Raising the Curtain on the Latest Blinds and Shades By Diane White McNaughton
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t seems to be curtains for your grandmother’s heavy fabric draperies and sheers. Designers are also throwing shade at your grandmother’s old crooked shades and yellowed mini-blinds. Today’s window fashions are cleaner, more convenient, and more high-tech than ever. Just the thing to shine a light on your lockdown life when COVID-19 has made homeowners searching for the sanitary and weary of their four walls. Many quarantining midstaters are craving beauty, sunlight, smart technology, ultra-cleanliness and control. Fashionably dressed windows are an easy, economical way to help lift spirits and lower exposure to germs. “We have been extremely busy. We’ve been open for years, and this is the busiest we’ve ever been,” says Nicole Criswell, Showroom Manager for L & L Window Fashions in Swatara Township, which sells Hunter Douglas products exclusively. Mark and Beth Toto, a husband-and-wife team operating Budget Blinds of the Susquehanna Valley, in Lower Paxton Township have also witnessed an unprecedented uptick in interest in new window décor, along with home re-decorating overall. Mark says many homeowners right now are craving new surroundings. They want blinds with an anti-static finish so they don’t collect dust, and Micro-ban so they don’t collect mold, spores and other allergens. That vacation budget has been re-purposed to redecorating costs. COVID-19 has “given many people the motivation to refresh and renew their window treatments,” Mark says --“start fresh and clean.” Mark, who calls himself the “Chief Encouragement Officer” for his wife Beth, says when they bought the franchise, they were told that homeowners change their window coverings about every five years. While they suspected that that prediction may be overly optimistic, it has turned out to be true. In fact, COVID-19 has accelerated that timetable. Beth views window fashions much like she does the preparations for an elegant formal affair. You buy the gown and the heels, you take pains with your hair and make-up. The crowning touch: jewelry to bling up your look. Blinds and shades are today’s primary choice of window jewelry: it gives the rooms a "'clean, streamlined look,” Criswell agrees. According to reports from Blinds.com, shutters are the fastestgrowing category in blind products. Curtains or drapes can soften the look of shutters. Two-inch wood blinds can achieve the shutter look 12 HARRISBURG MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2020
without the hefty price tag. In more traditional homes, pinch pleat, box pleat and pencil pleat curtains may still be the best decor options. But now, roller and solar shades are all the rage, especially cordless shades and shades made from natural woven fibers, such as bamboo. The natural, neutral color of the shades paired with a white curtain are perfect for the modern farmhouse look. Blinds are also available in a variety of materials and styles, such as the wood, faux wood with embossed colors that look like real wood, and vinyl. Blinds can also be horizontal or vertical and corded, cordless, or motorized. The faux wood blind is currently very popular, with homeowners often choosing a color to match the trim on the window, often white, Criswell says. Many customers also match their countertops.
Another new trend: motorized products. When hightech, remote-controlled products first debuted on the market, some people avoided it for fear it would just be another thing that could break in the home, the Totos says. But now, the science has been perfected. Homeowners can connect their blinds to their Wifi, which can be controlled from a smartphone or tablet. Criswell says you can tie your blinds in to Alexa or your Google device and issue voice commands for your shades. Many shades now have lithium rechargeable batteries. When they are charged, they are good for a year, Mark says. You never have to charge them again if you have a solar charger. “They are economical and incredible,” Mark says. “You can tell Siri or Alexa to put your shades down.” Phone-driven apps can set the scenes, in keeping with today’s Smarthome technology. For example, you may want the shades in your kids’ bedrooms to go up at 6:30 am on school days, but not on Saturday so they can sleep in. They are not only flexible, convenient, and energy-efficient; they can help ensure safety. A potential burglar may think you are home if the blinds are going up and down. The industry changed a few years ago, the Totos say when the
