When we moved into our new home and realized that standard blinds just wouldn’t cut it, I dove into what felt like an endless sea of custom-shade companies. From fabric swatches to measuring tape struggles (and the occasional panic that I ordered the wrong size), I’ve learned firsthand that not all custom shades are created equal. That’s why in this post, we’re comparing several of the most popular online custom-shade shops side by side: what they got right, where they fell short, and which ones deliver the quality, style, and ease of ordering that make the splurge worth it. If you’re trying to navigate the confusing world of window treatments, consider this your cheat sheet before you click “Add to Cart.”
I kept looking for custom shades near me but then when I heard the local store was charging about $15,000 for one room I started to look at custom blinds online. Here is my comparison of my experience ordering custom shades from each of these companies. I’ve included information below on cost, installation, returns/replacements, shipping, and where to buy each.
While this post is not sponsored, I do use affiliate links and may make a commission from purchases you make on my links (at no extra cost to you). Thank you for supporting my small business!
SelectBlinds Roman Shades
Cost: $328 for 1 shade
In my house: Mint/white stripe roman shade from the SelectBlinds/Levolor collection
Installation: Very easy! I ordered no-drill blinds and they are so so easy to install. I would 100% recommend these if you’re renting or just don’t want to deal with drilling installation.
Replacement/returns policy: 90 days to reorder with any changes, for the same price you paid less 10%.
A note on reordering: I ordered a mint and white striped roman shade to go in my kids’ bathroom, but when it arrived I realized I ordered the wrong size. SelectBlinds gives you 90 days to reorder in the correct size at a discount. I meant to do this and then forgot until it was past 90 days. Luckily, I was only about 3 weeks past my 90 day mark so I called customer service and they were able to give me the discount. They emailed me a link and I put in my credit card information and that is how I was able to place the order. My original shade cost $170 and the replacement roman shade was 50% off and then an additional discount- $158 additional. In retrospect, I should have paid the extra $10 for their fit protection insurance when I first placed the order. That was an expensive mistake!
Shipping: It was only 12 days from order to delivery on my front porch! From the date I ordered, it was 9 days for my order to ship. Then it arrived via Fedex about 3 days later. That was fast! Now for the replacement order, I called and placed the order to change the size of the shade (an oops on my part), and I was quoted 77 days for the new order to ship out. Not a huge deal, but that seems like an awfully long time.
Where to buy SelectBlinds: From the SelectBlinds website, and also available on Amazon
TwoPages Roman Shades + a discount code
Cost: $1,196 for 5 shades (I ordered the Jawara roman shade for our bedroom)
In my house: Jawara cordless roman shade in greyish beige
Installation: Easy to install. If you’re ordering a wide roman shade, you should know that the hardware to hold it in the middle is actually really hard to put in. This is one of the reasons I went with 3 side-by-side shades on our very wide window (93″ across) instead of one wide shade.
Replacement/returns policy: After 12 hours if you need to make a change to your order, you are responsible for an additional 25% of the purchase price.
Shipping: It was 7 days from my order until the order was shipped. Then it was about 3 more days for it to arrive on my front step. Not bad!
Where to buy TwoPages: on the TwoPages website and also on Amazon. If you’re interested in TwoPages, I have a discount code for 27% off! Use ALYSSA22
Graywind Motorized Shades
Cost: $2540 for 10 motorized shades
In my house: Motorized light-filtering roller shades in Linen Beige
Ah, my favorite shades in the house! In total transparency, I worked with Graywind on a campaign over the summertime. Even so, I would 100% order these again and again for the same room. We have the 10 shades connected to our smart hub in the home, so we can set them up on timers throughout the day to change when the sunlight changes in that room. We also have it set up so I can just tell it to open all of the shades on the side wall, or the front wall, or all of them – or I can tell it to open or close individual shades (they’re all numbered 1 to 10 going left to right). I don’t have to fuss with manually opening or closing the shades, and they are an absolute dream. They also look really expensive from the outside of the house, and they look really nice on the inside of the house! VERY happy with these shades.
Installation: We installed 10 motorized shades in our sunroom and they were very easy to install. You do need to drill holes, but it took us about an hour to install all 10.
Shipping: 10 days from order to delivery on my front step
Where to buy Graywind shades: on the Graywind site and on Amazon
Home Depot shades
For a budget-friendly option, I’d recommend white cellular shades.
Cost: $411 for 6 shades
In my house: We have the top down/bottom up white cellular shades in our living room
We ordered these top down/bottom up white cellular shades from Home Depot when we first moved into our house and needed something so we didn’t feel like we were living in a fish bowl. These don’t come in custom sizes, so if you need something that doesn’t fit 48″, 64″, or 72″ height you will need to go custom. (Though I’ve found that the height doesn’t really matter much because who cares if they’re longer than the window.) Eventually we will replace these with something fancier, but they’re perfect for now! We actually had them in our old house and really liked them.
Installation: Easy- but we did have to drill holes.
Shipping: 5 days from order to delivery on my front step
Where to buy white cellular shades: We got ours from Home Depot
More coming soon!
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