<p>I also like the look of unadorned windows, but in order for them to look finished, the window moldings should be really nice. If the house came with basic stock trim, you may want to have custom moldings added (actually less expensive than window treatments).</p>
<p>We do have custom moldings on our first floor…and I do not want them covered. Our little valences are on compression rods inside the window frames.</p>
<p>I love bare windows. My living room has an angled ceiling that starts right above the window frames (there are 10 windows) and blinds would obscure the top and look bad. And I don’t really need them. Because of the way my house is situated on its lot, no one can really see in even though I can see everything.</p>
<p>I have an old farmhouse with wide window moldings and plinth blocks in the corners of the frames. I have never wanted to hide the moldings so I have, in various rooms: Sheer panels that are mounted just to the inside of the window corners, cellular shades in two of the bedrooms, plantation shutters on the bottom half of my bedroom windows (a must since I face the street and the windows are almost to the floor), roman shades in the family room and living room (mounted inside the frame to allow the wood work to show).</p>
<p>It’s dark outside now and the dark hole of a window doen’t bother me. The french widow frame stands out nicely against the dark.</p>
<p>Roll wood stick blinds from Pier One in 3 bedrooms and simple drapes in master bedroom and its bathroom. All the rest none, nice large wood windows. The south facing windows have triple E design. We wish we would have done that for all of them for keeping the cold out in the winter.</p>
<p>I also dislike the “black holes” at night. Solution- honeycomb shades to pull down at night- all in a light neutral. Good views deserve unfettered views. We had shades in our old house but horizontal blinds in the bathrooms so they could be positioned for light but view to the outside but not in. Current house we put some in some bedrooms for the same reason. I got Bali cordless shades- need to bend down for the near floor ones but then no cords across a long expanse of several windows. We have half circle tops that I made covers for as to permanently cover them would defeat the purpose of having windows.</p>
<p>Times change- way back when (and current house when we bought it) vertical blinds were the in thing. Some people like plantation shutters but I don’t like how much of the window is permanently obstructed. I would pull a Scarlett O’Hara and make gowns out of those old drapes!</p>
<p>Addenda- but I would never wear them.</p>
<p>jym626 - I really like those blinds but they look expensive…I am thinking now of painting my guest bedroom (same side of house as family room) with a bolder color and removing the drapes in that room as well…there I might like shades for privacy. Even though not really needed, people don’t like to undress in front open windows for deer and squirrels to see. It is a small bedroom and the drapes make it feel smaller but the neutral color on the walls don’t accent the windows at all - it looks like it is missing something without the curtains. I wish I had money but it’s in college right now.</p>
<p>They are really cool, threeofthree! They are made by several different companies. One was a company out of Denver that had local reps who come to your home. I think it was called Stonesidehttp://<a href=“Zebra Shades - Custom Made | Stoneside”>www.stoneside.com/location/Colorado/Denver/Transitional-Shades</a> <a href=“Office Locations Throughout the US | Stoneside”>http://www.stoneside.com/Locations</a> They are in several states. The blinds are called transitional blinds. This isnt who I bought from, but found them on line. Maybe their prices are reasonable. DOnt get the motorized shades. They would be expensive.</p>
<p>I am going to be the lone voice of needing drapes/window coverings. Just love them. And as most designers know drapes are usually the most expensive item in the room. I have acquired mine over the years from all different places and take very good care of them so they can “live again”. Most recently my Ralph Lauren panels became the material to recover my kitchen chair seats. </p>
<p>I put them up in my house, my kiddos home’ and when they went away to college/grad school. See linen crazy! Son has some very nice pinch-pleated linen/cotton material with a nice liner to reduce noise, light and energy efficient drapes up in his condo. The were originally sold by JC Penneys for $225.00 a pair-$450 a pair and I purchased them from Big Lots for $14.99 a set regardless of size. Worked great on his sliding glass doors (2 of those) and 5 more windows. Brought his electric bill (ac/heating) down by 70%. Was able to paint match his walls from the drapes. His nasty apt/condo doesn’t look so nasty anymore. Actually looks really nice.</p>
<p>I was able to locate some very nice silk panels for my sister’s house, entire back with at least 50 panels…found those online at an outlet for less than $3.50 a panel, so the 50 panels look fantastic. I am of the opinion that more is MORE!</p>
<p>If the window size calls for 2-3 panels I put up 10-12. Nice and full. Most are all pulled back or cover only part of the window to let in the natural light, but can be pulled to cover the entire window. </p>
<p>I just love linens. Sigh.</p>
<p>Like a great piece of furniture they tend to be timeless and classic. Don’t even get me started with bedding and upholstery fabric!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>I tend to like curtains and window treatments too. The first thing I’d always do when I moved into a house was get the windows set up. </p>
<p>However, I could not for the life of me, get anything that works in my current family room that has a wall of french doors flanked by windows the same size as the doors. Room opens to a deck and needs the iight. Though i think that curtains or something would make the room look better, eveyrone likes the light and ready access to the deck. </p>
<p>I have a friend whose house has one huge wall of floor to ceiling windows, and in that case, I cannot see how any window treatments can improve on that view and the sleek look she has right there. </p>
<p>It comes down to it being up to you. I’ve seen some awful curtains on windows, where it would have been far better to have left it bare or just address the privacy issue if need very simply.</p>
<p>No blinds in my house ever. The house had them when we bought it and I couldn’t wait to get rid of them. We live in the city so no uncovered windows at night. Too creepy. Mostly I like simple curtains that I make myself because I love fabric and can whip out a set of curtains in an afternoon if I feel like changing things up. However I have professional roman shades in the kitchen and a professional pinch pleat drape over the french door that I can pull back clear of the door during the day. Even if I lived in the country I think I’d like to be surrounded by fabric because I love it.</p>
<p>I hate window treatment and especially drapes and curtains. I have no window treatments in my family room - three big windows and sliding glass doors. In my living room I have a huge bay window and I have very simple off white linen drapes which are always tied back (they are actually pulled back into brushed silver bracket thingies. I have never untied them. The only rooms where I have shades are the bedrooms and I only use them at night. </p>
<p>jym626, those transitional shades look a lot like my Silhouette shades. I love that you can have no coverage and they almost disappear from the frame, to partial coverage where you mostly have privacy but still allow natural light to flood the room, all the way to full privacy when you want/need it.</p>
<p>I love simple panels in some rooms just for the color it brings to the space. Nothing fancy, just a clean line of color pulled away to each side. They don’t obscure the view when the silhouettes are up, just provide a little interest.</p>
<p>A lot of this is not only dependent upon personal taste, but upon the style of the home and windows, as well as geographical position of the home and privacy issues. Some rooms would be stylistically destroyed by any window treatment at all. When you have a beautiful view, imo the view should trump all, and so on.</p>
<p>I have floor-to-ceiling windows in the front of my house (it’s very contemporary). We spent a long time trying to figure out window treatments and ended up using electronic shades that go up behind a wood panel so that you can’t see them. The controls are on the wall. The system is from a company called Lutron. </p>
<p>^^^^^very cool</p>
<p>I hate elaborate window treatments. Let’s just say that fancy drapes and cats are not a great combination. 
For the few windows that had to have drapes (too much glare for TV viewing), I made them out of a long valance that I cut in half and hung them from wooden rods that match the wood wrapping the windows. </p>
<p>There is a lot of great stuff mentioned in this thread. My inner decorator’s motor is revving up! :)</p>
<p>So glad to read that no window treatments are “in”! When we renovated, I took down all the hardware for drapes. I only had lace curtains up before, but I don’t miss them! The back of our house has privacy, so nothing is on our sliding glass doors to the back. (It is a triple window and I could never figure out something that would look good anyway). I have blinds on the front of the house for privacy and usually keep them up during the day and lower them for privacy at night. </p>
<p>BunsenBurner - funny comment about the cat. When our Maine Coon was just a kitten he would get a running start from the foyer in the front of the house going full throttle jump on the coffee to the couch and bound straight up to the top of the curtains and just hang there. We all thought this was funny until he started growing - Maine Coon boys get big. Many won’t like me for this but we had his front claws removed and the first time he bounded across the house and up to the top of the curtains after being declawed - his expression was priceless. Think Wiley Coyote when the cliff breaks and for a split second he’s hanging mid-air looking at the camera with the “Oh #%£^!” expression - that is the look my cat gave turning his head toward us as he fiercely gripped the drapes 9’ up and slowly started sliding downward. We still laugh at that memory -It really was funny. Needless to say he’s found other ways to exercise/play.</p>
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<p>Well, I don’t know that they are “in.” You are on CC, and to be honest, a lot of us are not necessarily style mavens (so says the woman who never heard of even 10% of the shoes being discussed with joy on the shoe thread).</p>