Have you ever seen the movie The Holiday? It’s that one where Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz switch houses over the holidays, trying to escape from the reality of their love lives falling apart. There’s this one moment in the movie where Kate Winslet enters Cameron Diaz’s bedroom for the first time, and she notices a button on the side of the nightstand. She presses it and the shades automatically glide down in synchronized motion. I remember the first time I saw this and how I thought it was the coolest thing ever. And of course, I automatically dreamed one day I could have the same thing. Well fast forward to the present day and the dream is becoming reality. Recently, thanks to Rolli Shades, I installed my own set of motorized shades in the bedroom and I’m just as giddy as the first time I watched The Holiday. And today, I’m going to tell you all about them!
Picking a Shade Type & Color
The first step in the process was deciding on a shade type and color. Rolli Shades offers two options: black out (suggested for sleeping) or light filtering (for privacy). Since these were going in my bedroom, this was an easy decision, and I chose the blackout.
The second step was choosing a shade color, and this was a bit more difficult for me. Recently I color drenched my primary bedroom in a dark green that reads warm and I also installed these camel colored velvet drapes on the windows. The drapes are staying put – I just won’t have to open and close them each day now. So, I wanted to pick a color that would work with the drapes, the wall color and read warm.
I ordered a bunch of samples from Rolli and narrowed it down to four choices: Truffle, Slate, Baltic and Pepper. While Slate was the closest match to the walls themselves, I was worried it was reading a little cool, so I opted for Truffle.
Measure twice, order once
The next step was measuring my windows for my custom shades. Just like anything you measure, it’s best to measure more than once to ensure you get the most accurate numbers. Last year I invested in this tape measure that has the fractions listed out, which in my opinion, makes measuring a bit easier.
First was the inside of my windows, measuring from inside the casing, side to side. The second was measuring from top to bottom. I decided to measure both windows just to be safe, as my house is 37 years old, and I didn’t want to assume everything is equal.
Production & Installation
After I sent my measurements into Rolli, the turn-around time was surprisingly quick. I had my custom shades inside of a week, which I was super impressed with! The shades arrived with everything I needed to install and included my coveted remote (I could not wait to press the button!).
So, here’s the best part of this entire process: installing these rolling shades went faster than installing my draperies. Seriously it was so easy. Rolli included a link to the installation instructions (there’s also a video if you’d rather go that route) and it couldn’t have been easier. The instructions walk you through pairing your shades with the remote, then you install the brackets on your window casing, and then you set the shade start and stop points. Literally I was done inside of 30 minutes and without any hiccups!
Using My New Motorized Shades in the Bedroom
I can’t explain how excited I was to press the down button on these motorized shades for the first time. I felt like a kid at Christmas and the entire experience gave me all The Holiday vibes. After sleeping with these shades for several weeks now, I can share that it’s a true blackout experience just like my drapes were. And waking up in the morning has never been so exciting! I roll over, press the button and watch my new motorized shades roll up in sync!
If you’re thinking about installing motorized shades I couldn’t recommend Rolli Shades enough. You can learn more about them here, and you can also use the code ALLISONSKIFF to get 5% off your entire order. Let me know if you have any questions!
