Thanks for the tips. I just emailed Spectrolab and will report back with my findings. It looks like the application will consist of a laminated sheet of glass with a high-opacity plastic film between the two sheets. Throwing light between the shower occupant and the glass is definitely better than behind the occupant because this will cast a shadow and increase the chance of a defined silhouette visible from outside. I do plan on putting two recessed 6" can lights inside the shower. In addition, I will have one low-power dimmable LED up-light on the roof eave (exterior) directly behind the glass. This will create a unique lighting effect for the frosted glass shower wall when the shower isn't in use (imagine a glowing wall from inside the bathroom). Basically, I can have a cool exterior lighting effect combined with an even cooler interior lighting effect with this setup. I hope it all works out. Oruboris - Why would the window frame be spoiled by the water? From the interior, the tile will be laid up to and on top of the glass. From the exterior, this would be a traditional glass in standard aluminum window frame set up. Maybe I'm missing something?

Thanks for all your suggestions! I tried pushing the bugs out with a long skinny dowel but couldn't get them out intact, and I ended up with scattered bug parts along the vanes. I suspect a pipe cleaner would do the same. I'm going to try using some sticky tape on the end of the dowel next - hopefully that will do the trick!

My parents have them (or knock-offs) and they still look nice to me. Their home/decor is contemporary, if that helps. As an alternative, if you are hesitant to get the Silhouettes, take a look at the HD Designer Screen Shades (we got the the Flat Roman style), rather than the Silhouettes (we only have them in two recently reno'd rooms so far--the rest will get them as we go along!). We have our windows open a lot in the warmer months, and I envisioned the vanes between the sheer panels of the Silhouettes (which would be in the "open" postion during the day) becoming coated with dust and grime (the tops of our basemolding collect dust on a daily basis). I like the clean look of the screen shades, and the fact that they let light in, even when in their "normal" lowered position. Some "fabrics" are more sheer (open-weaved) than others. In our small guest bath, we opted to forgo a valance, but we got one for our "office" to give it a bit more "presence," while still looking sleek and non-fussy. HTH

Like others, just wanted to give everyone thanks for the ideas and to show my experience (based on everyone’s suggestions). Was always afraid of cleaning my HD’s as they appear so shear. Even though my HD Silhouettes have been up for just over 20 years now, I have been hesitant to professionally clean due to costs (over $1000 dollars estimated-was told it was this or spend over $6000 to replace). Given inspiration by this thread, I decided to do it myself and wanted to “payback” the thread with my experience. Given the cost of professional cleaning, I decided to DIY since it I messed up, I would replace with something else that was not so delicate (called HD and they would not sell “replacement” fabric so would have to replace all units). I could not use the bathtub method as many of my shades are too large (7ft W x 5ft L). Also, did not want to use sheets on the ground or swimming pool method as I did not wish to risk tearing/delaminating the shade vanes and it would have been tough to get to the center of the shades to clean and rinse. I did purchase then returned a cheap $39 inflatable pool but decided it was not worth the effort. Bissel was an option but some said it was messy and I didn’t want to risk dripping onto white/beige carpet if using when shades were still hung. Instead, I hung the shades up on a pergola in my backyard with some bungie cords and 1” nylon webbing with plastic buckles I bought on Amazon for $7. I rinsed the shades (first with the vanes in an open position, then again on each side with the vanes closed) to get rid of as much grime as I could using a variable spray garden nozzle (started with flat spray, and increased to a jet spray). I then sprayed each side (vanes closed) with about 1/2 ounce Dawn (as degreasing detergent) mixed with 1:2 Oxyclean/water in a spray bottle. This was followed by a thorough rinse on each side using the garden hose on jet spray to get rid of all the remaining grime and stains (started from the top, working out from the middle to ”eject” the dirt out to the sides). I followed up by using a leaf blower to dry the Silhouettes so I could immediately hang them back up. I already had a cheap one that I use to blow excess water out of molding/crevices and grill work when I clean my cars but a SunJoe electric leaf blower can be purchased on Amazon for as little as $19. Again, I started blow drying from the top, working my way out from the middle to the sides to expel all the water (and get any excess water out of the headrail and bottom rail). I found that this worked best first with the vanes closed, then a light going over with the vanes in the open position. Because the material (at least of the standard Silhouettes) is some form of polyester, the material dried very quickly, with no puckering nor delamination. A couple of observations. First, much to my surprise, the polyester material (at least on the standard) Silhouettes is not as delicate as I first thought. I can’t speak for any other brand or material, but the Hunter Douglas standard ones are very resilient, just don’t poke the shear material! You can be quite vigorous with the water pressure, much more so than I thought, to thoroughly clean and rinse the shades. They are a quality product (at least the ones I bought over 20 years ago, and the price I guess reflects that). Secondly, I would recommend leaving them in a “down” position with the vanes in an open position once you hang them back up to ensure they thoroughly dry. They will not pucker so you don’t need to roll them up as one person suggested as this may lead to the headrail components remaining wet and the shades not completely drying. From removal to reinstallation, I got it down to about 20 minutes per shade (had a lot of practice, lots of shades, lol). For those that were asking for photos: Before (right side before cleaning), after cleaning (on left) of two adjacent shades, left side started even worse than right side (see second photo) since left side window opens. After is back to original color #128 misty almond: Another before photo of the left side (pretty gross!) Hanging from pergola before cleaning: After cleaning: Variable spray hose attachment: Spray mixture and bottle: Summary: about $35 worth of equipment used (plus the cost of soap and water) vs. over $1000. Can’t imagine that the +$1000 method would have significantly better results. Anyway, sorry for the long post. Hope it helps someone, YMMV.