A homeowner's guide to window treatments
Draperies, shades, shutters, and blinds each handle light in their own way. Here is how they differ, what the fabric labels mean, and how to power motorized shades so the windows stay clean.
Decide early
Window treatments are usually chosen near the end of a project, after the drywall is finished. By then, some of the biggest decisions are already locked in: where the power is, whether the ceiling has a pocket for a shade, and how much wall sits beside each window. Knowing the options ahead of time lets you plan those details while they are still easy to change.
The main types of window treatments
Curtains and draperies
Most people use these two words for the same thing. In the trade, curtains are usually lighter, unlined panels that hang from a rod and open by hand. Draperies are heavier, lined, and custom sewn with pleats. They often hang from a track, which lets a motor open and close them.
Fabric softens a room. It absorbs sound and adds texture, which helps a space full of glass and stone feel warmer. The trade-off is space. When draperies open, the fabric gathers at the sides, and the usual rule of thumb is that this stack takes up about one-third of the window width. If there is wall beside the window, the stack can sit on the wall. In many South Florida homes the glass runs from wall to wall, so the open draperies end up covering about a third of the view.
Shades
A shade is one piece of material that moves up and down. Raised all the way, it can tuck into a small cover at the top of the window or into a pocket built into the ceiling, where it disappears from view. That is a big reason shades are so common in modern homes with large windows. They come in several styles:
Roller shades
A flat fabric that rolls onto a tube. This is the cleanest look and the easiest style to motorize.
Screen shades
A roller shade made from a fabric with tiny openings. It cuts glare and heat while you still see outside. Screen fabric is sold by openness, commonly 1%, 3%, 5%, or 10%. A lower number blocks more light and shows less of the view.
Roman shades
Fabric that folds into soft horizontal pleats as it rises. It looks closer to drapery but gathers at the top instead of the sides.
Honeycomb shades
Also called cellular shades. Two layers of fabric form air pockets that insulate the window. Hunter Douglas Duette is the best-known example.
Sheer shades
Fabric vanes float between two sheer layers and tilt open or closed, much like a blind. Hunter Douglas Silhouette and Pirouette work this way.
Woven wood shades
Made from natural grasses, reeds, or bamboo. They add texture and let some light through.
Dual shades
Two fabrics on one bracket, usually a screen or sheer paired with a blackout. You get glare control during the day and privacy at night from the same window.
Blinds and panels
Blinds use slats of wood, faux wood, or aluminum that tilt to aim the light. Vertical blinds and sliding panels cover wide doors. Hunter Douglas Luminette is a sheer panel with vertical fabric vanes.
Shutters
Shutters are hinged panels with louvers, mounted to the window frame. They last for decades and suit traditional architecture. Like draperies, they cover part of the glass even when open. For humid rooms such as kitchens and bathrooms, Hunter Douglas makes Palm Beach shutters from a vinyl material called Polysatin, which is engineered to resist moisture and ultraviolet (UV) damage.
Sheer, light filtering, room darkening, and blackout
The fabric decides how much light comes in. Most manufacturers sort their fabrics into these four groups.
Sheer fabric lets in soft light and keeps the view. It gives some privacy during the day, but at night, with the lights on inside, people outside can see in. Light filtering fabric blurs the view and spreads daylight evenly, which works well in living areas and kitchens.
Room darkening fabric blocks most light. Blackout fabric blocks nearly all of it through the fabric itself. Whatever you choose, a closed shade also protects floors, art, and furniture from fading in the South Florida sun.
Side channels stop light at the edges
A roller shade needs a small gap on each side so the fabric can move without rubbing the window frame. Light comes through that gap, and in a dark bedroom or media room it shows up as a bright line down both sides of the window. A blackout fabric cannot fix it.
Side channels can. These are narrow tracks that run down each side of the window and hold the edges of the fabric, so there is no open gap for light. Pair them with a ceiling pocket or a cover at the top of the shade, and the room gets truly dark. Side channels are meant for blackout fabric. Adding them to a sheer or light filtering shade will not make the room dark.
Side channels are best planned during construction. The channels can then be set into the window jamb or the drywall so they sit flush with the finished wall and are barely noticeable. In a finished home they have to mount on the surface of the wall or frame, where they stay visible.
Controlling daylight works like dimming
A dimmer sets a light anywhere between off and full brightness. A motorized shade does the same thing with the sun. You might lower it a quarter of the way to take the glare off a television, or close it completely for privacy at night. With sheer shades, you can also tilt the vanes to soften the light without moving the shade at all.
On a home control system, shades and lights share the same scenes. One button can dim the lights and lower the shades for a movie. Shades can also follow a schedule, opening in the morning and closing when the afternoon sun hits a room.
The brands we trust
Lutron makes motorized roller, Roman, and honeycomb shades and drapery systems that run on the same control system as Lutron lighting. Crestron offers roller shades, sheer shades, and drapery motors that tie directly into a Crestron home. Hunter Douglas has the widest selection of styles, including Duette honeycomb shades, Silhouette and Pirouette sheer shades, Luminette sheer panels, Vignette Roman shades, Provenance woven wood shades, Designer Roller and Screen shades, and Palm Beach shutters. Most of them can be motorized with its PowerView system.
What about Somfy?
Somfy is a familiar name in motorized shading, but Somfy does not make shades. It makes motors and controls and sells them to fabricators, who build the shade around the motor. Many of those fabricators are small local shops. Some do good work, and the problem usually shows up years later.
When a shade fails, someone has to find the cause and stand behind the whole assembly: the fabric, tube, brackets, motor, and the labor to take it down and put it back up. If the shop that built it has closed, the motor may still be under warranty while nobody is responsible for the shade itself. With Lutron, Crestron, or Hunter Douglas, an established manufacturer made the entire shade and backs it.
Wiring: plan it before the walls close
This is where many new homes go wrong. The plans call for an electrical outlet at the top of each window. Each shade then plugs into a small transformer that converts house power to the low voltage the motor needs. The result is an adapter and a cord at every window, and each one has to be hidden behind a valance or fabric.
The better approach is low-voltage cable. We run a thin cable from each window back to a power panel in a closet or equipment room. Lutron, Crestron, and Hunter Douglas all make shades that work this way. The Hunter Douglas PowerView+ system, for example, powers up to 16 shades from one power supply. The cable hides inside the wall, nothing plugs in at the window, and a wired connection is more dependable than a wireless one.
Before the drywall goes up, settle three things for each window. Decide whether the shade mounts inside the frame, outside it, or in a ceiling pocket. Mark where the cable should come out. And decide whether it will be a single or dual shade, since a dual shade needs a deeper pocket.
When batteries make sense
Battery-powered shades are a good fit for a finished home where opening walls is not an option. Lutron rates its battery roller shades at three to five years, based on four trips a day. Crestron battery shades run on eight D cell batteries. Hunter Douglas offers rechargeable batteries that last about a year per charge, depending on use.
The catch is upkeep. Shade motors sit at the top of the window, often under a tall ceiling, so replacing or charging batteries usually means a ladder or a charging pole at every window. In a home with thirty shades, that becomes a regular chore. For new construction or a full renovation, run the cable.
Shading systems we design and install
Every one of these brands can share scenes with your lighting and home control, and we wire and program them to work together.
Lutron shades
Roller, Roman, honeycomb, and drapery systems that pair with Lutron lighting control.
Crestron shades
Quiet motorized shades and draperies that tie directly into a Crestron home.
Hunter Douglas
The widest range of shade styles and shutters, motorized with PowerView.
Planning window treatments for your home?
If you are building or renovating, talk to us before the walls close. We will plan the cable, the ceiling pockets, and the control along with the rest of your technology, so the shades look finished on day one.
For a finished home, we will help you choose between battery and wired options window by window. Interseckt has designed and installed technology in homes for more than 25 years across Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Collier counties, and in Nassau and the wider Bahamas.