Owning Your Office with Custom Window Blinds
bwsit • Jul 18, 2017

Most businesses choose their commercial office space for the address, the spaciousness, and how well it suits the needs of their day-to-day activities. Some office spaces are new, some are old, some are built with wide open spaces and others are a labyrinth of private offices. Wherever you are leasing, one thing is for sure: The space wasn’t built for you, but you could make it yours. Offices are mostly built with a sort of bland generic design in order to accommodate the needs of a series of different businesses, and you are only the most recent. However, for as long as you are the occupant, your office space should reflect the company culture and the collective personality of the employees. One amazing way to completely transform an office space without remodeling is with custom window blinds.

Your Office Windows

Take a moment to really look at your office windows. All too often, the windows in our environment slip into the background. We know there are windows but don’t really remember anything about them. You probably have some sort of shades, but if you haven’t changed anything since moving in, those shades are mostly likely a set of old, grimy aluminum mini-blinds or possibly generic pull-shades. While you may not officially notice your blinds, ask yourself what kind of environment that creates and what kind of messages you’re sending to clients and employees. Your window treatments are an opportunity to shape your space and make a statement about company attitudes, but with default blinds that statement is currently “no comment”.

The Right Custom Blinds

When choosing new window treatments for your office, you want something that matches the personality and culture of the company as a whole. Consider not only what your motto is and how the employees interact, but also the kind of attitude and ambiance you want to create within your office. Are you folksy or formal? Serious or fun? Anachronistically charming or cutting-edge tech? However you define your company, there’s a way to convey it with window blinds.

Wood Slat Blinds

If your company is all about the book shelves and solid wood furniture, then beautiful dark wood blinds could be the perfect addition to your interior design. These add a touch of class and value to even the most generic space, making it clear that the occupants understand fine things and like to keep it practical.

Woven Wood Blinds

If your company likes a more naturalistic style and would like to bring some of that to the commercial office space, woven wood blinds are a great option. These are a stiff ‘fabric’ made from woven wood strands and function like cloth shades rolling up and down as needed. The soft natural colors and renewable material source should particularly please eco-friendly organizations.

Elegant Drapes

From law offices to advertising firms, sometimes a company culture has formed around a sense of elegance and aplomb. If your business aligns with this self-image, you may enjoy the appearance of long, beautiful draperies. Light, filmy drapes give the impression of a breezy beach while darker, heavier draperies will remind your employees and clients of wealth, quality, and beauty. For a combination look, you can even add elegant roman blinds behind the curtain for a lovely accent and additional control over indoor light levels.

Cozy Blinds

No matter where you are, HQ is where the heart is. Whether you’re in a cottage office or a 15th floor expanse, if your company culture is one of good neighbors, families, and children, you might enjoy decorating every window as if it were in a  cozy kitchen in a country home. With a combination of valances and cheery cloth draperies, you can create this effect in a way that is seldom seen inside a commercial office building.

High-Tech Blinds

Do you pride yourself on being at the cutting-edge of technology? Sleek and practical vertical blinds are a great way to cover your windows and even add privacy to a glass-walled conference room. Better even than that is the ability to smoothly open and close them with a remote control, adding that space-ship feel to any office.

No matter what kind of office you have, simply by changing your window blinds you can give your space an entirely new ambiance. While your employees and clients may have easily forgotten those old mini-blinds, you can create a workplace that will be both beautiful and unforgettable. Whether you want natural woven wood blinds, roman shades, or floor-length draperies, Just Blinds can create the perfect window treatments for your office. For more information or to start your consultation, please  contact us  today!

Expert Advice by Just Blinds

The Leading Window Treatment Trends of 2024

By Autumn Hooper • 07 Feb, 2024
Each year, styles in window treatments come and go. Trends that were hot last year may carry over to the new interior decor season or may be replaced by something new. In 2024, we are looking at a delightful set of trends in blinds, shades, and curtains that embrace the developing attitudes and popular colors that are already giving the year a unique stylistic personality. At Just Blinds, we are delighted to keep up with the trends, helping homeowners, designers, and property managers to create stunning spaces that align with the latest in window treatment trends. The Hot Trends of 2023 Blinds and Shades Last year in 2023, we saw a great collection of trends, many of which have evolved and strengthened with the new year. 2023 explored the innovations of cell shades and honeycomb shades for the benefits of insulation and light control. Motorization gained a prominant place in both home and office design, and decorators discovered the dynamic possibilities of shades that operate from both the bottom and the top on floor-to-ceiling tracks. Texture saw a real debut with natural colors like wood finishes, linen, dusty rose, and moss green. Though bold patterns also had their day in the sun. The Trending 2024 Window Treatments In 2024, you may recognize a few trends still going strong from the year before, which is good news for those who decorated last year because your style is likely still right on-trend. But we are also seeing new trends developing with elegant enthusiasm. Smart Home Blinds The trend for motorized shades has naturally evolved to favor smart home controls. With a simple voice command, you can take control of all the motorized shades in a room, in your entire home, or set each shade to exactly the height and opacity you desire. Warm Neutrals and Bold Natural Colors Color trends favor a more natural palette. Neutral colors are warmer, even the grays and charcoals have a honey undertone, while natural colors like mossy and forest green are growing stronger in hue paired with a jewelbox of flower petal colors. If you're following the Colors of the Year, you may have also noticed an adoration of ocean blues, and you can match those blues with slightly darker or lighter blinds for beautiful effect. Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Materials Natural materials and textures were popular in 2023, and 2024 takes this trend even further. Blinds made out of recycled materials are now on the rise alongside the growing popularity of blinds made from super-sustainable plants like bamboo, hemp, jute, and grass cloth. These offer natural colors, dynamic textures, and the delight of eco-friendly design. Gauzy Sheer Elegance Sheer curtains and semi-sheer blinds are also in fashion; a classic style that has been floating near the top of popularity for literal centuries. Sheer curtains and blinds maintain privacy while allowing sunlight into the room in a gently diffused glow. They also layer excellently with more robust window treatments. Creative Window Treatment Layering Speaking of layering, we are seeing an enthusiastic embrace of creatively layered styles. Wooden shutters, gauzy curtains, and black-out blinds are among the most popular layers, but decorators are getting creative with how they choose to to layer their window treatments, using both multiple fabrics and structures at the same time. Find the Blinds that Best Suit Your Needs How can you choose fantastic and on-trend blinds that perfectly suit your design needs? Fortunately, the diversity of this year's trends leave room for almost any personal sense of style and the individual needs of each room's windows. Start with the size of your windows and your room's existing color palette. Decide if you want to match, accent, or contrast the colors of the room. Then choose the opacity, privacy, and level of motorized control you desire. This should guide you toward a specific selection that will work well for your room. From there, it's a matter of specific features and your personal sense of style. Reach Out for Expert and On-Trend Advice If you are getting ready to decorate a room and want the perfect window treatments for 2024, we are only a phonecall or a visit away. Give us a call for expert advice in the right blinds or shades for each window in your home. Our on-trend window treatment experts will be glad to help tailor your window treatment design to your personal tastes, the latest trends, and the style of each of your rooms.

Beat the Heat: Best Choices to Keep The Interior of Your Home Cool

20 Jul, 2023
Is your AC bill keeping you down this summer? Is your home too hot? Window treatments can help cool your home, but you need to choose the right ones and use them correctly. Not all window coverings are made equal. Here are some of the best options to help keep your home comfortable and reduce costs this summer: Cellular or honeycomb shades. These are specifically designed to provide a high level of insulation that keeps the heat out of your home. They also don't block the view when completely drawn. As a bonus, you can get them in a wide variety of colors and patterns to match your home and in both top-down and bottom-up configurations. Drapery. Old-fashioned curtains can be surprisingly effective. Choose a medium color and have us add a white plastic backing to reflect heat out of your home. You can also use drapes to block some of the heat without excluding much light, allowing you to enjoy natural light flowing through your drapes. Fabric Roman shades. These are a distinctive option that really dresses up a room, and if you choose the kind with several layers they will definitely help keep the heat out. We have light filtering and blackout options and everything in between. Why Should You Use These Types of Shades or Blinds? The two reasons are to save money and help protect the environment. Good shades keep your home cooler and this means your air conditioning systems don't have to work as hard and use as much energy. In the northern hemisphere, it's most important to have heat-reducing treatments on your southern windows and you can allow more light in through windows that face north. Both cellular and Roman shades can also be motorized and even put on timers to close the shades when you are not there and then let light in when you return. The small amount of energy used by motorized shades is much less than that lost through naked windows. All of these shades can also add to the aesthetics of your room. Cellular shades are great to add a pop of color or a subtle pattern. Both drapery and Roman shades give a soft feel to your windows that then spreads to the rest of your room. What is the Best Choice? The best choice of the three depends on your personal aesthetics. Our designers can help you make the right choice. If you want motorized shades, cellular shades are the lightest and thus use the least energy, and can roll all the way up and down, leaving your windows completely unrestricted. Roman shades are more visible, but can be used to add fabric and color to a room. Many people still love the look of traditional window drapes. Note that you can also combine shades and drapes for the effect you want, both in terms of reducing heat loss and in terms of aesthetics. How Much Can I Actually Save? The amount you save depends on the kind of window covering you use and how much thermal gain your house typically experiences. The larger your windows, in general, the larger the benefit, especially south-facing windows. For example, medium-colored draperies with a white plastic backing can reduce heat gain by as much as 33% for that window. Most window treatments, though, reduce overall heat gain by about 10%. This can significantly reduce your bills, by $100 to $200 a month during the summer. Using the right window treatment can make your home more comfortable in the summer and save money while preserving the environment. For advise on which window treatments to choose for your home and to see our selection of blinds and shades, contact Just Blinds today.
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