Best Home Fashion Premium Thermal Insulated Blackout Tie-Up Window Shade - Rod Pocket - Chocolate - 42" W x 63" L - (1 Panel)

As a retired Union Ironworker who spent almost my entire adult working life exposed to the elements and sun of the extreme spectrum of Northern Illinois weather, from not seeing above freezing from end of November to March, and rarely reaching even reaching 0 degrees in January and February to extreme heat and humidity from end of June to end of August with highs in upper 90s and humidity in the 90 plus percentage. When I would get home, I wanted to feel like I am indoors. I also suffer from allergies. After my parents past away, I bought out my siblings and was able to by my home outright. It worked out well because, Mom got sick a couple years after my father passed and I moved in to help take care of her. And one of the things we were planning before she passed was getting rid of the custom vertical blinds and eventually the wall to wall carpet(which is covering up beautiful honey oak hardwood floors) that was all the rage in the late 1980s. I am sure someone spent quite a sum of money having those blinds made and installed but not only did they not do a great job of blocking out light or drafts or blocking the afternoon sun and solar heat blasting through my living picture window which faces due west in the summer or the frigid drafts that slip through during our frigid winters so it was time for a change. The First Best Home Fashion Product I purchased were the Solid Thermal Insulated Blackout Curtain 52"W x 63"Lhttp://www.amazon.com/Solid-Thermal-Insulated-Blackout-Curtain/dp/B001AFA5LI/ref=pd_sim_hg_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=08YJQMEBAYC178CVCMH3 , which come in sets of two panels but I needed three panels to cover the entire window bank. So I was able to use three in living room and the remaining panel in a room which has only one window. At $39 for two insulated blackout panels the price cannot be beat. AND YES THEY ARE VERY EFFECTIVE AT BLOCKING OUT LIGHT AND SO FAR IN OUR EXTREME VARIED FALL TEMPS THEY HAVE HELPED KEEP THE LIVING ROOM COOL BY BLOCKING SOLAR HEAT AND WE HAVE HAD SOME EVENINGS IN LOWER 20s AND I FOR THE FIRST TIME COULD SIT ON MY COUCH WITH THE HEAT OFF AND NOT HAVE TO PUT ON A SWEATER. So when I spotted these at the bottom of the Amazon Product page among the items customers who purchased the curtains also purchased. So since the Tie-Up.shade solid Insulated thermal blackout is also came in the same colors, I assumed they must be made out of the same material but I ordered a test shade to make absolutely sure. AND TO MY DELIGHT YES THEY ARE THE SAME EXACT MATERIAL AND MATCH PERFECTLY. So I have two bedrooms left to do. My son's and my own and while there is no question as to what brand I am choosing BEST HOME FASHION, i am faced with the decision of if I am going to cover all the windows with the insulated curtains or the larger double window in each room with the curtains and the smaller single windows the matching tie up shade. The cost will be about the same because I allowed him to choose what color he wanted and he chose burgundy and that is the color I am going to install in my room. So I can either buy 3 sets of the insulated curtains which come in pairs and split one pair up and hang a panel in each room or 2 sets of curtains and 2 matching tie up shades. I will make up my mind over the next few days as I see if the insulating performance of the tie up shade is as excellent as the curtains. I was expecting to have to spend a ton of money to rid my house of the quickly deteriorating and out of style vertical blinds. But for the quality of product you get these are very inexpensive. I also recommend installing redi shade pleated paper shades not only are they very inexpensive and super easy to install and able to cut the exact size to fit each window perfectly, they come in either original white or blackout black, and other colors, in widths of either 36 or 48 inches and cost between $30 to $34 for a box of six. You just measure the inside of the window, mark the paper shade and use a sharp kitchen knife or utility knife to cut them to sides, they also help to cut down with drafts. I hung the curtains and these with Kenney Ball Deco Window Curtain Rods which are $11.70 for 28-48 inch rods and $15 for 48-86 inch rods. So will be able to completely replace all my window treatments 14 windows in all, for $461 if I do all curtains and $467 if I put up one of these in each bedroom. I KNOW YOU CAN PUT THIS ON SMALLER WINDOWS BUT I RECOMMEND EXTENDING THE CURTAIN RODS PAST SO THE SHADE IS SPREAD OUT COMPLETELY, I HUNG THEM USING THE EXISTING HOLES FROM THE BLINDS BUT EVEN AT SIX INCH NARROW I DID NOT LIKE HOW THE BLIND WAS BUNCHED UP AT TOP SO I JUST SPREAD THE ROD SO I COULD SPREAD THE BLIND OUT FLAT AND IT LOOKED MUCH BETTER. Also you can tie the blind up as shown in the picture but I rolled mine up somewhat tight and meticulously and then tied the blind up and think it looks much better. I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL THE FINAL PANELS ARRIVE BECAUSE JUST AS MY LIVING ROOM WINDOW FACES DUE WEST AND GETS FULL AFTERNOON SUN....MY LARGE BEDROOM WINDOW FACES DUE EAST AND THE SUN BLASTS RIGHT IN EVERY MORNING. So I cannot recommend the Best Home Fashion Thermal Window Treatments enough.

I first purchased the rod-pocket curtain version of this thermal blackout window covering in beige, but the color was horrid--a yellowish-gray (kind of mustard-putty), not the light off-white beige as shown in the photos. I never even hung them up to try the light blocking. So, I bought a different color in the rod-pocket curtain--sage. That color was good, material looks pretty good for a blackout curtain (not great, but OK), and it blocked a good bit of light, but certainly not 99%; I could see light coming through the material, not just around edges. But, because those curtains have a heading that bunches up on the rod, light also comes out around the top a good bit. Another issue was the length was definitely off--the 63" apparently included the 1" heading on that curtain (which is very unusual), and the 2 panels in the set (they come in sets of 2) were not even the same length--one was about 62" WITH heading, the other 63", so not only did they hang shorter than the expected 63" from rod (61" and 62"), one was very noticeably shorter than the other. Ugh.I decided to try a darker color to see if it would block more light, and decided to try two tie up shades hoping that with no heading the length might be right. These shades are also narrower than the rod-pocket curtain panels, & have no heading, so I thought they wouldn't bunch up as much on the rod, and that this smoother hanging shade wouldn't let as much light in at the top. By this time, I had decided to just use the blackout shade as a "liner" behind a nicer looking curtain since I already knew these things aren't really great looking as curtains. I didn't plan to tie them up & thought I might just remove the ties.I got the tie up shades in chocolate, and this dark brown shade does block light very well (better than the sage), and I didn't even see light coming through where the ties were sewn on, as I had feared. The lack of a heading & the more narrow panels did help with the bunching on the rod. BUT, the length is even worse! One of these is just over 62" long and the other is 64" long! I can't hang these side by side, and I can't hang them as a liner behind a curtain that is truly 63" long. Getting pretty fed up with the poor quality of this brand. The material looks and feels SO much better than the standard plastic-like blackout liners, and this dark one did block enough light, but there have been quality problems with every version of these things I've tried.At this point, I don't know whether to return these shades and start over with yet another blackout brand (I had already tried 2 other "blackout" curtains that were nowhere near blackout), or just hem these darn things myself & use them as liners like I intended. I can handle both of them being 62" if I use them as liners behind a 63" curtain. I'd have to go through this with 2 other shades for my other window, too. The decent blackout quality of the darker brown and the relatively nice material/draping of these (vs. standard blackout liners) makes me think it might be worth the effort to fix them. Luckily, I have a sewing machine and can sort-of sew. If you don't/can't, these might not work for you unless you only need one in the room and length is no big deal.