Update: well I WAS in love. After a year I'm having to replace at least one of these shades. Middle of the night one of the plastic clasps snapped, the blind dropped to the bottom of the window due to the spring losing tension and the blind is now useless. Better yet, they don't have the size available for the one that broke so I had to purchase one an inch too small. Not pleased. If another one breaks I'll be switching to something else. Personally I don't think blinds should break that easily. We don't have children, they were gently used and well cared for, so this is kind of ridiculous.

Original post: These are by far one of my favorite purchases. We use them nonstop. They really help keep the house dark and cool. I also love the option to do top down if we want some privacy, but also want light. For reference, we purchased the gray option and they are a medium gray (just looks darker in this picture).