Privacy Control

Our need for privacy control is one of the most practical functions that window treatments perform. Along with light control, privacy is usually what drives someone to call me for window covering help!

There may be front facing bedrooms, or a powder room which looks over a rear deck. Sidelight windows on a front entryway can give you a view into the whole house.

The immediate quick fix is to put in a cellular shade or louvered blind treatment. These are the least expensive options. Of course, if you can dream it, it can be made and so in the world of custom window treatments, your imagination and your budget are the only limits.

You don’t need 100% opacity to provide privacy. A semi-opaque or even a sheer treatment can provide the coverage you need. You will want to consider the type of activity which goes on in the room…some rooms are nighttime only spaces and therefore used under illumination. Illuminated rooms are easy to see into and so you may want a stronger treatment in these spaces than in a room which is perhaps used only in the daytime such as a sun porch. The scale of the room is important too because the closer you are to the windows, the easier it is to see you from the outside. If the windows are far away from people and their activities, then perhaps you can use a sheer treatment.

Some privacy treatments can be made to disappear during the day allowing for all the sunshine you like, others will block a degree of the light entering the space.

I live in New England where we want as much light as possible but in the deep south or southwest, blocking some light may be exactly what you want.

Uniformity from the street is often an important consideration depending upon the style of the house. It is pleasant to look at a house and to see that all the treatments face white or ivory from the outside. Some of my clients even insist that all the treatments on the front of the house to be the same whatever the choice; shutters, draperies, blinds, shades. While there is no right or wrong here, everyone must work to their own comfort level. I personally don’t need to see the same treatment on all the windows but I certainly respect the wishes of those that do!

There are many options for all degrees of opacity in many styles of treatments; shades, shutters, blinds, and draperies can be made to suit everyone’s unique requirements. Custom means that you get to have it your way!