Window Treatments – We Design for Beauty and Value
Well-designed window treatments, by definition, are both beautiful and functional. Today homeowners should be looking for greater value, higher quality, and timeless style when selecting interior finishes for their home. Although the selection of window treatment may seem like one that is based simply on aesthetics, there are several functional considerations to make that will help you increase the value of your investment.
The ability of a particular treatment to increase the energy efficiency of your home is worth some thought. Without energy-efficient window treatments, as much as 50% of a home’s heating and cooling energy can be lost through its windows dependent upon the quality and quantity of the windows. In winter months, indoor heating moves toward and escapes through windows to the outdoors, while in summertime, the outside heat flows into your home through these same windows. Interior shutters, cellular shades and heavy, lined, fully functional drapery panels boast the highest R-values—the measure of a product’s ability to resist heat flow—helping reduce energy consumption, save on heating and cooling costs, and creating a more comfortable room setting. A trained window treatment professional can help you identify the R-value of the products you are considering. An investment in a well-designed window treatment can reduce heat gain and heat loss by up to 75% at the window.
On another vane, if you will pardon the pun, most of us would consider a window treatment that protects our flooring, wall paper, furniture and art to be of higher value than one that does not. Of course, any standard closed shade, blind or drape will do this for us by preventing the ultra-violet light from entering our home. However, thanks to the engineering advances made by companies like Hunter Douglas and ADO, there are modern lines of horizontal and vertical privacy sheers that allow us to accomplish this same goal while retaining our view of the outdoors and allowing more natural light into the home. Additionally, these treatments provide the home owner with daytime privacy which is a wonderful feature for master suites and well used common spaces. These well-designed treatments are beautiful and functional, giving them more value.
The value of a window treatment can be increased by designing it with versatility in mind. The privacy sheers detailed above are an excellent example of versatility as demonstrated by their ability to stack completely off of the glass for clear view, to provide daytime privacy and ultra violet protection with the vanes open, and to provide evening privacy or complete black-out functions with closed vanes. Several treatments on the market today provide the home owner with an option to lower the treatment from the top so that view and light can be obtained without sacrificing privacy. Interior shutters can be designed to include a no-cost feature that allows the upper vanes to operated independent of the lower vanes to provide the same view and light above with privacy below. These options are ideal in master suite and kitchen windows where we tend to lounge longer in our pajamas on a Saturday morning.
The multitude of hard window treatment and classic soft window treatment options available on the market today provide a home owner with the capacity to design the perfect solution for each window in their home. At Eye on Design, our experts are available 6 days a week to share the multiple product lines, control options, patterns and colors contained within our 1,500 square foot showroom. More than ever before, home owners can design a high functioning and beautiful window treatment worthy of their investment. A window treatment professional can show you how.