Window treatments
Shades, blinds, shutters and drapery all solve different problems. This is the map: pick the room or the problem, then look at real installations of the type that fits before you spend anything.
Start with the problem
- Glare on screens — solar screen roller shades, 1% to 5% openness.
- Cold or drafty windows — double cell cellular shades.
- Daytime privacy with daylight — top-down/bottom-up cellulars or light-filtering rollers.
- A truly dark bedroom — blackout shades with side channels or a wide outside mount.
- Humidity in bathrooms and kitchens — faux wood blinds or vinyl shutters.
- Patio and sliding doors — vertical blinds or panel track blinds.
- A window that should look expensive — shutters, or Roman shades layered with drapery.
Browse by type
Window blinds
Every blind and shade type compared in one place.
Roman shades
Flat, hobbled and relaxed folds.
Roller shades
Fabric openness, cassettes and fascias.
Shutters
Louvre sizes, frames and materials.
Cellular shades
Insulation and top-down bottom-up.
Faux wood blinds
Slat size, humidity and valances.
Vertical blinds
Patio doors and wide openings.
Panel track blinds
Sliding panels and room dividers.
Blackout shades
Truly dark bedrooms and nurseries.
Motorized shades
Battery, wired, remote and app control.
Arches & specialty shapes
Skylights, bays, angles and circles.
Room by room
Bedrooms lean toward blackout cellulars or lined Romans. Kitchens and bathrooms want something wipeable and humidity-proof. Living rooms are where layering pays off — a functional shade for light control with drapery for softness. Home offices are almost always a glare problem before they are a privacy problem.
Why photos beat catalogues
A fabric swatch and a render tell you almost nothing about stack height, light leak at the edges, or how a valance meets your trim. Every photo in ShadeVault Pro is a finished job in a real room, uploaded and tagged by the person who installed, specified or lives with it.
Frequently asked questions
- What are window treatments?
- Anything fitted to a window to control light, privacy, heat or appearance — shades, blinds, shutters, drapery and combinations of them.
- How do I choose window treatments for a whole house?
- Most homes end up mixing: humidity-proof products in wet rooms, insulating cellulars in bedrooms, something wide-opening on the patio door, and a decorative treatment in the main living space.
- What window treatments are best for privacy without losing light?
- Top-down/bottom-up cellular shades and light-filtering rollers both give daytime privacy with daylight. Café shutters do the same on street-facing rooms.
- Where can I see real window treatment photos?
- ShadeVault Pro is a free, moderated library of installations uploaded by installers, decorators, retailers and homeowners, tagged by type, application and room.