Let's talk about WINDOW TREATMENTS!

[pantsparty]

Contain your excitement!!!!

We will soon have to start this process at our house, and I know nothing about covering up windows, except covering them up with bed sheets is frowned upon after a certain age.

I ordered a drapes catalog and I like the looks of some of them, but are they a PITA to clean, or keep dust-free?

I know I don't want blinds, or at least the cheaper ones. I just don't like how they look. We have plantation shutters in our rental right now, and they're okay, but I don't love them. I definitely don't want them for bedrooms because I'd prefer bedrooms be as dark as possible.

HALP!

[wannabe]

We have shutters on our windows. I like the clean look of them and they do a good job of keeping the light out.

I hate drapes.

[pantsparty]

Jul 6, 2013 22:41:39 GMT -5 pagas said:

We have plantation shutters. They keep things super dark.

Maybe there are different kinds. They keep a room pretty dark, but they definitely let light in between the slats. I'd prefer a room to be pitch black. I like to sleep in!

[pantsparty]

Jul 6, 2013 22:46:48 GMT -5 rvan0905 said:

Once you are actually in the house, you'll realize where you need the most light control. For us, the front of the house faces east, so the bedrooms in the front and the kitchen in the back all needed the most light control possible. We did 2" white faux wooden blinds from Home Depot with heavy lined curtains. They are actually pretty well made; my almost 2 year old hasn't been able to do anything to them.

We used bamboo blinds in the living room because we don't need as much light control, and we are putting heavy curtains in to help keep our energy bills down during more extreme weather. We ordered them from JCP.

Drapes need to be cleaned every so often, but not that much in reality. We are probably going to get ours cleaned every two years. The type of cleaning will depend on the material the curtains are made out of.

What look are you interested in going for?

This is really good advice. Obviously we're just going to have to feel it out before making any decisions. I know the front of the house faces east, and our bedroom and living room/kitchen faces west. 

Thanks!

[overture]

I dig Roman shades

[pantsparty]

At our hotel room this weekend, the curtains were MOTORIZED! Now I only want those, LOL. I'm sure they're affordable!

[starlily]

We just got our plantation shutters in today. I love them. We are probably going with roman shades for the patio doors though. Maybe with drapes to add in some color & texture.

My parents always had drapes & sheers. The issue they ran into was that eventually the sheers & the linings of the drapes would break down and tear from the sun exposure. And their house is in SF, so nowhere near as sunny as your new digs. They weren't buying cheap drapes either.

[starlily]

Jul 6, 2013 23:29:09 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

We're getting plantation shutters, I think they look nice and neat. H likes how easy they are to clean. But hot damn they aren't cheap. I think @starlily just got shutters so maybe ask her for a rec?

They aren't cheap, but they're a hell of a lot cheaper if you find a company on your own rather than going through the design center pantsparty! Like 1/3 of the cost.

We liked the company we used and I can email you the info if you ever want it. We also got a bunch of cards left at our front door once our phase started moving in, which I'm sure will happen to you too.

[pantsparty]

We didn't even look at blinds in the design center, starlily. I appreciate any recs!

[mrsjuleshs]

We have blinds, the nice wooden ones on all of our windows and also have drapes. Most of them are eclipse drapes because it gets so damn hot here and our house faces east so the majority of windows are on the west and east sides of the house. They are a savior for our electricity bill. I love having the drapes but being able to open them for some light without letting the whole world see into my house.

[mrsjuleshs]

My master room had a sliding door facing west, so tons of light. We have black out film in the glass and eclipse curtains. It is super dark and cool in the room. I love being able to sleep in on the weekends because it is so dark.

[pantsparty]

Jul 6, 2013 23:50:23 GMT -5 killercupcake said:

I will gladly discuss this with you. We just measured a few windows we want covered ASAP. I have no idea what to do though. We want shutters eventually, but will definitely have to wait to do the whole house. And am I supposed to match the wood to my furniture?

Why is this so hard?

I've always thought shutters were kind of design neutral. They really don't need to match EXACTLY.

Obviously with drapes it's a different story. 

I'm pretty sure we won't do the entire house at once, especially since some of the rooms won't have any furniture in them for awhile. 

[McGavin]

If you are going to do drapes I recommend Lowes for curtain rods. They have a great selection and super long lengths if you have large windows.

[fortnightlily]

Jul 6, 2013 23:08:09 GMT -5 HRH Queen Dick I said:

www.smithandnoble.com/category/shades/honeycomb-shades/classic-honeycomb-shades

we have the light filtering but they have blackout too

Yep, we just got honeycomb shades in the bedrooms and sunroom because of their supposed thermal benefits, too (traps hot/cold air).  We got the light filtering.  I didn't like the look of the blackout ones, and I figure if things get too light (they haven't so far) we can mount some drapes over them.

[pantsparty]

OMG. I just found a motorized curtain opener thingy. www.amazon.com/Bronze-Center-Open-Motorized-Drapery-68-120/dp/B008X7GSEY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_2

We're getting it for at least our living room. I WANTS IT!

[maria120]

We have woven wood blinds on our main level.  They are beautiful and really go with anything I think.  My only regret is that we didn't get them with a privacy/blackout liner.  In our bedrooms upstairs we have 2" maple wood blinds.  I love those too.  I really think blinds are the way to go!

[Deleted]

If you like things pitch-black, nothing beats blackout curtains. We have them in both our master bedroom and living room (because of the movie screen).

In the kitchen, we have a rolling solar shade.

In the other bedrooms, we have wood blinds.

[pantsparty]

Jul 7, 2013 16:43:11 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

If you like things pitch-black, nothing beats blackout curtains. We have them in both our master bedroom and living room (because of the movie screen).

Oh, good point. Right now we have blinds in our living room, and even with them closed, it is too bright to watch TV during the day. 

I think we'll end up with some sort of blackout curtain / shutter combo. I like curtains for the big windows, but shutters or wood blinds probably make more sense for the smaller windows.