Making window treatments work for you

Window treatments can actually affect the curb value of your home – that is, people can see them from the street, so they contribute to the initial impression people get from outside. Choosing the right window treatments for your home will make your home more impressive to those seeing it for the first time. More importantly, it can dramatically improve the looks of your home on the inside.

The options

Gone are the days when curtains were all we had to choose from. Some of the many choices, which can be mixed and matched in many cases, include:

Drapes
Sheers
Plastic blinds in all sorts of colors
Wooden blinds or shutters
Valances

You can put drapes on windows that have blinds, or a valance above some attractive wooden shutters. There are many ways to combine elements to come up with the perfect window treatment for your taste and your needs. Go to a store that sells them to see catalogs and decor books with hundreds of combinations.

You know what your taste is, but what about your needs when it comes to window treatments. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Sheers let in lots of light. This is great for rooms that tend to look dark and/or small otherwise, but it also lets in a lot of heat. Double or triple paned UV-tinted glass can help keep a room cool while still letting in a great deal of light.
Heavy drapes can be gorgeous, but they shut out light and generally make rooms look dreary. Tied back, with sheers in front of them, they will still let in plenty of light and add that lovely feeling of rich fabric without making your home depressingly dark.
Wooden shutters have a somewhat tropical association. They are wonderful in rooms that are mostly white. Try to coordinate them with the room’s furnishings or wooden flooring.
Blinds are ideal for windows that let in too much light at some times of day and too little at others. You can adjust blinds in a number of ways to get the light just right. But they can look a bit stark on their own. Add a valance or some drapes tied back behind them.

New windows?

Are new windows worth buying? It depends on how your old ones are doing. But some of the new technology – triple panes and UV-tinting – can do amazing things for your home. Double and triple panes do a shockingly good job of keeping the weather outside and your heating and cooling inside. For example, if your power goes out for a few hours on a very hot day, these windows will keep it nearly as cool as if the central air was still running. This obviously helps keep energy costs down, which means the windows will pay for themselves relative to old-style windows that aren’t nearly as effective.

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