covering onto the wall, and the numbers change again. Two Pages publishes the outside-mount rule on its Alvin roller: order the finished width 2 to 4 inches wider than the window frame. That is a different measurement, not the same one adjusted.
One product here has no fallback. The hardwood shutter is inside-mount only (“Installation: Inside-mount only”) and it is the only listing in this set that offers no outside option at all. The same page notes that a hollow wall can compromise the stability of the frame. If the reveal will not take it, that shutter is out, and no wall bracket rescues it.
The headrail itself is measurable too, when a brand bothers. The Aura cellular publishes an aluminium-alloy headrail at 2 3/16 inches deep by 1 3/8 inches high, with a bracket of 1 inch high by 2 3/8 inches deep. Those are the dimensions that decide whether the assembly clears the frame, not the fabric, and not the price.
In the room
Listed at $68.99. listed starting price (7 colourways, all at 68.99, no compare_at). Size entered in the configurator.
Catalogue photo from Two Pages, retrieved 2026-08-22.
Inside mounting has a cost that outside mounting does not, and two listings put a figure on it. Neutral’s bamboo shade publishes a minimum stack height of 7 inches when fully raised; its Lily roman shade publishes approximately 7 to 10 inches, varying with style and size. That stack sits at the top of the reveal permanently. On a short window it is a meaningful share of the glass, and it is the number people are most surprised by after installation.
Before you order a shutter, the window has to pass a test
Every other listing here asks about the window’s size. One asks about its geometry.
The Two Pages shutter page states that “the difference between the two diagonal measurements should be within 1/2 inch.” That is a condition placed on the window rather than on the product, and it is the only one in this set. A rigid frame cannot follow a wall that is out of square; fabric can. The requirement is not the merchant being difficult, it is the merchant admitting what a hardwood frame will and will not absorb.
The rest of that configurator is a reminder that a shutter is ordered, not chosen. It asks for the mount type, the tilt system, the louver size (2 1/2, 3, 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 inches), the number of panels and how they open, and it accepts sizes for up to four windows in one pass. The tilt itself is split by height: a single tilt control up to 36 inches high, and a 50/50 split above that.
None of that is retrievable after the fact. It is the one product on this page where measuring the diagonals before you fall in love with a finish is not a nice-to-have.
In the room
Listed at $107.99. listed starting price (13 colourways, all at 107.99, no compare_at). Single or double panel, louver size and size entered in the configurator.
Catalogue photo from Two Pages, retrieved 2026-08-22.
What holds it up is a separate purchase, and a separate silence
Curtains and shades go in opposite directions here, and both are consistent about it.
On curtains, the hooks ship and nothing else does. Two Pages: “Curtain hooks are included. Curtain Rings and Rods are not included.” Neutral Curtains, on the Maillard velvet: hooks included, rings to be selected according to need, and “the curtain rod is sold separately”, with the panel sold singly unless the listing says otherwise. On shades, the convention flips: Neutral’s Tavi and its bamboo shade both ship with installation hardware, the bamboo listing specifying screws for drywall into a stud or solid wood.
What ships, and what you buy separately
| Two Pages Loma Venetian Blinds Cord Lift | included: 2 brackets, 4 screws, 4 nails, 1 blind |
| Two Pages Birkin Velvet Curtain Pleated | ✓ hooks included · ✕ rings rods included · length tolerance : 1 in · bottom hem in : 1.5 · side tuck in : 2 |
| Neutral Curtains Tavi Roller Shades | included: installation hardware included |
| Neutral Curtains Custom Bamboo Shades & Blinds – Alum. Headrail | included: installation hardware included (screws for drywall into a stud or solid wood) |
| Neutral Curtains Maillard Velvet Curtains & Drapes Pleated | ✓ hooks included · ✕ rings included · ✕ rod included · size tolerance : 0.4 in · sold as : single panel, with a few items sold as a pair |
| Half Price Drapes Signature Velvet Blackout Curtain (Alabaster Beige) | max rod diameter in : 1.5 · fixed sizes : single 50 in width, lengths 63/84/96/108/120 in |
| Half Price Drapes Glass Sphere Nickel Extendable Metal Rod Set | included: telescoping rod, mounting brackets, removable finials, screws and wall anchors |
Source: official product pages from Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages, checked 2026-08-21 and 2026-08-22. Fold & Light does not measure products; any percentage is the one that brand publishes.
Two constraints decide whether the rod you buy will work, and one of them is printed. Half Price Drapes offers its Signature Velvet panel with three headings (a pole pocket with a hook belt, back tabs, or rings with drapery pins) and publishes the ceiling for the first of them: the pocket “will accommodate a pole up to 1 1/2 inches in diameter.” A sewn channel either takes the pole or it does not. The four heading types and their aliases are covered in curtain header styles explained, and the full hardware checklist in curtain rods and hardware.
In the room
Listed at $52.49. complete single-variant kit: telescoping rod, brackets, removable finials, screws and wall anchors
Catalogue photo from Half Price Drapes, retrieved 2026-08-22.
The second constraint is the one nobody prints. The same merchant’s extendable rod set telescopes from 52 to 144 inches, at 1 inch in diameter, and ships as a complete kit: rod, mounting brackets, removable finials, screws and wall anchors. At 144 inches that is twelve feet of span, and the listing publishes no weight capacity and no bracket count, so how many brackets carry it is not something the page will tell you. A heavy pair of velvet panels on a twelve-foot rod is a real engineering question, and this page does not answer it.
Check it at the source
Half Price Drapes · Glass Sphere Nickel Extendable Metal Rod Set
Listed at $52.49
What that covers: complete single-variant kit: telescoping rod, brackets, removable finials, screws and wall anchors
See the size options at Half Price DrapesAffiliate link, and worth saying plainly: we may be paid a commission if you buy through it, it costs you nothing extra, and Half Price Drapes pricing is untouched. What you see here is a reading taken on 2026-08-22; check the listing itself before you order. Photograph from the Half Price Drapes catalogue, retrieved 2026-08-22.
What none of these listings publish
What these listings do not tell you
- Two Pages TWOPAGES Veritas Hardwood Plantation Full Height Shutter: opacity
- Two Pages Loma Venetian Blinds Cord Lift: opacity, size envelope
- Two Pages Aura Blackout Cellular Window Shades Cordless: size envelope
- Two Pages Alvin Boutique Blackout Cordless Roller Shades: weight gsm, min inside mount depth in, size envelope
- Neutral Curtains Tavi Roller Shades: weight gsm
- Neutral Curtains Custom Bamboo Shades & Blinds – Alum. Headrail: weight gsm, opacity, min inside mount depth in
- Half Price Drapes Crisp White French Linen Roman Shade: weight gsm, size envelope
- Half Price Drapes Signature Velvet Blackout Curtain (Alabaster Beige): weight gsm
- Half Price Drapes Glass Sphere Nickel Extendable Metal Rod Set: weight capacity lb, bracket count
Missing from the product page, so missing here too. A brand that prints the number is doing you a favour worth counting.
Source: official product pages from Half Price Drapes, Neutral Curtains, Two Pages, checked 2026-08-21 and 2026-08-22. Fold & Light does not measure products; any percentage is the one that brand publishes.
The gaps are as consistent as the facts. Four listings do not publish the range of sizes they will actually build (the venetian, the cellular, the Alvin roller and the Half Price Drapes roman shade), which means an unusual window is only ruled out inside the configurator, after you have chosen a colour. Neutral’s Tavi is the exception that shows what publishing looks like: 21 to 80 inches wide, 20 to 119 inches long, in eighths of an inch, stated on the page.
Two shades publish no minimum inside-mount depth. One rod carries no load figure for a twelve-foot span. And no listing here publishes what the finished stack will measure on your specific size, only the range it usually falls in.
A note on method, since this is a page about installation. Fold & Light does not drill walls, does not hang panels and does not measure products. Everything above is what these merchants print on their own listings, read on 21 and 22 August 2026. When a number is missing, we say it is missing rather than estimating it from a neighbouring product, and on this subject the missing numbers are the ones that cost money.
In the room
Listed at $65.99. base price for a single panel, add-ons excluded (the page states 'Total Price = Base Price + Add-ons')
Catalogue photo from Neutral Curtains, retrieved 2026-08-22.
The three numbers to get in writing before you order
Ask the listing, not the brand, for three things, and ask before you choose a colour.
How much does it take off my width? The answers in this set run from a quarter of an inch to half an inch, and one merchant publishes three different amounts across its own catalogue.
Who takes it off, you or the factory? This is the question nobody thinks to ask, and it is the one that produces a shade that does not fit. The same fraction on two listings from one merchant meant opposite things.
How far is the finished piece allowed to land from that? 0.4 inch, 3/8 inch, an inch of length. It is a second number, not a restatement of the first.
One last figure, because it looks like a product price and is not. Two Pages offers in-home installation on its shades and curtains, shown as “Starting from $120” and gated by postcode. That identical wording appears on listings priced at $29.99, $68.99 and $109.99: it is the floor of a service, not a second starting price for the product. The shutter page, the one product here that most rewards a professional fit, does not offer it at all.
Where the rod goes and how high is a separate decision, and mostly a free one: see how high to hang curtains.
Questions people ask
Do I subtract from my measurement, or does the merchant?
It depends on the listing, not the brand, and Two Pages does both. On its venetian blind the page says a 1/4-inch deduction is taken from your actual measurement. On its cellular shade it asks you to order the casing width minus 1/4 inch. On its Alvin roller, minus 3/8 inch. Neutral Curtains deducts 3/8 inch itself on both of its inside-mount listings here.
How much can the finished size differ from what I ordered?
What these pages publish: a 3/8 inch discrepancy threshold on the Tavi roller, approximately 0.4 inch on Neutral’s bamboo shade and on its Maillard velvet, and 1 inch of length on Two Pages’ handmade curtains. That is in addition to the deduction, not instead of it.
How deep does my window recess need to be?
Five listings publish it, and the spread is wide: 1 3/4 inches for the Two Pages hardwood shutter, 2 inches for its cellular shade (2 1/4 for a flush fit), 2 3/4 inches for the Half Price Drapes roman shade, 3 inches for the venetian, and 3 5/8 inches for Neutral’s Tavi roller. On that last page the FAQ answers “2 inches” to the same question. We report the contradiction rather than resolving it.
Can I get the deduction removed?
On one listing in this set, yes. Neutral applies 3/8 inch by default on its bamboo shade and will remove it on written request at the time of ordering. No other listing read here offers that.
What comes in the box?
It follows the product type rather than the brand. On curtains, Two Pages and Neutral both include the hooks and neither includes the rings or the rod. On shades, mounting hardware is included: the Two Pages venetian lists 2 brackets, 4 screws, 4 nails and the blind itself, and Neutral specifies screws suited to drywall into a stud or solid wood. Two Pages is the only merchant here that lists the tools you will need (a drill bit, an awl, a ruler, a pencil and a screwdriver) and it lists them because they are not in the box.