This is what you need to consider when buying window treatments

Getting your house’s windows dressed is a fun experience; seeing all the different treatments available, choosing a style that goes with your personality and needs, selecting the right operation system, and finally seeing them installed, it all feels so good. Although, it can get hard making the right decision with all the options available and a lot of things to consider, so I made this blog in order to try to shine some light on your process of dressing your windows correctly.

What must be consider when choosing window treatments for you house is the following:

• Budget
• Style
• Operation system
• Energy efficiency
• Warranty offered

While talking to my clients, these are the things they always talk about when dressing their windows. Sometimes some of these points are already clear on what they want or need, but they are always the things that they conisder. Let me further explain what must be considered for each of the mentioned points. Perhaps I mention something that hasn’t crossed your mind but it is important.

How much are you willing to spend?

I’m sure that everybody will automatically think of this, and no one will make a decision without considering how much it can be spent on window treatments. I think the cost is the most important thing to consider since the amount of money you have decided to spend on your window treatments will determine what you can get and how close you can get to your desired window treatments. For some people, money might not be something that makes them worry at all; if that’s the case, I invite you to skip ahead to the next section in this blog.

The cost of window treatments varies a lot and it depends on many different deeper points. For example, each window treatment costs differently; if you want aluminum blinds you pay WAY less than if you want to dress your windows with shutters, or faux-wood blinds cost less than honeycomb shades; every window treatment costs different than one another. 

After you have chosen the kind of window treatment you want (and can afford), you then think of the style you want as there are some fabrics, finishes, or even colors that cost more than others. I’ll talk more about that further down in this blog.

Finally, cost related are the operating system upgrade options for the window treatment you decided to go for. And I think that this is expected, but the cost will rise if you want your treatments to have a motor than to be manually engaged with. This is important to consider (really everything is) because window treatment’s cords may cause danger to children and/or pets in your house; I have never heard (thank God) of any situation where trouble was caused to a child or a pet by the cords on a blind or shade. And perhaps it is not something that happens often, but it is something to consider if there are children and/or pets in your house.

How do you want your house/room to look?

After you have decided the window treatment that you want, you will naturally look at the styles that are available; your window treatment provider will show these options to you. I already mentioned this in the past section, but the fabrics and colors may have different prices.

When choosing the style of your window treatments, there is no right or wrong way to do it. It lies completely on your taste and the look or feel that you want to achieve for your house/room. I’m not going to lie, this is hard for some people. I know for me it is. This is because you can see the fabrics and colors with no problem, but it will look very different once they get installed; personally, that’s what I struggle with the most. I’m so glad I don’t have to change my windows treatments often regularly haha.

What I see my clients do, a lot, is to try to find a style (color and fabric) that goes well with a piece of furniture they have. For example, I see them comparing styles that they liked with their couches, or their floors, or the rug (if they have one), or an art piece in the room (painting); one client even based her decision on how well the window treatment style went with her dishware. With that in mind, it’s clear to me that selecting the style for your windows can really be chosen any way; there is no correct way to go about it, as long as it works out for you.

There are some good starting points like: do you want something in the modern side? Do you want something classical? Do you want your treatments to have a more neutral feel? 

I don’t know. There really aren’t any rules to follow; just follow your heart.

Are you a tech lover or trying to protect children?

The operation system of your window treatments is slowly becoming a big part of anyone’s decision. Before, it wasn’t a big deal; there weren’t many ways to control your treatments. A person would just choose their window treatment and have them installed with whatever operation system it came with – it was alway a cord control. 

With all the technological advances, new operation systems are now being used for all treatments. For example, there is now a way to add motors to your blinds, shades, and shutters, and it is slowly becoming more and more popular (by the way, this is a great option to increase your home’s safety). I wouldn’t be surprised if motorized window treatments become normal in the future; it might never come to that because it makes window treatments more expensive, but who knows?

Also there are systems that allow you to connect your phone via WiFi to control every window treatment you have in your house through a hub. Technology is awesome. You can program your treatments to lower at a specific time of the day and to be raised at another; it all depends on the type of day that you regularly have.

And like I mentioned, making your window treatments motorized will make them pricier. If price is something you are looking to keep low, there are other operating systems available that won’t make your window treatment price to increase that much. They are still upgrades, meaning that yes, their price will increase. It is always a good idea to have your provider confirm that for you.

I wanted to also mention the cordless systems. This is another upgrade to the operation system that allows you to control the shades or blinds without having a cord attached to it. You can just raise or lower the shade or blind using a button, and physical motion. This is a good upgrade if you want to create a safe environment for children and/or pets, without having to dramatically increase the cost of your treatments.

You can also save money with good energy efficiency treatments

This is also a big thing to consider, but I don’t think it is as important as the cost and style of the window treatments you want. Well, really not everyone thinks of lowering their energy bills when deciding what window treatments to go for, but I think this is still a good idea for anyone.

I shared in the blog post “Top 5 Best Window Treatments” a post called “Energy Efficient Window Attachments” written by the government (click here if you want to visit their page) and I think it is a good read; I recommend the read if you have a little time.

Treatments may help you increase your house’s energy efficiency or not. Some of the best window treatments to help you with your house’s energy efficiency are: shutters, honeycomb shades, and dual roller shades. And some of the treatments that do less for your energy efficiency are: aluminum blinds, woven wood shades, and sheer shades.

Reflective colors and finishes will also increase the treatment’s energy efficiency, because the treatment will be reflecting the sun away before coming into your house reducing the heat that will be entering your house. And there are some cool reflective colors available; if this is something that you want your treatments to do (lower the heat transferred in) take a look at these types of color.

If something happens to your treatments, make sure that you will be covered

This completely depends on the brand of the window treatment you choose. It is highly expected by anyone, if they didn’t do something bad to the product, to receive a good warranty on the product they purchased. It is normal that something may malfunction, break, or when put together an error was pushed through by mistake. It is very understandable, but it is important that the brand that sold you the product responds in a good way to these situations. 

This is always a good thing to touch on with your window treatment provider because something on your window treatments may break at some point (not always) and it is good to know what to do if something happens. 

Some brands offer better warranties than other brands. For example, Hunter Douglas responds so well to these situations – I have never been stuck with a problem that a client had with their Hunter Douglas window treatment, and it has always been resolved very fast! 

Honestly, I can’t think of a problem that a client has had with their window treatments that we haven’t been able to resolve. Like I said, it’s normal and expected for them to help you fix an issue you’re having with a product they sold. The difference lies in how well and fast they handle the issue. And again, Hunter Douglas has done an exceptional job on this. It hasn’t even happened many times, but when it has they put out their A game. 

Another brand that I want to mention because their customer service was top notch is The Window Outfitters. I dealt with their customer support when the motor on a client’s shade was having issues lowering and raising the shade. I immediately reported the issue and on the same day they arranged for me to receive new motors, not only for the one that was having issues, but for all of them (there were 4) to prevent any issues that may happen in the future. That is some great customer service. Ask your provider if they know The Window Outfitters (TWO) – I highly recommend them.