How to Provide Energy Efficiency, Comfort, and Style
BWS Design • Jun 09, 2016

These days, we are all looking for ways to provide energy efficiency. This is not only to save on utility bills, but also to help the environment and keep comfortable. Window blinds and shades can help with it all. Several types of blinds and shades will make your home more energy-efficient as well as more comfortable than windows alone. Read on to find out more about these window treatments.

The Department of Energy estimates that 48% of the average household’s utility spending is on heating and cooling. A home can lose anywhere from 10% to 20% of its heat through windows during cold months. In warm months, heat intrusion through windows causes your air conditioner to work harder and run longer than necessary. Finding ways to cut that spending makes sense.

Another concern when it comes to the outside environment invading your home is sun damage. It can fade your furniture, pictures and paintings, and even your walls. Protecting against the harms of UV rays and being able to control the amount of incoming light is essential.

Honeycomb Shades

Honeycomb shades, also called cellular shades, are great for energy efficiency. They provide an effective barrier between your home temperature and the outside temperature. With perfect pockets, they trap air inside, which reduces transfer of heat and cold into and out of your home through the windows. Honeycomb shades come in single, double, or triple layered options. You can opt for corded or cordless shades in various colors. The insulating power of these shades means less environmental impact and a fatter wallet.

Wooden Blinds

If you’re looking for a more classic look, wood blinds or faux wood blinds may be the right choice for you. Fortunately, they also help with energy efficiency. These blinds add insulation to your windows, while allowing you to filter in as little or as much light as you want. They also allow you to direct light. With wood and faux wood blinds, you have a variety of options when it comes to the type of wood, color, and style. Not only will they easily fit into your décor, they require little maintenance and are easy to clean. You’ll be able to save on energy bills and keep a classic style.

Roller Shades

Here, we have another aesthetically versatile window covering that saves energy. With proper insulation and a snug fit, roller shades create an insulating barrier of air between the window and the shade. This reduces energy loss and keeps homes at a comfortable, consistent temperature. They vary in levels of opaqueness and colors to ensure you get the style you love in addition to the comfort.

Shutters

Shutters have several advantages. Not only are they highly effective energy savers, they also protect your windows from weather and provide an element of beauty. Custom shutters have the ability to cater to any taste. Solid wood slats, custom artistry, and precision installation come together to bring style, comfort, protection, and efficiency to your home. On mild-weather days, you may want to shut off the furnace or air conditioner completely. Shutters allow ventilation while keeping your privacy and protection intact. You can also control the flow of light into your home.

Cold winter months and long, hot summer days can increase your utility bills, damage your home’s interior, strip you of constant, comfortable temperatures, and contribute to environmental destruction. With properly installed window blinds and shades, you can greatly reduce the loss of heat and cold through windows. With the many available products, you won’t have to compromise style for function.

If you have any questions regarding the above window treatments, or any others, please contact us.

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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