Cutest patterned Roman shades, and outside mounting them

Cutest patterned Roman shades, and outside mounting them

• 4.17.2025

I’ve installed many Roman shades in my house, but only just now did I install any outside mount. Inside mount is typically the ideal, because then it doesn’t block any of the trim around your windows. But on some windows, there isn’t a deep enough trim, or maybe you don’t have trim and you want to make the window look taller. Or in my case, I didn’t want to block any of the light that I didn’t have to, and when you install inside mount, you automatically block the top 6+ inches of the window when the shade is folded up.

Outside Mount Patterned Roman Shades

I just got two very cute, patterned fabric Roman shades from Twopages, and installed them outside mount. Guess what, it was way easier than inside mount! And note as you read... my coupon code SUZANNAHSTANLEY gets you 15% off!

In the upstairs hall, this window faces north and does not need any covering for privacy since it's so high up. But it’s just so bare looking. I have that cute federal style mirror and I recently added a kid art gallery wall to the right, but the window itself was pretty sad looking. I didn’t really want curtains or something that we would need to maintain or move a lot. Twopages Curtains, one of my absolute favorite sources for beautiful, traditional inspired curtains (I have some of their Belgian linen ones with trim, tape in my living room, love!) but they also have these really cute gingham and striped pattern Roman shades. I've been using a lot of blue accents in my home lately, so I thought that this blue and white stripe would be a great addition to the upstairs hall, even though everything else is pretty neutral.

It was really easy to install, just drilling into the wall rather than up into the trim like you do when you do inside mount. See that here (and me balancing awkwardly on a stool because of that step)!

I think we'll only close it on the absolute hottest days of summer, because it gets hot up here and the shade will block some light and warmth through the glass. But most of the time, it's just a cute, decorated window now!

I also did an outside mount in our downstairs bathroom, because this window is pretty short and even though it gets plenty of western light in the afternoons, I didn’t want to block any of that with a longer folded fabric shade. I hung this one as high as I could, although ideally it would go even higher so that it doesn’t block any of the window, but you can see there’s some trim blocking it here. 

This is a cute little sage green stripe, which is kind of between the grey of the trim and the green of the wallpaper. Ideally, you would choose wallpaper and pattern Roman shade at the same time so the colors would coordinate, then paint the trim and vanity color pulled from the wallpaper, but this bathroom has gone through several iterations as my style has gotten more traditional, and I really do not want to repaint that window trim! So, a compromise it is.

The other cool thing about these Roman shades is that they have a little spring/slow pole mechanism so to roll them up you pull down and then watch them do their thing. See that here.

Twopages Curtains is a fantastic source for custom pinch pleat linen trimmed curtains like I have in my living room, but also has some great Roman shades. My code SUZANNAHSTANLEY gets you 15% off!

This post was not sponsored, but thanks to Twopages for sending me these Roman shades.