Pottery Barn Kids Cotton Window Shades

September 28, 2014 by Debra Lynn Dadd

Question from Melissa

Hi Debra,

I am decorating my daughter’s room and am having a hard time finding ready-made window treatments that I am comfortable using (all I want is a simple white cotton shade, which does not seem to exist these days . . .).

Pottery Barn Kids makes a variety of cotton and linen Roman shades but all have a blackout lining that is described as 80 percent polyester and 20 percent cotton blend. I have read other posts on your site in which concern was expressed about acrylic blackout lining. Is the polyester/cotton lining in these Pottery Barn shades ok, or would you have concerns with these too?

Debra’s Answer

My concern about the blackout lining is that polyester/cotton blends are generally treated with a formaldehyde-based finish. Even if you asked Pottery Barn about this, it’s likely that they wouldn’t know.

It’s fairly easy to get this type of shade custom-made online or locally, and it’s not very expensive. If it were me I would do this and provide your own fabric.