The color is as expected, but the fabric is quite delicate, and if it gets caught on something sharp, I don't think you can hide it (e.g. a catch on the fabric). They do a good job of blocking out light, and cold. I would advise anyone looking at these to check the width - most curtain panels I had looked at were 50" wide, so I assumed these were the same. However, after they arrived I realized they were only 40" wide so I had to buy another panel for each window to cover the windows.