DIY Easy Faux Roman Shade

A little over a month ago, I had the pleasure of guest posting for Carrie at Lovely Etc. while she was spending time with her new little baby boy. I love guest posting and Carrie's blog is awesome, so it was a win-win! In case you missed that post, I thought I'd share my project - an easy DIY faux roman shade - over here too.

I work from home for my day job in healthcare, so that means I spend about eight hours a day in my office. Over the year or so we've lived here, I've had a blast turning it into a space that I love. It's light and bright - my favorite combination! And while bright is almost always a good thing, for a couple of hours in the afternoon the sun shines so brightly that it's blinding. I was in desperate need of a window treatment that would filter that bright sunlight, but not take away too much of that precious natural light from the one window I have in there.

To see more of my office, check out this post!

Since my desk sits under that window, traditional full-length curtains weren't an option, so I decided to DIY a simple faux roman shade for it. Y'all, this was such an easy project - and it's renter friendly for those of you in that category! This faux roman shade is perfect for a window where you don't necessarily need privacy, but do need to block some light. You'll see why in a minute.

Here are the supplies you'll need to make a faux roman shade:

• A piece of fabric cut 2" wider than the width of your window and 4" longer than the height of your window
• Sewing machine or hem tape (*affiliate link)
• Small tension rod (*affiliate link)
• Adhesive Velcro squares (*affiliate link)

Step 1: Hem your fabric on three sides so that it fits snugly inside the width and height of your window. I used a sewing machine, but if you're sewing-averse (or don't have one), iron on hem tape works great too. 

For the fourth side, create a small pocket that is slightly larger than the diameter of your small tension rod. You can see the pocket I made below on the right side of this photo and the next photo below. 

As a side note, I picked this piece of fabric up from the remnant bin at one of my favorite local fabric stores. The remnant bin is a great way to get a pretty piece of fabric for a deep discount for small projects like this!

Step 2: Lay your fabric down and create the folds for the roman shade. I didn't measure these - I eyeballed it and created two folds for the look I wanted. Adjust the folds according to how much of the window you want to cover in "default mode." Remember, this faux shade only has two settings - fully up or fully down - so plan your folds accordingly!

Step 3: While the fabric is laid flat and folded, take your adhesive velcro squares and stick them to the inside tops of the folds along the edges first (make sure you stick them in the areas that hold the weight of the folds!). These Velcro squares keep the folds in place once it's hanging up. Then add two or three more squares across the middle areas to support the rest of the width of the fabric folds. I used four squares total across each fold and that holds up the shade beautifully. The Velcro packaging says the adhesive is not made for fabric, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and try it ;). It's working great so far! If I ever feel like the adhesive isn't strong enough, I'll just add a dab or two of fabric glue to make 'em stick. (**Update! The velcro adhesive didn't end up being strong enough for the fabric, so I just dabbed a little fabric glue on them and they're good to go. Nothing like a little trial and error to get it right!)

I realize it's hard to understand where to attach the velcro in words, but here's one example of where I attached mine - hope this helps you visualize it! This is the view from the backside of the fabric.

Step 4: Insert your small tension rod and hang your pretty new faux roman shade! Here's my finished project:

I love how this turned out. It's perfect for my needs (and I hope a few of yours as well!) and it's simple - no fancy lining and sewing is optional! I used Velcro so that I'd have the ability to pull down the shade if I need to, but that's a rare need for my situation. Nearly all of the time it'll stay just like you see in the photo above. This project only took me about an hour, which was time well-spent for some much needed function and style for my naked window :). I hope y'all will try this project out next time you need a roman shade as a window treatment!

If you enjoyed this project, check out a few more of my favorite DIYs!

• DIY Upholstered Headboard - The Easy Way!
• Metal Card Catalog to Side Table Makeover
• How To Transform a Dated Brass Light Fixture