How to Choose Window Treatments for a New Home

A new home is an opportunity to play with new design styles and express your personal taste. You may not have considered window treatment ideas yet, but they’re a practical and stylish part of every room. Don’t make it a last-minute decision. Instead, put some thought into how to choose window treatments for a new home. If you aren’t sure where to begin, we’ll walk you through everything new homebuyers need to know about picking window treatments for a new house.

Questions to Ask Before Choosing Window Treatments for a New Home

Finding window treatments for a new house opens up plenty of possibilities. From colors and finishes to materials and treatment styles, there is no shortage of options — making it a tricky choice for first-time homebuyers and experienced ones alike. Get ideas by considering these questions:

1. What’s Your Home’s Design Theme?

Determine your home’s design theme to get window treatment ideas that will suit the space. The style of your house’s exterior and the way you decorate the inside will contribute to the design theme, which could be one or a combination of the following:

• Modern homes feature clean and simple lines.
• Contemporary homes use design features of today.
• Minimalist homes use a simple color palette and few details.
• Industrial homes combine modern elements with old details, like wooden beams or exposed brick.
• Mid-century modern homes take retro inspiration with organic shapes and unique colors.
• Scandinavian homes use white color palettes and natural elements.
• Traditional homes use classic details with dark wood tones and ornate fabrics and patterns.
• Transitional homes combine elements from traditional, modern and contemporary designs.

2. Do You Want Inside or Outside Mount Treatments?

Think about the type of operation and style you want for your window treatments to decide if you’ll use an inside or outside mount. Interior and exterior window treatments offer different options and benefits for your home. Interior styles are simple to adjust, whereas you won’t be able to adjust an exterior window treatment as easily unless it’s motorized. Awnings, shutters and other exterior designs alter your home’s facade, while interior styles impact your home’s design on the inside.

3. How Much Privacy Do You Need?

Knowing how much privacy you need will help determine the opacity of your window treatments. It will also determine how often you leave the treatments closed or if you need a convenient way to close them. Determine how much privacy you need by considering:

• The room you’re adding treatments to: Some areas need privacy more than others, which you can base on what way a room faces. Perhaps a window faces your backyard and no one can see in. You’ll still want window treatments there, but they can be sheerer than treatments on windows that face the street or neighbors.
• If you’re at street level: Homes at the street level may need more privacy from window treatments compared to second-level apartments. If anyone can walk by your home and see inside from street level, you’ll want adequate window treatments.
• The proximity of your neighbors: Even if you’re in an apartment, you may have apartment buildings nearby or across the street. Anyone below, above, or at eye level with your windows might be able to see inside, meaning you’ll need window treatments. If you’re moving to a new home, you should also consider how close your new neighbors are to decide how much privacy you need.

A good test of how much privacy you need is to look out your window. If you can easily see passersby on the street or windows of neighboring houses, they can probably see into your windows.

Why Are Window Treatments Important?

As you’re considering other aspects of your new home, you might wonder — are window treatments necessary? They’re an essential part of interior and exterior decor, so whether you follow window treatment trends or pick something that suits your style, you’ll get these benefits:

• Privacy: As a homeowner, window treatments are essential for privacy. You want areas of your home, especially bedrooms and bathrooms, to have privacy from passersby and neighbors. Window treatments are stylish ways to do that while maintaining your window’s function to let in light and air.
• Sun protection: If you want to keep the sun out of your home, whether to protect your furniture and floors from fading or yourself from UV rays, window treatments will help.
• Efficiency: You lose about 30% of your home’s heating energy through the windows. Using window coverings can help your home retain heat in the colder seasons and keep sunshine and heat out during hot seasons.
• Decoration: A furnished room without window treatments may look incomplete. Window furnishings are essential accessories that tie the room together.

Tips for Your New Home’s Window Treatments

First-time homeowners may want to consider these tips for selecting the perfect window treatments for a new house:

• Think of the whole house: Consider the whole house from the outside in. Think about your interior decorating choices and your home’s exterior to choose window treatments that suit everything.
• Know that consistency is key: Tie every room of your house together by being consistent with your interior window treatments. Even if every room in your new home has a slightly different style, use simple yet stylish treatments to stay consistent.
• Remember curb appeal: If you’re choosing exterior types of window treatments, remember the curb appeal of your home. Exterior shutters and awnings add practicality and style to your home when you make the right selection.
• Choose early to help you settle in: Since you’re moving to a new home, you’ll want to settle in as soon as possible. Window treatments will make the house feel more like a comfortable home. Try to order window treatments as soon as you can to make settling into your home easier.

Choosing Window Treatments for Your New Home

When choosing new home window treatments, a few considerations will help you select the right ones. You want window coverings that offer:

• Durability: Select quality window treatments that will last much longer than the mass-produced options stores offer. You’ll save money and stress over time because you won’t have to repair or replace your window treatments.
• Neutral style: Trends change and so do your tastes with time. Consider timeless window treatments in a neutral style and color. Adapt them to suit future home designs without having to replace every window treatment in your home. That’ll save you time and money later.
• Elegance and function: Just because window treatments are functional doesn’t mean they can’t be more. Choose stylish accents for your windows to get a practical addition that enhances your decor.

Types of Window Treatments

As you’re exploring new home window treatments, you have various styles to select from. You can even motorize many window treatments for the ultimate convenience. At the push of a button, you can open or close your window treatments to adjust the lighting and privacy you have in a room. Whether you select motorized or manual window accents, explore your options with these types of window treatments:

1. Blinds

These window treatments consist of slats and can be considered hard treatments because of their material. Blinds come in wood, wood alternatives and metal, like aluminum. If you want a familiar window treatment for your home, go with blinds. They’re among timeless window treatments and are available in vertical and horizontal options.

Homeowners choose blinds largely due to their versatility. Blinds offer customizable coverage for your windows, letting you adjust the lighting and privacy based on how open or closed you have them. You might be picturing mass-produced vinyl blinds when you think about this window treatment, but stylish options exist.

Wood and wood-alternative blinds create a warm atmosphere, especially in darker wood tones. They also come in light colors or white to brighten up a room. Choose an option that offers slat size variations to customize your new house window treatments further. If your home is on the modern or contemporary side, consider aluminum blinds. These sleek treatments combine durability with a clean style, and you’ll easily find a selection of colors, finishes and textures to customize your blinds.

2. Shades

Select from horizontal and vertical shade designs. Shades are considered soft options because they feature fabric and other woven materials, providing elegant touches to any room in your new home. At Allure Window Treatments, we offer these types of window coverings:

• Honeycomb shades: This option combines function, style and energy efficiency. Honeycomb shades, also called accordion and cellular shades, have two or more layers of material that create air chambers, which are excellent insulators.
• Roman shades: These shades feature pleats and folds for a soft shade option. You’ll find roman shades in a wide variety of fabrics and styles that show off the material whether they’re drawn or open.
• Roller and solar shades: These shades offer UV protection. With a clean appearance, roller and solar shades suit anything from modern to traditional styles.
• Silhouette® shades: Theseare practical and graceful shades. Silhouette window treatments feature woven sheer fabric and appear to float in the window.
• Pirouette® shades: These shades feature various material options. Get the function of blinds with Pirouette window coverings in the soft and elegant material of your choice.
• Luminette® Privacy Sheers: Theseare vertical window coverings. Luminette Privacy Sheers make an ideal choice for window treatments for sliding glass doors and tall windows.
• Woven wooden shades: These shades provide a warm look with woven fibers. Choose woven wooden shades in materials like bamboo, grass, reeds and wood.

3. Curtains and Drapes

If you want classic window treatments for a new house, select from curtains and drapes. Custom curtains are flowing and beautiful, providing anything from sheer, elegant touches to dramatic color contrasts. What you select will depend on the room and your preferences. You can also pick from an unlimited selection of colors, patterns and fabrics and order custom curtains to fit your specific windows.

4. Shutters

Shutters can be interior or exterior window coverings. While exterior shutters have a classic, sometimes rustic look to them, interior hardwood shutters provide durability and longevity with their stylish designs. Select from an array of finishes and colors to suit your new home perfectly. Customize the size of the shutters’ slats and easily adjust the privacy and light in your new home.

Best Window Treatments for Each Room of Your New House

Deciding how to choose window treatments is simpler if you go room by room. While you should maintain a cohesive look throughout your new home with similar styles and materials, you have different needs for each space. Consider the best window treatments by room for your new house:

1. Bedroom

Bedrooms are spaces for members of your household to express their personal style. Opt for customizable fabric materials to create the perfect window treatments for bedrooms like:

• Blackout curtains: If any light coming through the window disrupts your sleep, consider blackout curtains or curtains with thick material. If you find you need light to wake up, you can motorize your curtains and schedule when they open and close so you can wake up to natural light.
• Sheer curtains: Maybe your bedroom’s window doesn’t let in a lot of light so you don’t need blackout curtains. Instead, opt for sheerer curtains that let in light but still obscure the view of your room from the outside.
• Shades: If you want more options for adjustable light and privacy, consider soft shades. The fabric material provides the softness of curtains with the function of blinds, especially in roman and honeycomb styles.

2. Bathroom

If any of your bathrooms have windows, you’ll want to cover them with window treatments for privacy. A material that’s water- or moisture-resistant, like faux wood, will withstand conditions present when you bathe or shower.

3. Living Spaces

You want flexibility for the lighting in your living spaces. If your living room is the first place visitors see when they enter your new home, elegant window treatments can set the stage. Make an impression with any of these excellent window accent options:

• Curtains are suitable window treatments for living rooms and cozy areas.
• Shades add elegance and ambiance.
• Blinds are sleek and functional.

4. Kitchen

You want kitchen window treatments to be easy to clean, like wood-alternative blinds. Motorized blinds or shades are also a good idea, especially for windows above counters. Instead of reaching over the counter to open or close the window treatments, you’ll only have to push a button on your automatic window treatment’s remote.

5. Dining Area

Your dining areas serve as places for gathering and celebrating, so you could decorate them with the dramatic, stylish touch of wall-length curtains. Solar shades provide a modern twist on the elegant look, and wood blinds are sleek yet natural, perfect for transitional and contemporary homes. You may also need window treatments for sliding glass doors, depending on your dining room’s setup. Long curtains or vertical blinds suit these and taller windows.

6. Office

If you have a home office, you may spend a lot of time using a computer. Windows and natural lighting can help wake you up while you’re working, but they could also create a glare on your screen. Blinds and shades like Pirouette window coverings will block the light or direct it away from your screen. Choose vertical blinds if you want to direct light to the left or right away from your desk. Horizontal blinds will let you direct light up or down and away from your screen.

7. Sunroom

Window treatments for sunrooms should let in light but help keep the room energy-efficient. If your sunroom has tall windows or a sliding glass door, consider vertical blinds or shades. You can then create a cohesive and dramatic statement around the room with complementing treatments on the windows.

Talk to Our Experts for Ideas on Window Treatments for Your New Home

Current and new homeowners alike will discover the perfect window treatments with Allure Window Treatments. Our in-house designers will help you select the best window accents if you’re moving into a new home in Philadelphia. We then craft your custom orders on a window-by-window basis in our state-of-the-art fabrication facility or by hand. Pick from the finest materials and elegant colors and finishes to enhance your new home.

Contact us to learn more about how Allure Window Treatments can help make your new house a home.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]