Curb Appeal: Strategies for Making a Great First Impression
BWS Design • July 19, 2018

Give your home the attention it deserves. Whether you are hoping for the coveted “Yard of The Month” sign from your homeowners association, trying to impress the neighbors, or attempting to attract potential buyers, curb appeal is important.

A simple classic look is easy and relatively inexpensive. 

Take a walk around the house and focus on the obvious. Simple housekeeping requires no monetary investment. With just a few hours and a little bit of sweat equity you can have:

• Sparkling clean windows

• A freshly mowed lawn

• Edged sidewalks

• Flower beds free of weeds

• Neatly trimmed shrubs and bushes

Fix what needs fixing.

Enhance the curb appeal of your home with small fixes that make a significant difference.

• Pressure wash everything (house, driveway, and roof) to remove mold and mildew

• Touch up any chipped paint

• Repair window trim

• Remove any dead branches from trees

Now that you have checked off the clean-up and fix-up chores from your “to do” list, unleash your creativity. What can you do to make the property look more attractive and feel more welcoming?

Add style and symmetry.

Invest in a few decorative elements to make the exterior stand out.

• Window boxes filled with flowers

• A pair of potted plants flanking a walkway or door

• Accent lighting

• A stylish mailbox

• House numbers that make a statement

• New hardware for garage doors

Create the perfect entry

Nothing says “Come in and stay a while” more than a cozy and eye-catching front entry. Avoid the cluttered look, keep it simple, and stylish.

• Make the front door stand out with color or adornment. Add a fresh coat of paint and a decorative and seasonal touch with a wreath.

• Invest in a new welcome mat.

• Replace worn out doorknobs and doorbells.

Staging is all the rage these days.

Let passers-by, visitors, and prospective buyers know that life is happening inside  and  outside your house. A front porch is the first “room” of your home. Create a simple seating area with a couple of comfy chairs, a small table, and even a lamp (if you have an electrical outlet close by) lends visual and tactile interest.

Curb appeal extends into the backyard as well. With the lions share of home buyers scanning the internet for photos of available homes, make sure that the back deck and patio looks great as well. Set the stage for al fresco dining with an inviting table and colorful place settings.

Some often overlooked details

• The American flag is a time-honored, iconic symbol. It makes an impression, it is colorful, and it creates visual interest.  The United States Department of Veterans Affairs  gives us the proper protocol to follow.

• How does your house look at night? Keep in mind that folks scout out neighborhoods after work. Lighting is especially important in the evening. Illuminate walkways, pathways, and landscaped areas. Give off an inviting vibe by ensuring that interior lights are visible through the windows and doors.

Speaking of windows, do they have a unified, cohesive look? Mismatched window treatments are distracting. Step outside a take a look. Are there any windows without any coverings? Are all the window coverings the same color? Are they all in the same position? Small things do make a difference. Prospective buyers may be wary that bare windows do not offer needed privacy. Conversely, uniform blinds on all the windows signal the ability to control the amount of light that comes in, and the heat that can be kept out. Lower energy bills are always an added perk when looking for a new home. We can’t help you paint that old front door, but if you need some options for upgrading your window coverings to  give us a call .

Expert Advice by Just Blinds

How to Use Windows to Make Your Home Cozier

May 29, 2025
Windows give a home warmth, light, and a view of the outside world. But with the right treatments, you can also use your windows to make your home feel cozy. Coziness is a semse of comfort and familiarity. It defines a charm that feels like home, whether it's the coziness of a warm room in winter, your movie den in the summer. When we think of coziness, we often think of couches, candles, and throw blankets. But your windows play an equally important part. After all, it's your window treatments that frame the light, add softness to your walls, and set the mood for every room. The right window decorations can make your home feel warm and inviting. Using Windows, Drapes, and Shades to Create Coziness  Window treatements create a vibe for your entire room. Drapes, shades, and shutters can be used to create a backdrop of texture, color, and style. They also allow you to control the light levels in your home and even the color of the light. This means that your windows are the best place to start when making a room feel cozy. Layering soft drapes in rich colors is a great way to add that sense of comfort and warmth to a room, while cheerful blinds in soft neutrals can help a room to feel relaxed and welcoming. You can also use drapes or blinds to add a splash of color as a bold accent in any room. These touches combined with glowing sunshine during the day create a cozy and comfortable space. Plants as Cozy Window Decor You can use other types of decor to evoke a sense of coziness, too. We particularly love plants. Leafy green plants love the sunshine as much as you do and thrive when placed in a sunny window. Place an elegant snake plant in the windowsill or hang creeping ivy from a hook near the top of a window frame to make your room feel cheerful and alive with green energy. Plants make a home feel natural and vibrantly lived-in which is perfect for your cozy vibe. For a cozy kitchen, you can even grow fresh herbs in a box on the windowsill that add a delicious aroma and tasty fresh seasoning along with their natural visual appeal. Enhance Your Space with Aromatherapy Speaking of aromatics, you might be surprised how much your windows can take part in cozy aromatherapy. Window treatments like drapes and blinds are fabric that can help purfumes and essential oils linger in the room for days. Cozy scents are often warm aromas like cinnamon, vanilla, lavender, almonds, and coffee. But fresh fruit or floral scents that smell like "home" to you can also add a sense of coziness to each room. Simply spritz your curtains with your favorite scents and each room will subtly carry that comforting smell of home that makes you want to snuggle into the couch and relax at the end of each day. Moody Shade and Maximizing Light When we visualize coziness, light levels often play a role. Your minds eye may see a sun-drenched cottage or a gently lit library as your mental idea of a room that is perfectly cozy. Window treatments allow you to set the mood by reducing or maximizing light to the perfect levels. Well-designed shades and drapes can pull back attractively to maximize light, bathing your room in the warm welcoming glow of sunshine. Or if you prefer a more relaxed coziness, you can use translucent drapes or cellular shades to filter the light exactly the right amount. Diffuse and reduced light filtered through fabric of a warm color can make you feel safe and at peace. Increase Your Happiness with Window Design Your home should feel welcoming, relaxing, and cozy. The right window treatments can help set the stage for a delightful welcome home each night, rejuvinating weekends, and an overall feeling of at-home coziness when you are relaxing in your favorite place. To achieve this goal, you can experiment with home decor changes, including your windows, to achieve your ideal at-home bliss. Contact us today for custom drapes and blinds to complete your cozy room design.

What Your Window Treatment Says About You: A Personality-Based Guide

April 23, 2025
Your selection of window treatment products and services is not merely about getting a job done. Rather, if you look hard enough, you can find direct correlations between the type of person that you are and the window treatment that you select. We have created this personality-based guide to help you best discover what kind of window treatment truly matches your spirit. The Dependable Type: Wooden Blinds You are the person that all of your friends can count on. You are the type of person who truly sticks to your plans when you make them, and you are the type of person who will choose wooden blinds for your home. Privacy is important to you when selecting your blinds, and that is why you find yourself pulled into the idea of putting up wooden blinds. Besides that, they happen to be highly functional, and that's not something that you are willing to pass up either. The Planner: Blackout Curtains Those who value truly getting the most value out of their blinds or anything else that they install in their homes will think very carefully about their options. For those people, going with blackout curtains makes a lot of sense. They want to gain as much value as possible out of their options, and they know that they can significantly improve their quality of sleep and so much more when they opt for blackout curtains. These also happen to be a great option for those who work night shifts or other odd hours and yet still want to enjoy their sleep. They need blackout curtains to help increase the quality of that sleep and allow themselves to get their day started right. The Tech Enthusiast: Smart Shades They roam among us: The type of people who are quick to adopt any new technology and get to work figuring out how it can improve their lives. These people are great because they are not afraid to take a risk and because they help to move our society forward. They simply want to get more out of each day, and they often do so by adopting and using the latest technologies. These individuals will gravitate towards smart shades for the following attributes: Innovation - Who wants to stick with the boring old ways of shading one's house? Smarter options are now available, and you better believe that the tech enthusiasts among us are willing to latch on to them. Efficiency - These shades are a more efficient option for those who care about that kind of thing. They can be easily activated and set up to open or close automatically (how cool is that?!). Progressive - The "cool" factor is a big deal for people who fall into this category as well. They might not admit to it right off the bat, but they care deeply about what others think about them. As such, they want window shades that have that cool factor attached to them. The Dreamer: Sheer Curtains Finally, we land upon the dreamer. This is the person who views every day for the possibilities that it can bring. They are not scared off by those with a negative attitude. If anything, they believe that they can change those people! Instead, the dreamer wants sheer curtains because they bring in soft light, open spaces, and bring about a feeling of possibility all throughout the house. Sheer curtains are the ideal option for someone who classifies themselves in this way. They will receive plenty of compliments on their curtains, and they will appreciate how open they are to the world.  Which kind of person are you and which window treatment option makes the most sense for your personality? For more inspiration and ideas, reach out and contact us today.