I think this style of shade can be nice if done right. We have a window valance from Target serving as a place-holder cafe curtain on the bottom half of our kitchen window right now. (I'm planning to DIY either a new cafe curtain or a full shade soon.) We also frosted just the bottom half of our hall bathroom window for privacy but left the top alone so we can still see the tree tops.

I wonder how they'd work with windows like mine that pull in to be cleaned? For years I've wanted to try this but wasn't sure if it would work?

looove the bottom curtain look! i have massive—seriously, too massive sometimes—windows that offer beautiful views and full curtains are just too stuffy for my attic apartment. cafe curtains are the best answer for me (and best looking!). i found a lovely sheer pinky cream linen fabric and it's so lovely :) and @HernandoHouse, i did the same with my bathroom, too! :)

that's a super cute sofa..where can i get that!!??

Don't like this at all. I just feel like it looks awkward and breaks up the window too much. I would prefer super sheer white curtains in spaces that want to maximize light and retain a little privacy. Even a sheer window film on the lower panes of glass would be preferable to me.

AT said: "They offer privacy at the human activity level"

Just what the heck does this mean? And where does this observation come from?

We would like to point out that the first photo appears to be a regular top-down shade, white with blue on the bottom portion.

We also like the sofa.

@E.I.F.: The shades I had were top down as well as bottom up, so I could keep them at the bottom when I wanted privacy, but bring them all the way to the top to clean my tilt-in windows. Mine were from select blinds.com.
I miss those shades...I rent now and have horrible, ugly vertical blinds.

This makes sense for street-level (or top floor) windows not overlooked by higher windows nearby. It's useless for privacy in most city windows, though--the neighbors in the floors above you across the street can look right in.

I believe the middle photo is of shades that are mounted in the middle of tall windows. A true bottom mount roman shade would fold up to the place where it is mounted... which would be the bottom of the window not the middle.

Even a sheer window film on the lower panes of glass would be preferable to me.

I used to have film on my lower window panes, but of course that afforded me no privacy when the windows were open --- most of the time during spring, summer, and early autumn.

Now I have off-white full-length burlap curtains (almost to the floor) shielding our tall windows and, behind those, floursack half-curtains over the lower pane to provide greater privacy.

It works well: we get plenty of light filtering in the top pane even when the curtains are closed, and plenty of privacy even when the windows are open.

I've been interested in bottom-mounted window shades and seen clever DIY versions online, on TV, and in books. They seem like a great idea, yet I never see them in homes I visit. I haven't tried them because their installation would require sills replacement, they cost more than some other treatments, and more recently because my dogs probably would wreck them.