My husband and I bought our first home together a little over two years ago. We knew we wanted an open floor plan and space for both a living room and a family room. And we found exactly that.
But we didn’t realize the design problems we would face when it came to our window coverings.
Problem #1 – We loved all the natural light, but we didn’t have any privacy.
Problem #2 – We live in Arizona, and it’s hot. Leaving our windows uncovered or not appropriately covered would mean atrociously expensive energy bills.
Problem #3 – Two windows sat directly across from our TV, causing an annoying glare, especially for my husband who didn’t like that the glare disrupted his sports-watching marathons.
Problem #4 – We knew those two windows in the family room had different covering needs than the rest of the windows, but we still wanted design consistency, even if the needs of each room were different.
BEFORE WINDOW COVERINGS
For the main portion of our house, we used two different types of window coverings. The two across from the TV were the same, and the two on the other side of the house were the same. We decided to go with cellular shades because they help lower energy costs, and they are great at insulating windows, making them perfect for an Arizona summer.
To solve our problem of avoiding blocking natural light while retaining our privacy, we chose light filtering honeycombs for one end of the house and light filtering/blackout cell shades for the family room. The light filtering/blackout shades are actually 2 shades in 1. You get both a light filtering shade and a blackout shade. My husband uses the blackout section when he’s watching TV, and he hasn’t had to deal with a TV glare ever since.
We ordered white for all the shades, but we ordered free samples first, just to make sure the whites were similar enough.
AFTER NEW WINDOW COVERINGS
If we could do it all over again, we’d use the light filtering/blackout cell shades on every window in the house. They are incredible and serve their purpose perfectly.
These are the window coverings we used:
- Light Filtering/Blackout Cordless Shades in cool white
- @Home Collection ¾” Single Cell Light Filtering in solid aspen white
