We had seen these type of shades at hotels and they are great! Daytine privacy is near 100%, but night privacy is not so good with the lights on in the room. The Cassette Valance looks great for our inside mount! We have 6in walls and the windows are deep and the valance makes it look like the window was build with it. The valance is sturdy even at a width of almost 70in. Regarding measuring, if you are getting the valance, you might want an extra 1/4 in. One window I gave the EXACT measurement and it fit, but a bit tight. We got these on 40% off sale. So our value score is a bit skewed. We will buy again when they have the next "never-again" sale :-)