When I first received the curtains I was disappointed because they were MUCH darker than the photos on the site. I ordered light gray but they ended up being somewhere between the light gray and charcoal gray, as those colors appear in the photos. I was going to return them and keep looking, but I thought I'd hang one up and live with it for a day or two before deciding, and it actually still worked with our room color and accents, so I kept them. Very lightweight but still room-darkening. There is a little bit of a sheen to them, and the material is almost like somewhat of a crushed velvet look, where the design has a little bit of texture to it. I didn't mind it, and actually once you iron them (which you HAVE to do, with any curtains that come folded up packaged - I don't know why people are so surprised by this), it's not as noticeable. I love the design - it's stylish but this design isn't overstated or dramatic.