I have spent a small fortune on my motorized Roman shades in the living room. My Roman shades were custom-made for me by my local Calico Corners.
If you want to know more about designing custom Roman shades for your space, please read this blog post.
I originally had no intention of getting any motorization for my shades. I didn’t even know there was an option and didn’t know I needed it.
Motorization is something I added to my Roman shades a year later. More on that later in the post.
My Semi-Custom Shades From Calico
I went with this option, as said earlier. I went to my local Calico Fabric store. Calico has fabrics and trims, and they also have knowledgeable sales associates who will help you pick the fabric and trim and put a design scheme together.
For my living room, I chose inside mount Roman shades with blackout lining and beaded loop chain because
- I used an inside mount because I didn’t have enough room for an outside mount.
- My windows are huge at over 6 ft X 6ft, so I didn’t want them to look any larger.
- I chose a beaded loop chain because I liked the look of it better. I can’t have crooked shades.
- I needed blackout lining because the sun had ruined the floors and furniture of the previous owner, and I didn’t want that to happen to mine.
The Need For Motorization Of Roman Shades
My goal was to close my shades every day before work and open them after work. That was the idea. I was wrong.
I didn’t time myself, but opening and closing each shade manually took almost 1 minute or more for every shade every day. It may not seem like much, but I had three windows to open and close, so that’s an additional 6+ minutes EACH DAY.
My shades were heavy, like pretty heavy. Yes, a 6 ft X 6 ft shade with two layers of fabric & trim was heavy. Duh!
It was one more thing that I had to do each day before and after work. That’s a chore, and I am inconsistent with chores.
During the first year of my owning my custom Roman shades, I did not open and close them more than six times. I was feeling very disappointed that I spent SO MUCH MONEY on my shades, and I wasn’t using them as intended.
The sun was STILL beating on my furnishings every day, and since I spent over $ 5,000 on my custom blinds, replacing them with something else felt like a sin.
Enter Soma Smart Motorized Shades
I did a lot of research and came to the conclusion that I needed to replace my shades to save my rug & other expensive furnishings in the house.
I got very, very close to buying generic shades from an online source… I had them in my cart but didn’t pull the trigger!
Luckily, I stumbled upon this little device called Soma Smart Shades that I could install on my windows, which will motorize the opening and closing of my Roman shades.
It seemed too good to be true, and I was 99% certain it would be a failure. To my surprise, it worked beautifully!
You do all the reading on their website to understand how it works and how to install it and all that. This blog post is not about the installation and how to do it.
You need a continuous beaded loop chain for the Soma Smart Shades device to work
I was lucky enough that I had chosen a beaded loop chain. Even though it’s unfriendly for daily use, the beaded chain is the reason I could have automation.
I purchased three Soma Smart Shade devices for $150 apiece. They were super duper easy to install. It took less than 10 minutes each to set up.
In about 30 minutes, my “useless, expensive custom Roman shades” became “100% useful motorized Roman shades.” It is the best $150 x 3 I have ever spent.
It has an app, and you can schedule the opening and closing of my shades when I am not home. I have all the windows set up to close at a certain time of the day and open later about the time in the evening when we get home.
You can connect to Alexa and Apple Home, whatever. I haven’t done that yet.
I love the Soma Smart Shades device, and I highly recommend it or some other option like it for automating your Roman shades.
Pros & Cons Of Motorized Roman Shades
If you ask me, anything that saves you $3000 can’t. It has cons, but I am going to try.
Pros
- This turned my expensive custom Roman shades from “unusable” to “used daily twice,” as intended. This was HUGE!
- It saves me time every day – I don’t have to stand there and pull on the shades for what feels like an eternity to open or close them.
- It comes with a solar panel, so it’s not occupying your outlets.
- It opens and closes my HEAVY shades slowly and easily. I didn’t think it could.
- It works every day – it has been working for six months.
Cons
- It was $150 each, which is not cheap.
- There is a little device on the window that is visible & a hanging cord, which is not attractive. I can tape and hide the cord, but I haven’t done it yet.
- The machine makes a medium-pitch sound that is not very pleasant.
- It opens and closes them S-L-O-W. I am not bothered by the speed, but it might bother you.
Motorization Device Saved Me A Lot Of Money
I had $1600 X 3 automated, plain Jane, machine-made Roman shades in my cart. I abandoned my cart when I realized I had another option. The automation device saved me a LOT of money.
The house gets beaten by the sun all day, and the automation helps it stay cool and hopefully saves electricity.
I no longer worry about the sun destroying my expensive rug and upholstery and having to replace it in a few years. Future saving for the win!
Final Thoughts On Motorized Roman Shades
If you want Roman shades that actually look beautiful and are usable, you need motorized Roman shades. No way to get around it.
If their only purpose is aesthetic, then you don’t need this. I wanted the aesthetic AND everyday usability, and I finally achieved that with Soma.
Curtains were not an option for my situation because that would have been a fire hazard, so with this device, I could have it all. I could have it ALL!
That made me a very happy woman!