Choosing Window Coverings Room by Room

It is tempting to pick one blind and put it on every window in the house. It looks consistent and keeps the decision simple. But a kitchen window and a bedroom window have very different jobs. Here is how we think about each room when we visit a home, so you get the right covering in each space while the house still looks coordinated.

Living Room: Light, View and Privacy From the Street

Most people want plenty of daylight here, a view out, and privacy in the evening. Zebra blinds are a favourite because a single adjustment moves you from open and bright to fully private. For a softer, more finished look, pair sheer curtains for daytime privacy with drapery for the evening. Tall or hard-to-reach windows are great candidates for motorized operation.

Zebra blinds · Sheer curtains · Motorized blinds

Bedroom: Darkness First

Bedrooms are about sleep, so blackout fabric and a mounting that minimizes light gaps come first. Blackout roller blinds, blackout cellular shades and blackout-lined drapery all work well; layering a blind with drapery gives the darkest result. We cover this in detail in our guide to blackout blinds for bedrooms.

Kitchen: Easy to Clean, Clear of the Stove

Kitchens deal with cooking splatter, steam and grease. Choose a roller blind in a smooth, wipeable fabric that rolls up out of the way. Keep long drapery and loose fabric away from the cooktop. A light-filtering fabric keeps the room bright for cooking while softening glare on the counters.

Bathroom: Privacy and Moisture

Bathrooms need full privacy without making the room dark, and they get humid. Choose fabrics suited to humidity and avoid natural fibres and wood in a steamy room. Top-down/bottom-up cellular shades are excellent here: lower the top to let in daylight while the bottom stays closed for privacy.

Nursery and Kids' Rooms: Cordless and Dark

Safety comes first: every covering in a child's room should be cordless or motorized, with no reachable cords. Blackout fabric makes daytime naps much easier. A blackout blind with blackout drapery over it handles the long summer evenings.

Home Office: Control the Glare

Screen glare is the main problem in a home office. Light-filtering roller blinds or sheer/solar shades cut glare while keeping the room bright and the view visible. If your desk faces the window, zebra blinds let you fine-tune the light through the day.

Roller blinds · Sheer shades

Dining Room: The Place for Drapery

Dining rooms are where many homeowners choose custom drapery for warmth and drama, often layered over a roman shade or roller blind for day-to-day light control. See custom drapery and roman shades.

Keeping the House Looking Consistent

You don't need the same product everywhere for the house to look coordinated. Keeping the same colour family, the same hardware finish, and similar mounting heights on windows that are seen together from the street gives a consistent look, even when each room has the covering that suits it best.