Whereas style is about form, need is about function. Whereas style is right brain (subjective and intuitive), need is left brain (objective and logical). Need is what most people think of first when they consider a window fashion. Does it provide privacy? Will it prevent heat from escaping during the cold months and retain cool air during the warm ones? What degree of light control does it offer?
To help you sort through and prioritize these and other needs, we've outlined key functional considerations here.
Light control and privacy are closely related. Light control is about mood. It's about modulating and diffusing light. It's about dramatically transforming the appearance and ambience in a room. More than anything else, it can mean the difference between an ordinary home and an exceptional one.
Every treatment provides a different degree of light control. Roller shades, for example, provide minimal control. You can stop a traditional roller shade anywhere you want, but you can't really control the varying levels of light. Sheers and louvers, on the other hand, provide a high degree of control, since you can rotate or tilt the vane, slat or louver to let in just the amount of light you want. Also keep an eye out for translucent fabrics, which diffuse and soften natural light.
When it comes to privacy, geography matters. If you live in the city, privacy is first and foremost about blocking unwanted views, such as the coffee shop next door. If you live in a private place—on a densely wooded lot or on a secluded stretch of beachfront—privacy is not about blocking views but about creating a sense of emotional security.
If your top priority is blocking unwanted views, look for treatments that provide complete privacy. Also consider top-down/bottom-up window fashions, which allow you to mask those coffee shops (and all curious onlookers inside) while still giving you access to natural light. If you're looking to preserve your views but want to ensure that no one on the outside can see in (especially at night), consider a treatment that provides privacy on demand. One popular favorite: a translucent fabric vane that allows you to rotate between an unobstructed open position to one that closes for maximum privacy.
The degree to which Hunter Douglas' products will meet your light control and privacy needs will depend on the fabrics and product features you choose. Roughly outlined, the sheerer the fabric—that is, the more translucent is it—the less light control and privacy you'll have. The more opacity a fabric offers, the more privacy and light control you'll have.
Windows that are taller than they are wide and raise and lower are often better suited for horizontal window coverings, while windows that are wider than they are tall and slide from side to side are often better suited for vertical window coverings.
You may also want to consider horizontal window fashions because they can enhance a room's informality and coziness. On the other hand, vertical blinds or privacy sheers, which are constructed of soft fabric vertical vanes, can add height and dignity to a room.
Horizontal
Vertical
In the beginning, the window was square. In today's world of modern architecture and interior design, it's often anything but.
Of course, as window shapes have changed, so have Hunter Douglas window coverings. From angles to arches, skylights to sliding glass doors, Hunter Douglas' products cover virtually every size, shape and type of window.
Naturally some materials are more flexible than others, so you'll want to make sure that any fashion appealing to your eye also accommodates the shape of your window.
If your window treatments cover cathedral windows, skylights, or any hard-to-reach areas, or if someone in your home has limited hand dexterity, Hunter Douglas can provide a lifting system for your window coverings that fit your needs and style. Hunter Douglas' motorized lifting systems enable you to open, close, tilt or traverse your Hunter Douglas window coverings using a remote control or wall-switch. And many of Hunter Douglas' lifting systems eliminate cord hazards, a safety advantage if you have small children or pets.
Motorized and innovative manual lifting systems are available for many Hunter Douglas window coverings. Below is a list of the different lifting systems we offer.
Hunter Douglas' lifting systems include:
Motorized options:
Innovative Manual options:
Let's first consider some arresting numbers: 40% of the heat that escapes from your home leaves through the windows. And 50% of the solar heat that enters a room comes in through—you guessed it—the windows. Obviously, energy efficient treatments can translate into considerable utility bill savings, especially if your windows are on a cold north exposure in the winter or a sun-saturated west wall in the summer.
The most energy efficient treatments feature a honeycomb construction. The cells actually trap the hot or cold air, decreasing the intensity of the temperature as it enters the room. A honeycomb shade with a triple cell construction will increase the energy efficiency of a single pane of glass by five times and more than double the energy efficiency of a double-glazed window.
Hunter Douglas' Duette® Architella™ honeycomb shades take this energy efficient design one step further. These shades feature a patented honeycomb-within-a-honeycomb construction. The unique design feature—an inner layer of fabric—creates three distinct air pockets within the shade, trapping more air and increasing the shades' insulating properties. How much the shade insulates will vary depending on the fabric you choose, but your savings will be noticeable. For example, Duette Architella Panache™ 3/4" opaque shades, when properly installed, can potentially reduce overall home heat loss by 30%—with corresponding decreases in heating energy usage and costs.
For specific energy efficiency information, please contact American Vision Interiors at 888.478.7154. The degree to which Hunter Douglas' products will meet your energy efficiency needs will depend on the fabrics and product features you choose and whether your window coverings remain open, closed, raised or lowered.
Just as sunscreen protects Hunter Douglas' skin from the sun's damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays, window treatments protect our room interiors. Left unprotected for a prolonged period of time, our possessions will succumb to the same fate as those of us who routinely pass on the SPF 15 sunscreen: premature aging. That means our wood floors will bleach and dry out and the color will fade from our paintings and Oriental rugs.
Virtually every Hunter Douglas product filters out at least 75% of the sun's harmful UV rays when closed over double-glazed glass windows. Many of Hunter Douglas' products provide even greater protection, up to 99% when closed.
For specific UV protection information, please contact American Vision Interiors at 888.478.7154. The degree to which Hunter Douglas' products will meet your UV protection needs will depend on the fabrics and product features you choose and whether your window covering is open, closed, raised or lowered.
As we all learned in science class, sound is absorbed when it encounters a material. So if you have what musicians call a "live" room—that is, a lot of reverberations and echoes—fabric window fashions will absorb those sounds, dramatically improving your room's acoustics. If the sound is coming from outside your room—perhaps you live on a busy street or that coffee shop next door features live music every weeknight—fabric window fashions will also cut down on the intensity of those unwanted sounds.
For specific sound absorption information, please contact American Vision Interiors at 888.478.7154. The degree to which Hunter Douglas' products will meet your sound absorption needs will depend on the fabrics and product features you choose and whether your window covering is open, closed, raised or lowered.
If you have children, safety is a serious consideration. Cords on window coverings can contribute to fatal accidents. If you're not convinced, here is an unsettling fact: every year, about 50 children in the U.S. are injured or killed by strangulation involving window-covering cords. We don't have the stats on pets, but they are victims, too.
Virtually all Hunter Douglas products provide standard or optional safety features, though some offer more than others. Here, is a preview of some of those innovative features.
Hunter Douglas' innovative safety features include:
When you're serious about finding the right window fashion—and it's clear by your presence here that you are—then you obviously want to make sure that the fashion you find remains good looking for a long time.
Hunter Douglas designs their window covering products to require minimal care and cleaning. In other words, you won't have to do much to keep them looking like new, aside from regular dusting and periodic vacuuming. That's because they've created fabrics that are dust, soil and stain resistant, and Hunter Douglas' aluminum shades are treated with a proprietary dust repellent paint. What's more, they exhaustively research cleaning solutions for spot—cleaning-from mild soap to lemon oil to wood preservatives—so they know what works best with which products.
Your American Vision Interiors consultant can provide instructions for each individual product.
When you purchase from American Vision Interiors, you're investing in premium window fashions custom-made for your windows. All Hunter Douglas products come with a lifetime limited warranty and the amortized cost is just pennies a day even if you replace, say, a $250 window fashion every five years.
For specific pricing information, please contact American Vision Interiors at 888.478.7154.
