If you think of your window as a blank canvas, then window treatments are the paint you apply to make that space beautiful. I was in this situation recently and frankly I was a little blown away by the number of choices available to consumers these days. I can see why people hire interior decorators. I was so nervous that I would choose the wrong blinds or shades – that they would look terrible or maybe even worse, there was a better choice that I was ignorant of.

I believe that there is wisdom in the aggregate; this holds true for selecting window blinds. So, I have compiled a list of our top selling window blinds and shades so help narrow down the list of possible options. I hope that this brings comfort to those who read this and maybe saves them some time and reduces stress.

The following are the most common choices of window treatments. I believe they are the most common for two primary reasons: they look good, and are reasonably affordable. In the end, I believe that is what most people want to know. Will the blinds or shades I am going to purchase look good and not break the bank when I am done?

One of the most popular window treatment choices are aluminum and vinyl mini blinds, also called horizontal blinds. Mini blinds are an easy, default choice. You are not going to necessarily win any design awards but they will usually do the trick. Aluminum blinds are best for longevity but if you are on a really tight budget, the vinyl variety will do. Mini blinds come in different slat sizes from micro (1/2 inch) to 1 inch (most common), 1 3/8 inch, and 2 inch. The larger the slat size the more view-through the blinds provide when the slat are open. This is true for all blinds with slats.

Next up are wood blinds and faux wood blinds. Both types are solid choices for almost any décor. Wood blinds are usually made from basswood or other hardwoods and come in several different stained finishes. Faux wood blinds are either vinyl or a wood composite. Faux wood blinds are a better choice for hot and humid locations and rooms as they are more durable and will not warp or crack. Just like mini blinds, wood and faux wood offer different slat sizes.

Cellular shades are another popular option. They look good and offer great energy efficiency because of their design. Cellular shades come in different pleat sizes, the most common choice being the 3/8 and ¾ inch variety. Cell shades also come in single, double and triple cell, depending on how much insulation you need or want. The most common choice is the single cell.

Vertical blinds are far and away the top choice for large windows and sliding glass doors. Vertical blinds come in vinyl, aluminum, fabric, faux wood and even cellular. The vinyl variety is the most affordable and the most common. They will look good but, again, not win you any design awards. If you are looking for a different option for large window consider panel tracks.

Last up are roller shades. Roller shades, fortunately, have come a long ways from those cheap vinyl ones. Roller shades come in a great variety of fabrics, materials and colors that can look surprisingly attractive and upscale. Roller shades are also a great choice if you want a room-darkening or blackout option, like in bedrooms.

There are many other options to consider, for examples roman shades, solar shades, pleated shades and then there are drapes. I am not going to go into those. I wanted to simplify not confuse.

You definitely want to create an excellent environment in your home that is both inviting and special for you and your family as well as your many friends, relatives and the many other guests who will definitely come to your home at some point. You will definitely want these many great people to think that you have an excellent home that is not only aesthetically pleasing to the eye but also definitely very practical for you and your family to live in and use. You will definitely be proud to live in a home with excellent window treatment systems that provide both privacy as well as definitely add to your home’s aesthetic value and make it a much more beautiful and great place for you and your excellent family to live and call home.

You should definitely be very happy to own such a great thing and have such excellent Window Treatments in your home that are definitely practical but also beautiful to look at and definitely complement the great décor of your beautiful home. It is obviously definitely very exciting for you and your family to live in a beautiful but there are many more reasons than simply just looking excellent that will definitely make you want to enjoy the many benefits of having great window treatments in your great home. Your many visitors will definitely admire you for being very smart and choosing window treatments that are great and definitely fit into the general atmosphere in your excellent home as well the aesthetic environment you have created inside your home.

You will definitely want many of the great benefits that you can reap from having excellent windows treatments to hang inside your great home environment to keep it looking great throughout the many years that you will own them. One thing that motivates many people to get excellent window treatments for their home is the privacy that they can provide for you and your great family. These great window treatments make it so that simple, everyday people who are walking past your home can not easily look into your home and see what you are doing.

This is definitely a good thing for many people because it can definitely be very weird and not at all excellent to think that there are people looking in on you and your family while you go through your day to day life. If you have close neighbors, they may also be able to see into your great home and see you and your family going through your day to day activities, which is probably something your do not want. The excellent poet Robert Frost definitely once wrote “Good fences make good neighbors” and the same principle definitely holds true for the great window treatments in your home.

Do you remember the days when insulated window treatments consisted of big, bulky and even unattractive methods of keeping the cold out? I certainly do! It doesn’t seem that long ago that in order to keep the house cool in the midst of a hot Texas summer, you would see all kinds of crazy concoctions. Thankfully, those days are over. It is easy to find attractive window treatments.

The Old Days of Insulating
Down in the south where it gets hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk, you do whatever it takes to keep out the heat. For many that meant turning their home into a mini dungeon. We even jokingly referred to my mother-in-law’s house as “the cave.”

She lived on a limited income. Therefore, she did whatever it took to keep the electric bill down. She did a good job at it too. First, she would cover the windows with tinfoil to reflect back the sunlight. (This practice became so common, that many apartment complexes actually made it a violation of the lease to do!)

Next, she would put up the roller shades. This was to block any light that might have made it past the tinfoil. Then, she pulled closed these thick heavy curtains, effectively blocking out all light and insulating the room.

Since, light bulbs give off heat too; those were kept to a bare minimum. It took you a few minutes to adjust to the light but her house was always nice and cool, even on the hottest days of the year.

More Current Solutions
Thankfully the days of tinfoil and blocking out all light have passed. Now people have the option of choosing attractive blinds and still insulating their homes. You even have options for how much light you want to block and how much insulations you would like.

Shades vs Blinds
Your most basic option is between choosing the shades or blinds. They both work well but of course, one works better than the other.

Blinds – If you want air to circulate, then you will want to go with blinds. Real wood blinds work great for this and they also act as good insulators as well.

Shades – If you want pure protection, then you need to go with the shade. The shade has no breaks, which allows air to pass. Single and double cell cellular shades are among the top insulators. They too come in a range of light filtering options including room darkening and black out.

Combination – Day and night Roman shades offer you the best of both worlds. When it is hot out, lower both the solar screen and the Roman shade for maximum cooling and room darkening. On cooler days, open up the Roman shade and leave down the solar screen to block out harsh UV glare.

With all the attractive options available, there is no need to add that horrible tin foil to your windows any more. Insulated window treatments are both affordable and attractive.

A look at the variety of uses for blinds that are possible with a little imagination.

Blinds from early beginnings in ancient Egypt and China have become a popular window covering in many homes and offices. Fundamentally they act to block light from windows and create privacy for those inside. That is not to say that the use of blinds should be restricted to use as window coverings, with a little imagination it is possible to utilise them in creative, innovative ways.

One of these uses is to utilise blinds as room dividers. Naturally the more robust types of blind will be more suited to this purpose but they can be an excellent way to add an extra dimension to a room. Blinds truly are an affordable and practical way to split a large room into smaller living quarters, all with privacy and a feeling of individual space, in addition, by simply pulling the blinds up the original size of the room is restored. Naturally structural integrity may be a concern for some but with the construction of a frame for the blind, this is easily accomplished.

Blinds can also be used as a practical way to shield unsightly shelves and storage areas from view. This means that costly doors do not need to be installed. Roller blinds are particularly suited to this purpose as with the vibrant and colourful designs available on the market today it is possible to create an interesting cover for storage areas that acts as a design piece in its own right.

Naturally however blinds are more widely utilised as window coverings, some may feel however that blinds fail to completely block the light of the sun. This is not always the case though, modern blackout blinds do just that, with meshed slats they completely block sunlight, enabling those trying to get children off to sleep early an easier experience and those who work nights a good day’s sleep. Once again roller and roman blinds are perfect for this, although the materials used should be thick enough for a complete blackout.

It is always a concern when installing blinds in shower rooms and kitchens that the high levels of moisture in the air will adversely affect the window covering. Thankfully aluminium and PVC blinds are the ideal materials to cope with humidity over an extended period of time. For those considering this option it is strongly advisable to avoid real wood blinds as in humid conditions the tendency to warp and fade is evident.

Blinds are the perfect accompaniment in a spare room or office. Often these rooms are not entered for days on end meaning that curtains are rarely drawn and hence they feel cold and dethatched. By installing blinds this situation is negated as the window in the room is always covered and hence more heat is kept in. With a little creativity it is possible to find the perfect blind for any room in the house.

Choosing blinds can be difficult although with the large variety on the market today the consumer is spoilt for choice. Designs range not only in terms of materials but also colours, fabrics and textures. For instance it is now possible to purchase binds that are pre-printed with a picture meaning that when the blind is closed those inside are treated to an image like an unspoilt beach or a shaded woodland. Whatever the choice, be it an interesting design piece, a minimalistic chic blind, or even the use of a blind as a room separator, as a practical and affordable solution blinds are unrivalled.

Every home and office nowadays has some form of window treatments for its windows. These window treatments are usually done for two functional reasons. One is to provide some form of privacy for the occupants and the other reason is to provide some energy savings by offering some sort of a barrier for the loss of energy from the room to the outside or the leaking in of energy from the outside to the inside of the room. In addition to the functionality of blinds and other window treatments, they also provide some form of aesthetic decor to the general beauty of the room or office. In this article, we will explore a new but simple business opportunity that is becoming popular in the window treatment industry that you can capitalize upon and end up making a few extra bucks along the way.

This opportunity involves the recommendation of the proper choice of window blinds to home owners and business owners. Because of the tremendous choices available in the window blinds arena, many times people get confused as to what blinds they should choose for their home or office that will not only function well but also look good in keeping with the general decor. If you have a good sense of decoration, color sense and color matching skills, then you can start a business whereby you can recommend proper choice of colors for the window blinds and curtains. Additionally, there are several kinds of blinds available from faux wood blinds to bamboo blinds to roman style blinds and such and you can recommend the one that will fit well with the existing decor of the customers’ home or office. Additionally, you can offer the service of providing them with the proper dimensional measurements of what they need to purchase. This is an area where many people are confused as far as taking proper measurements for accurate fit and functionality.

Thus as you can see, this kind of business does not require tremendous levels of overheads. Your main cost will be the cost of marketing yourself and getting the word out. Client referrals and word of mouth recommendations are the best low cost alternatives to expensive advertising campaigns. You can especially increase your sales revenues by dealing with home builders and realtors who deal with the high end homes and high priced offices; because such clients will be willing to pay a higher amount for your services. And in the end, you can leave behind you a string of very satisfied customers who will be instrumental in bringing you more business by way of referrals. Of course as in any business, it will take time, patience and a lot of hard work in order to succeed.