Need Advice Window Treatments

I have a two story family room with windows at ground level and then the same size windows farther up (the bottom of the window starting at say 11ft). This is a south facing room (so lots of sun) and right now they are not covered. After several years of blazing hot sun and it getting really warm during the summer, I need to do something. I could cover them up with blinds (but there are so many to choose from)...can anyone who was in the same type of predicament tell me what they did. I like the fact that honeycomb shades block sun but let light but I feel I would need drapes of some sort (and 20 ft drapes I am sure would be cost prohibitive), I like the wooden blinds but do you have the cord hanging down (so you can move them or do you just hide them) and motorized is out of the question (too expensive). I have six windows (maybe seven) that would need the same treatment, so I this will get expensive but I am trying to shoot for the middle of the road (not super cheap nor super expensive).

I went to next day blinds and they seemed very nice but I know nothing about quality or service. It sounds good but can anyone give any feedback on them. Can anyone recommend another vendor.

Thanks

 

A neighbor of mine did their windows like this with white shutters and I think it looks really nice. I am not sure what options you have with opening them, other than a long pole... but they may work... I thought they let in some light and seemed really nice to look at. She used the ones that were the composite material, not real wood.

 

make sure to get some estimates for solar tinting of your windows. We did that the first year we bought our new house and it's made a difference. We also have shutters in the family room, which I close when the sun gets to hot and bright in the summeras the back of our house faces the south. I could have put fully closing drapes on the first floor, but that would have taken up way to much wall space. SO now I clip to the rods the extra bath size towels and fleece blankets we have on the worst offending days in the dining and side windows of the living room. Duettes don't hold back the heat.

 

As for places to try, we used the Blind, Shade & Shutter Co. in Leesburg and were very happy with their work and help. Originally we were going to buy Hunter Douglas to match some existing blinds, but they convinced us going cheaper would be fine and match. They did a nice installation job and have had no issues. We also used Next Day Blinds way back when we lived in Frederick, and they were fine as I recall, but I also remember them being more of a hard sell to spend more.

Be sure to post what you end up with for your 2-story family room. We have the same thing and have never covered the upper windows, mostly because of indecision on how to allow light in when we want it for a reasonable price. We have considered both tinting and mechanical blinds.

 

I would recommend having these windows tinted. We just had some windows tinted after realizing that certain rooms we had not previously done had fading on floors and carpets as well as get too hot in the summer. We used Atlantic Sun and I thought the price was good. They also did tinting on windows 7 years ago in some of our rooms and the quality is good, no problems. I compared the cost of tinting to various window treatments and blinds - the tinting is cheaper.

Also I would recommend Next Day Blinds (but not Blinds To Go). Last year I priced out and compared quality for wooden blinds and woven blinds. Next Day Blinds matched a price quote that I printed out from Smith and Noble online store. The quality of Next Day Blinds is better than Smith and Noble and Blinds To Go - I have had each in my house. Plus they are quick. Don't hesitate to go there and don't pay top dollar for Hunter Douglas, etc.

 

we have the same style living roon and spent a lot of time researching 2 story treatments. when we decided we'd rather spend $8k elsewhere in our loves, we ended up framing both levels of windows with nice crown molding and ordering some gorgeous crushed taffeta panels from this website: http://www.bestwindowtreatments.com/

love the decision we made but make no mistake- if i find $10k in the gutter or hit the lottery, i will get dramatic, gorgeous 2 story treatments! (the other $2k will go toward draping ME in something gorgeous and dramatic- why should my windows have all the fun! )

 

I used Next Day Blinds for Solar shades and you can get them with remote to use for the upper windows you van not reach. We had those installed about 5 years ago and they are great.
The Starbucks next to Safeway has the same solar shades if you want to see what they are like.

 

I want to thank everyone for a lot of great ideas and feedback on vendors. Please don't stop with the suggestions. Once I make up my mind and get things done I will post again with all the particulars and the pictures. For anyone who made suggestions....would you be willing to take picture(s) and send them to me. I am a very visual person, so seeing things always works better for me. I believe it was Redon, but some mention moulding around the windows, could you tell me who did that for you. I think you mentioned the drapes as well, did you just measure and order online and how did you find that vendor? Thanks again for the input and like I said I am still up for suggestions.

 

We had same issue with window in upper foyer. if you already have low-e glass. I think plantation shutters are a good idea or some kind of shade that will not rot from such strong exposure. HOA will probably not like film treatment.

 

I've posted about this before. Being on a VERY tight budget I went to IKEA and purchase 3 sets of panels for each window and sewed them together. I had to hire someone to put up the rods. These don't help with covering the windows they are just decorative. I would like to get the top windows tinted and shades for the bottom.