so we are getting closer and closer to our new construction home being completed. We somewhat foolishly chose not to opt for the included blinds because there were the really basic cheap blinds and DH was convinced we could just get a better deal by doing it ourselves. As we have started to shop for blinds I wonder if we really need them because most of the model homes look awesome without blinds as it lets more light in. I wonder if there is a good way to maintain privacy without blinds. Ofcourse we would have drapes on the windows but those would be open during the day
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No advice, just following because DH and I can't seem to decide or get on the same page about our windows in the living room and dining room. Currently no blinds or drapes.
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I don't have blinds. I just have curtains. I don't really care for the look of blinds. Part of my morning routine is to open the curtains. I like my house to be really bright. I leave the curtains open all day, even if I'm home.
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@Mrs. Oreo: @Mrs. Pickle: do you worry if people passing by can see in through the window? Thats my concern especially if I choose to walk around in my underwear
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We just have drapes except for in DS' room (he needs ALL THE DARKNESS to sleep). I don't like the look of blinds and I like the natural light. Our house is set back from the road so I've never had the concern of people looking into our house. If I had a place in the house where this would be a concern, I would do plantation shutters.
ETA: We actually never draw the drapes either as neither of us are very sensitive to light - even if napping in the middle of the day we leave them open.
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No blinds.
We have cordless roman shades for light blockers and then decorative drapes on the sides.
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@LBee: @looch: Thanks those are two good suggestions we hadnt actually thought of
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We opted out of blinds for our new build as well, we plan on sticking with curtains and buy blinds as needed. I know we will want to have something covering our French doors out to the patio to keep the neighbors from seeing right in (and we happen to know our neighbors directly behind us making it a little more awkward if they would see me in my underwear or working out in the living room! ha)
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We just have them in the bedrooms for privacy/darkness. I have a harder time picking curtain/drapes, since most of the ones I like are not darkening.
In living areas we do curtains, but they are always open. We live set-back from the road so I am not concerned about people seeing in. I picked them for the 'look' not function.
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We have curtains on most of our windows with no blinds. We leave the curtains open in our living room, dining room and kitchen during the day when we're home (so weekends and after work during the week) and close them at night.
We have faux wood thick white blinds in our bedroom (no curtains). We usually leave these shut throughout the day.
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@Mrsbells: Most of our windows are on the side of our house and face our next door neighbor's side of the house (she's an elderly lady who lives alone). But we have a huge sliding door from the deck that faces the side as well. We have one wide/high window facing the front porch.
I would be fine to not actually put anything on the windows because our neighborhood is really quiet and semi-private, but DH has more privacy concerns than I do. I think he's looking into the future of when we have kids and he doesn't want random people being able to see them.
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We have blinds but never actually close them, they're pretty much just decorative. Most of the windows on our main floor face into the backyard, though, and we don't have anybody behind us, so it's never really been an issue. I also don't tend to walk around naked, although I do sometimes realize, halfway down the stairs in my bra on my way to get something from the laundry room, that I'm playing a dangerous game that is probably eventually going to end in our neighbours seeing my bra.
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I wish I could remove my blinds. I just use curtains.
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@Mrsbells: I don't. I feel like someone would really have to be looking hard to see into my house while driving or walking by.
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We only have curtains.
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We don't have any blinds. We have curtains on all of our windows, but very rarely close them. We love on a quiet street, so I'm not too worried about people seeing in. We had nice fabric blinds in our living room and kitchen in our last house, and we rarely used them, but they were nice to have.
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In our first home, we only had blinds on the top floor (bedrooms). Our main-floor windows were totally naked for the eight years we lived there. I loved the light that came in and how our view was occupied by foliage and blue sky most of the time, instead of blinds or curtains.
In our current home, we have ordered light-filtering cellular blinds, but we got the kind that can go top-down or bottom-up and I plan to keep the top half of the windows exposed most of the time, so we can get that blue sky/green foliage view most of the time. (The main reason to keep the lower half covered is to stop our dogs from going nuts every time someone walks by on the street.)
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Thanks everyone I think we may end up not going for traditional blinds or only having them upstairs because I do love the light that comes in and the look of bare windows
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@sarac: Are you renting or is your OH opposed to it? It's really easy to take blinds down.
We have blinds and curtains. Our windows are huge and anyone can see into them without the blinds, especially at night.
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@Mrsbells: I think that's a great choice!! We have blinds in our bedrooms, but they are always pulled up. I LOVE just having drapes in the living spaces - so much more light, and less of a hassle.
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I opted for no blinds in some rooms, but used them in bedrooms. For some of my bathrooms I used this stick on stuff from Home Depot that adds a frosted look to the window and you can't see in. I also used this on my garage windows so no thieves could scope the place out and see what we have in there.
You can buy this window film at Target, Walmart, HD, Lowes, etc.
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Just curtains in my house. I like lots of light... when I am not sleeping.
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Your could do a double layer of curtains with sheers behind them. So when you open the curtains, you can leave the sheers closed which lets in light but since they are translucent they give some level of privacy. Just a thought!
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We didn't have blinds when we first moved in last spring, and it didn't bother me as we are mostly set back from the road enough that you can't totally just see in.
That being said, we have REALLY long days in the summer. When the time changed last fall...and then all throughout the winter...I was pretty glad we had blinds because there was just a lot more of the day where it was dark outside/lights inside. We also live in a more urban neighborhood, though, so lots are small and, theoretically, our neighbors could easily see into our side windows (kitchen, dining, and laundry) during those times.
BUT, I'm also not a curtains person, so without our blinds, it was literally just the window with no option to block anything!
We ended up with the top-down/bottom-up, cordless cellular blinds and we put them all the way up a lot still because I like the look of bare windows/lots of light.
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Thanks everyone
@MrsBucky: Yes I literally just said that idea to DH. we had that growing up and I think I am liking that idea. I just showed him these two pictures
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We have no window treatments for privacy downstairs- there are dining room curtains for looks but I never close them. But most of the living space is at the back of the house and our backyard is very private, plus we live set back at the end of a cul de sac- so privacy isn't a big concern. But people definitely could see our after dinner dance parties in the living room if they looked.
Upstairs we have awful roller shades in the kids rooms - they came with the house, and since we are replacing the windows soon I don't want to spend a lot replacing the shades, and super cheap vinyl blinds in our bedroom. We will replace all of them with cordless blackout cellular shades after we replace the windows.
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Thanks! I a so glad I posted this because I now have some great ideas. I had tunnel vision at first and I could think of were blinds but there are so many other good looking options
@RonjaL7: that is so cool
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We have blinds and I hate them although I am probably not going to switch all of them out. In a dream scenario I would have roller shades that would be private from the outside looking in, but let in a ton of light. Then depending on the room we would use Roman shades or curtains for decorative window treatments.
If I had been thinking more clearly I would have installed shades from the beginning instead of having our builder install blinds while I figured out windows. I don't finds blinds all that private unless they are truly shut and then you're living in a cave.
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: haha at the cave comment but very true
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A lot of people around here have those accordion blinds that can go up or down. They let a ton of light in but still maintain privacy. Another idea for you!
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We only have blinders in the bedrooms and bathrooms. No curtains, I prefer naked windows ;). We live in a neighborhood with smaller lots, aka it is easy to see in, and we do occasionally run downstairs in our underwear. We both don't mind nor do we really care. Only time I wish we had more window coverings is from a security perspective when traveling and/or if my husband is traveling and I am home alone.
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We like maximum light. We have these pleated shades from IKEA.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20242282/
They let in the vast majority of the light, so I rarely even raise them.In the bedrooms, we also have blackout curtains for night and naps.
There are blinds in one room, and I dislike how dark they make the room. I'm also concerned that they aren't the safest option for young kids. I'm going to take them down and use the shades instead.
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We have blinds upstairs (bedrooms) but not downstairs, which is pretty much the opposite of what I would choose (the blinds were here when we moved in). We have a lot of foot traffic, but I figure that if the neighbors want to watch me change, let 'em. Drove DH crazy when I was always walking around topless during the early days of breast feeding.
What I would really like is those blinds that are between the window panes for downstairs so that I could block the dog from barking at dog walkers and neighborhood cats. Dog aside, I don't have a need for blinds, though we do have curtains for every window (light blocking in the bedrooms).
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we ripped all the crappy blinds in our house down, but blackout roller shades in the kids' rooms and just bought top down/bottom up roman shades for the windows in the front of our house for privacy, light filtering (we get direct sun in the afternoon and our house gets HOT!) and looks. we got all of them on blinds.com and i've been very very happy! still an investment over cheap blinds, but an immense upgrade with lots of features and decor options.
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Ours in the front will have blinds and in the back just curtains. But I don't think blinds are a total necessity!
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