Harmonizing Your Home’s Exterior with Your Interior Window Treatments

Spring weather has got us thinking outside projects like landscaping, gardens, fences, painting the house. All great projects to beautify the outside of your home and increase that curb appeal. But, don’t forget to consider your window treatments as part of your exterior aesthetic. Mismatched window treatments can stick out like a sore thumb next to your beautiful exterior.

When planning an exterior painting project or a revamp of window treatments, it’s important to consider the following:

Exterior fixed assets

• Windows: Is your stained wood, painted wood or black metal, white or taupe?
• Door and Window Trim: Is it painted or stained?
• Body of home: Is it painted or stained?
• Exterior Shutter: Color?

Neighborhood and Homeowners Associations

• HOA often have established guidelines for the exterior of your home as well as the window coverings that can be seen from streetside. If there is a standard, it usually is white or neutral.

Considerations for your interior window treatments

• White to the street side is one rule that won’t lead you wrong if your window and trim are white or a light color
  Select all white window coverings (roller shades, cellular shades, wood blinds, faux wood blinds, shutter, or woven woods with white lining)
  Select draperies with a white lining or add a white lining to your draperies
• Note: if you want to mix up your window covering styles, keeping them all white on the back provides uniformity from the curb.
• Keep window covering positions uniform
  Your home will look symmetrical when positioning all treatments across the front of your home lowered to the same position.
• Coordinate with wood exterior
  Wood exteriors pair nicely with wood blinds and wood shutters in a stain to coordinate with your woodwork. If your windows are dark stained or oil-rubbed bronze, select window treatments that coordinate with the stain of the house.

 

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Sidelight window treatment options

Much smaller in scale, these windows are often overlooked as being part of the door. Their impact to both your safety and your curb appeal is great. There are plenty of options for covering these windows:

• Hunter Douglas Silhouette® Window Shadings available in a tilt-only profile system making the headrail 60% smaller than the standard tilt-only system. These shadings allow light to filter through while obscuring the outside world’s view into your space.
• Stain or Painted Wood Shutters  2 ½” Louver or neutral color Hybrid or PolySatin Shutters available in a traditional front tilt or, for a transitional look, the rear tilt.
• Hunter Douglas Duette® and Applause® Honeycomb shades with cordless operable sidelight lifting system is available as a Top Down/Bottom Up or a Bottom Up shade.
• 1 3/8” wood blind or 1” aluminum mini blind offers light control at your fingertips. Tilt the vanes upwards for the most privacy while allowing light to enter your home. Hunter Douglas offers MagnaView® on aluminum blinds, to offer a greater view through when open.

As you’re thinking about being outside more as the weather warms, we do spend a lot of time in our homes. Always make your interior designs a priority – create a look you love. Your neighbors can deal with mismatched as long as you’re happy in your space.

And as Always: Hirshfield’s is here to help. Our professional window treatment designers are just a call away – they can take the guess work out of selecting the right window treatments for your home.