Window Treatment Case Studies

Black Out Shades and French Doors

The customer had wood blinds topped with draperies in their son's room. The customer was concerned because the wood blinds were blacking out enough light. Wood blinds are only considered "room darkening" because light leaks between the slats. The difference between "room darkening" and "black out" is substantial in terms of how much light they block. We measured the windows and told them that black-out Hunter Douglas Duettes Honeycomb Shades would be their best option. They were on a tight budget, so we suggested the Hunter Douglas Applause Black Out Honeycomb Shades. There was enough room for the blinds to clear the handles of the 2 sets of French Doors in the room, and the cordless lift mechanism works great to keep the shade from banging on the handles when raising or lowering the shade.  We wanted to minimize the light gaps as much as possible, so we calculated the standard deduction Hunter Douglas takes off the Duette fabric width (Hunter Douglas does this because the headrails are always a little wider then the material). We then added back this deduction to ensure the shade material could get as close to the handle plate as possible to maximize the darkness in the room.  She was thrilled with the result.

Hybrid Wood Shutters

We recently received a call from a customer that had purchased shutters from Breslow about 10 years ago. They were in need of repair and she needed us to look at them to determine what could be done.  She was also interested in installing additional shutters in her bedroom.  We set up the appointment and went out to inspect their shutters. Unfortunately they had lost the louver pins. Thankfully the Hunter Douglas shutters come with a lifetime warranty and we would be able to fix them.

We then measured the large window (about 90" wide x 60" high) in the master bedroom.  It was a four-sided window bordered by a basic 3-inch colonial trim.  Over the last decade, shutter quality and design have greatly improved, and Hunter Douglas now offers hybrid composite wood materials that are indistinguishable from real wood shutters.  Hunter Douglas makes these hybrid shutters with the same high-quality dove tail construction as it does with it's more expensive real wood shutters. This attention to detail and quality is unusual the shutter industry today as other manufacturers primarily focus on producing the cheapest products. As a result, Hunter Douglas shutters are the absolute best shutter made today.  Because of this new hybrid option, we were able to deliver beautiful high-quality shutters for a lower price then the shutters we had installed 10 years ago! And remarkably, they will be even better. Of course the customer loved this.

While measuring we noticed large cranks and window locks on the windows. We navigated around this cumbersome obstacle by using a deluxe casing frame that installs over the top of the old frames which provides needed clearance around the obstructions. During installation we improvised even further by extending the frame around all four sides of the triple casement window and built some T-posts to separate each window's panel. The T-post allows us to hinge the center door.  Our customers were so happy with the results of the Master Bedroom that asked us to price out their guest room. The window treatments for the extra room put them over budget, but by taking advantage of Breslow Home Design Center's current 2-years no-interest financing offer they decided to do it all.

French Doors and TV Glare

The customer had French Doors with the handles facing inward towards the glass. They only offered about 1.5-inches of clearance between the handles and the glass. Our customer wanted something that would fit the window and offer a cords/lift mechanism that wouldn't bang the handle every time they operated the shade.  When they came into the Breslow Home Design Center showroom they saw the new tiered lite-rise cordless Hunter Douglas Vignettes Modern Roman Shades (which happened to be a free upgrade at that time, too!). They loved the look and the fact that the cordless option allowed them to maneuver it around the handle without banging while raising or lowering the blind. It would fit nicely in between the handle. We looked at the book and found some great woven wood textures in the Savannah Collection (which are extremely hot right now).  We knew this shade in this style would be the perfect fit for these windows.

When we measured the doors at their home, we discussed if the shade should be room darkening or light filtering. Light filtering would allow light inside the room while maintaining privacy. Room darkening would darken the room for better viewing of the TV.  After some discussion, we determined that they didn’t really need the privacy during the day and would therefore leave it up for daylight hours. And at night they would lower the shade. Room darkening would give them the option on Sunday to watch sports (or other TV) without glare. However, since the fabric was dark enough we decided to go with Light Filtering and they ended up with the best of both worlds - Light Filtering that blocked enough light to enable effective glare-free TV watching.

Sun Room With Specialty-Shaped Windows

Massive Windows on the Waterfront

Our customer just bought a house in Hoboken, New Jersey on the Hudson River waterfront. The home had massive two-story wall to wall windows in the front of the building allowing them to have a clear unobstructed view of the New York City (NYC) skyline.  They have pedestrian walks in the front of the house so privacy was a concern. Since they only really need privacy towards the lower portion of the windows, we solved this problem by using Top Down Bottom Up Hunter Douglas Alustra Duette Honeycomb Shades.

We suggested the Alustra 1-1/4-inch in a black sheer over a gray for a stunning modern look.  By doing the Top Down Bottom Up shades, they could still see the amazing view of the New York Skyline, but no one walking by at ground level could in the home. They only needed to raise the shades to control direct sun at certain times of the day. Since this was a new building with huge windows there were some architectural factors we needed to consider or the window treatments would have looked strange (e.g. if we would have just put the blinds on the windows "as-is"). The modern framing around the panes of glass was inconsistent. We suggested bringing in a carpenter to create new frames to make the windows appear more consistent and to provide a framework for the Hunter Douglas Alustra Duettes to "fit" the windows better.  This provided a perfect solution to the problem (it only required a relatively small expense to pay a carpenter for a couple hours of work). Cord operation on these massive windows was also a major concern. We considered battery operated motorized shades, but the additional cost of motorization put these blinds out of their budget and we would have had to cover the window with more, smaller shades (since motorized shades have smaller maximize size restrictions) which also wouldn’t have looked as good. We couldn't use a cordless option because the height was too high, and ultra-glide retractable cords also wouldn't work because your hand would hit the wall when trying to raise and lower the shades.  We decided on using continuous cord loops. This lift mechanism provided for easy operation on these large sizes while keeping it light to operate.

We also helped the customer create a guest room out of the loft. We used the same material used on the large front windows for a Vertiglide Duette (vertical version Duette). The Vertiglide Duette allowed the customer to create a room with only a minor stack on the right side of the wall when they weren't in use.

The choice of fabric, window treatment style and the finishing touch of using a carpenter to modify the framing made the difference between a spectacular-looking window treatment that provides needed privacy, and unobstructed view of the New York City Skyline and styling that fit with the decor of the home.

Luminettes: Optimizing an Unobstructed View with Contemporary Feel

Our customer had two very large windows in her back den, the room they use to relax and watch television on their large flat screen TV. Their beautiful home has a very contemporary feel, and the room has white and gold leather furniture with modern clean cut designs. The room features rich espresso accents and they wanted window treatments that would offer a soft look.

We immediately thought of Hunter Douglas Luminettes window treatments for these windows due to the size and design characteristics.  They also wanted to maintain an unobstructed view through their windows. In order to accomplish this, we needed to figure out the right size that would cover the whole window while closed, and stack off the side of the window to provide a completely unobstructed view. One of her windows was 78-inches wide, and had we used the standard rule-of-thumb guidelines for determining the stack back, it wouldn't have looked so great because the windows had high trim and plastic frames. We measured from the end of the trim inward to the exact place where the glass started and deducted this measurement from the basic stacking guideline. By doing so, we were able to make the shade land exactly at the edge of the glass when fully opened, covering her not-so-great trim and providing perfect view-through of her large windows.

The second issue we faced was the baseboard heaters along the floor. We decided to extend the shades downward past the window sills to 1-inch above the baseboards for a more complete look with better flow. Perfecto! We provided the aesthetic look and feel she wanted from her window treatments while also covering up any problems inherent in her windows and walls with proper measurement and installation. They look amazing.

Really Really Happy Guarantee At Work

The customer decided on 2-inch Hunter Douglas Everwood wood blinds in her Master Bedroom. We chose Brandywine, which is a rich color similar to Mahogany. Her windows were older casement windows with a 2-inch depth (older casement windows are normally great for Wood Blinds because they don't have any obstructions unless there is an alarm system). However, once they were installed the customer was unhappy with how they didn't close evenly.

We explained that this is normal with wood blinds because the size and weight of the blinds pulls the slats further away from each other at the top of the blind, and the slats at the bottom with less weight are closer together - it is just physics. However, despite the fact that this was not a defect, she simply was unhappy with how they looked. No Problem! Thanks to our Really, Really Happy Customer policy, we were able to allow her to change them. That day she came to our Livingston, NJ store and we helped her pick a beautiful green-tone Hunter Douglas Duette Honeycomb Shade with Ultra-Glide Retractable Cords. We installed the new shades 3 weeks later and she absolutely loves them. If she had purchased these blinds from anywhere other than Breslow Home Design Center, she would have had to learn to live with them.