You could do a fake soft roman shade and then just use a plain roller shade underneath that you pull down every night.

Mounting them above the frame sounds perfect for maximizing the light. I too worry about daily use breaking the cords over time, but the cord that is used is quite strong, and re-stringing a roman shade is fairly simple. The fabric is not going to be bunched up above the window, it's going to be in graceful folds. I say go for it!

I did Romans in my living room. My ceilings are also 8 feet. I mounted above the molding to maximize light. Here are some pics. In one you can see a side view how it is mounted about 6" above molding. Total length of shades are 64". Let me know if you want more pics. Closure is manual with cleat mounted on frame.

This post was edited by mamorella on Sat, May 31, 14 at 10:21

No worry...it will look fine.

I made cloud shades and did an outside mount at the old house...8' ceilings. Romans stack much more compactly than these...cloud shades are designed to still be pouffy even when fully extended. I had romans in my old LR and they stacked back very nicely....sorry no pics.

The only time I had trouble with the cords was when we had the duettes and our cat liked to use the cords as dental floss...we had to put cleats up high to keep the cords away from him. The cords on the romans are typically heavier so not a problem. I used them daily and they never wore out or broke.

(This pic reminds me about that room...I did the faux finish on the wall...hey it was the 90s...and DH didn't like the corners as it's hard to get in there. So I painted the ceiling white down an inch to cover the messy corner and then used auto pin striping adhesive tape to get the gold lines on to make the transition...came out really well.)

I actually add extra folds to my shades because they look nicer with more fabric in the folds.
However, I don't think relaxed shades are a good option, if you're going to open and close daily. They'll need lots of dressing, each and every time you open and close them. Unless you don't mind doing that, I'd go with lyban's idea if you really want relaxed, or just make regular romans.

Thank you for your responses!

lyban, that is a good thought about doing a faux Roman with a shade underneath. Something to consider.

graywings, thanks for the tip that re-stringing them is fairly simple. I don't want to have to re-do the WTs for a long time, if ever.

mamorella, thank you so much for posting pics of your shades. Yours look lovely, your entire room is lovely! I am thinking of having a soft curve to the shade, but otherwise what I am thinking of is exactly what you have.
Do you have to arrange the folds so that they stack nicely when you pull them up?

annie, thanks for the picture. You made the shade? That is impressive! I understand about the 90's. I just removed the wallpaper in the bedroom that I put up in that era. I thought it was beautiful for a long time, but it is time for a change. And thank you for the voice of experience on the shade cords.

shadylady, uh oh, I didn't think about the issue of having to arrange folds nicely in a relaxed shade. What mamorella has is essentially what I am thinking of, except with a bit of a dip to the shade. I'm hoping she will chime in again with her experience on how hers folds.

If they are made correctly, I wouldn't think they'd need a lot of fussing, even relaxed romans...the fabric can be trained to fall in consistent pleats...

Not sure what that means, because I know how to make relaxed romans correctly, but fabric is fabric, and with only two columns of rings on either side, fabric may do what it wants. It may train to a point, but will always need a little fussing.

Another thing you can do, is to make a regular roman, but leave a few folds on the bottom, with only the rings at the side, and held together with small cable ties, to get that curve. That way the curved part will just stay the same.

Thanks, barb! I love how the romans turned out. I actually wanted the relaxed version, but it would have added to the cost and I couldn't justify it at the time.

I don't have to fuss with them one iota. I would think that unless your windows are super wide and the fabric is very sloppy, that even with a relaxed version you wouldn't have to fuss with them the way they are strung.

shadylady, I will ask about making a regular roman and getting the curve at the bottom the way you suggested. Thank you so much, the issue of arranging fabric in a relaxed shade was not on my radar at all.

The glass area of my windows is 59 inches and my roman shade is inside mounted but I thought I would chime in because I love the way my shades fold up neatly behind and attached valance. When we bought this house the windows had hobbled or waterfall roman shades that covered several inches more of the glass. My current flat fold shades are only 8 inches long when pulled up. Also, I have had the shades for about 8 years and they are put up and down almost daily. There has been no issues with the strings,

badgergal, I'm glad you chimed in. I've never seen Romans stack horizontally like that; they look terrific! And thanks for the vote on the cords. Even tho I am not sure at this point what exact form my Roman shades should take, I am feeling a whole lot better about the issue of the cords.