Himom…is in HI! A bit of a trek to New England!
Count me in with those stuck on window coverings! We just redid our kitchen and I am struggling with what to do with our 2 standard size windows. Kitchen is in the front of the house and we are close to the street/sidewalk and the neighbor’s driveway, so some nighttime privacy would be nice. But I love the sunlight and really don’t want to darken the kitchen at all with window treatments. When we moved in 27 years ago, I bought sheer cafe curtains with valences from K-Mart. I really liked the weight and feel of the material, which wasn’t gauzey or lacy. After 10 years I felt it was time to update, but could not find any sheers I liked, even from Country Curtains and JCPenney. Have been searching on and off for the last 15 years, while continuing to wash and rehang those K-Mart specials every year! Finally threw out those old curtains (RIP) along with the laminate countertops and contractor-grade cabinets last month. Now that our kitchen is updated with solid wood cabinets and quartz counters, I just don’t know what to do - so, the windows will probably remain bare indefinitely and I’ll just have to wave to everyone as the walk by in the evening!
We replaced hung drapes with silhouette blinds in our front bay window years ago. I really like them because we can easily move them from bare to sheer to nighttime privacy. The only issue is they do attract dust and dirt specs inside the slats, including the occasional dead bug. I don’t want anything in my kitchen that I can’t easily clean!
The linked blog above reminds me of why I hate drapes and curtains - yuck to most of those pictures! My decorating style is much less fussy and they do all look like giant dust collectors to me.
I like the look of bare windows and love natural light. Our large kitchen window faces the street. I use top-down-bottom-up honeycomb shades. They’re up and not noticeable during the day. In evening, I lower them and drop the top half of the shade so I can still see the sky. I chose a white color and a medium density material; not opaque, but it does provide privacy.
This is very similar to what we ordered - I think it would work in combination with may types of decor…
@zipyourlips thank you that is most helpful, as you sound exactly like me. I don’t want a valence type of treatment because I want to be able to see the sky, and the lights on my neighbors big tree at Christmas, etc. Plus then there is no privacy option. But I really don’t want any kind of curtain. So the bottom up/top down option might be my best plan. My only issue is how long will they last until they look and feel grungy, since unlike curtains you can’t throw them in the wash, nor can you wipe them like mini-blinds. I guess I just need to go in with the mindset that when they start to get gross, we replace them. Our windows are not big or custom size so the cost shouldn’t be too bad. Definitely worth considering.
We have plantation shutters like the ones linked above in another room, and I love them.
I don’t think honeycomb shades or plantation shutters will work with patio and sliding doors. For the big doors you will need to change to the modern curtain rods ( not pleated style) I would recommend first trying light breezy sheers to see if they block enough light. Try the ones with the grommets because they are the easiest to open and close and update the look of the drapes.
If the doors are large and wide, you need at least 1 1/2” to 2 1/2” wide rods for the right scale to the doors. Mount the rods at least 4 to 6 inches above the top of the doors to give better height to the doors and ceiling. You don’t want the grommets to be on top of your trim, looks stupid. Also, mount the end of the rods at least 6 inches away from the sides of the doors to give volume to the doors and allow enough space to pull the curtains to the side of the doors.
Home Depot does not have good rods or curtains. Lowe’s or Bed Bath and Beyond have larger selections. If doors are wider than 10 ft, you will have trouble finding rods long enough so you will have to go on the Internet. I don’t have an opinion (what???..Coralbrook doesn’t have a home design opinion???) on the color of the rod or drapes because I don’t know your style in the home. But you can never go wrong with clean white sheers.
Make sure you purchase drapes that are not higher than 1” off the floor. Short drapes look like you are waiting for a flood.
What CB said! And make sure the grommets are wide enough for the rods you pick. We got Umbra rods for our 11 ft long patio slider doors.
Example of Nooooooo!!!
https://www.touchofclass.com/splendor-pinch-pleat-patio-panel-96-x-84/p/V954-002/
Example of Yes
I always love bottom up shades/honeycomb whatever. It is the perfect solution for privacy. You just raise them up from the bottom when privacy needed and leave the top half open for sunlight or view.
Our neighbors have them in their bathroom windows facing the side of our house. Works great - no nekkid butt sightings for us!! 
Sorry, my yes example link didn’t work well. Maybe this will work. Just trying to show an example how the height and length of the rod make a huge difference
There is no space at the end of the wall. It has a fixed glass window on either side plus two sliding glass doors. They make up the entire wall. The opposite side has a picture window in the center and a louvered window in either side.
Both walls have installed traverse rods. We also have a wooden valance with the traverse rod integrated over the picture window.
The other set of three louvers have a wooden valence with integrated traverse rod and integrated indirect lighting.
We are afraid that the 14’ wide (and similar) curtains will be too heavy for the curtain rod that just has two or three anchor points. Yes, if we switched to cafe-style or grommet curtains there are many more options.
apologize for not reading all of the posts.
We put in Hunter Douglas shades–remote controlled–in 6 major south facing windows.
There are levels of darkness to choose and I think we chose the middle decision.
It is amazing to have them on remote.
We had Hunter Douglas light filtering Duets for 15 years and and got so tired of lowering and raising all 6 shades a day. We felt so closed in and now we can see out and see the outline of the trees.
We do not have a need for privacy as neighbors cannot really see in.
Not cheap but one of those things you are just glad you finally did.
@HImom Without knowing anything about the style of your home and your decor, the first thing I thought of for a house in Hawaii is bamboo. It’s natural, casual, and classic.
@VeryHappy You and I are kindred spirits re: liking no window treatments best. Fortunately, we live on a somewhat secluded piece of property. If someone can see me naked, they really must be putting in a lot of effort so its there fault if they get an eyeful.
Have to join the club of window covering haters. Only necessity to block some lights made me buy the drapes for the master bedroom and guest room. We are lucky to have no neighbors on two sides, and the other two are somewhat screened.
Those huge grommet curtains look so dated. Haven’t they been around forever? If I we’re going to do sheers, which I wouldn’t, I’d prefer just sliding them on to the rod.
When you live in the city you have to do something to cover your windows at night or you’ll be presenting Living Theater.
I just saw in the paper that someone is developing window glass that will function like Transitions glasses which will help with the sun but won’t do much for privacy at night.
Grommets are very practical because they make it easy to close and open the drapes. Plus, when the drapes are open and pushed to the side, grommets are not very visible.
“I just saw in the paper that someone is developing window glass that will function like Transitions glasses which will help with the sun but won’t do much for privacy at night.”
They already have it. It’s used in commercial settings already.
I saw something once on Property Brothers (I think it was that show). They had installed a window that looked normal, but when they flicked what appeared to be a light switch, the window changed to an appearance of frosted glass. Haven’t seen anything like that since, though.