Don’t know whether or not you should get window treatments for your home? Why should you even cover your windows in the first place? The good news is that there are only 5 reasons to have window treatments, and knowing which reason is most important to you may help you decide.
Reasons for Window Treatments are:
1. Privacy
Privacy is the most common reason to get window treatments. Even if openness is comfortable for you (or your neighbors), uncovered windows might also be an open invitation to theft. The majority of window treatments can be used to obscure the view through your windows. The only exception to this are sheer or loose-woven materials.
2. Light/UV Control
Even if privacy isn’t a concern, light and UV exposure often can be. While having naturally lit spaces in your home can be great, sunlight can also be inconvenient by causing glare on televisions and reflective surfaces. Sunlight can also cause UV damage and fading to furniture, flooring, etc. Window treatments offer a variety of ways to allow or restrict light from the interior (and exterior) spaces of your home.
3. Aesthetics
Bare windows, like bare walls, can often make a home feel like no one lives there. So if privacy or light control is not a priority for you, adding colorful and decorative window treatments to home can make it feel much more welcoming, personal, and cozy.
4. Energy Efficiency
Blocking out the light can often keep the thermal energy of the sun out of a space, but there are window treatments and fabrics such as cellular/honeycomb shades and draperies that actually help insulate your window openings. Pockets of air within the cells of cellular/honeycomb shades provide a barrier against temperature differences. Draperies and curtains made with thermal-insulated fabrics can also help trap cooler or hotter air from freely filtering through the window into a room.
5. Property Value
Last but not least, window treatments such as shutters can actually add a little monetary value to your home. As a permanent fixture and window treatment, shutters are often included in the valuation of real estate in many areas. Even if your windows are not treated with shutters, a fully-decorated home can be easier to market and sell/rent than an undecorated one.
With these reasons in mind, decide on what you want to achieve with each space in your home. If you have a nursery, light control for a baby’s naptime in the middle of a sunny day will definitely be a priority. A bathroom window facing a neighboring house or the street will likely have privacy as the top priority there. If you’re looking to sell or rent your home, aesthetics will be your driving decision maker.
Once you have your reasons for the room or space you’re looking to treat, consider the options and styles of window treatments available to you.