Here is a question that we receive frequently:

Do you carry the Hunter Douglas Silhouette?

The answer is YES – but!!! We are only able to sell it locally in our service area of Texas. We are prohibited from selling it on the internet L

Hunter Douglas has the Silhouette Window Shadings on the list of proprietary products and all products on that list can not be sold on the internet. Hunter Douglas asks that Silhouette Shades are measured and installed by a window covering professional, which we do not provide with an online purchase. The Hunter Douglas Silhouette is a beautiful and exquisite as well as higher priced product, so therefore professional measurements as well as professional installation do make perfect sense.

So for anybody looking for Hunter Douglas Silhouettes in our local area of San Antonio TX and surrounding area we encourage you to contact us for an estimate and any information needed regarding the purchase of this product. For anybody who is looking for a product LIKE the Hunter Douglas Silhouette but not particular about it being the Hunter Douglas brand please browse our online selection of Sheer Shades!  

The top down/bottom up is one of our most popular upgrades ordered on pleated shades adding versatility and functionality. Shades with standard lift only allow for the bottom to be lifted. The top down/ bottom up shades give you the control and the freedom to move your shade to cover or expose any part of your window you prefer. With this feature you don’t have the compromise privacy for natural light. While exposing the upper half of the window, you can keep your privacy by keeping the lower half covered.

This feature is especially popular with light-filtering or room-darkening materials. In bedrooms a blackout or darkening window shades are often used. During the day however, instead of needing to turn on electrical light, the upper half can be exposed without losing the necessary privacy on the bottom.

The way a top down bottom up shade works is with two cord controls (unless combined with the cordless feature). The right side cord lowers the top down, while the left side cord raises the bottom up or vice versa. This type of window shade utilizes an intermediate rail or “second” headrail. The top headrail is mounted to the top of the window, while the intermediate rail lowers down. All rails are connected with slim polyester cords. The polyester cord can vary from 2 to more cords depending on the width of the shade. Pricing for this feature varies depending on brand but is usually within the range of $25 – $50 and can be found as a “free” upgrade at times of a promotion J

When shopping for window blinds or shades there are two routes one can go. The ready-made blind / shade or the custom made product. There really could only be one single reason opting for a ready-made product. That would be price. Ready-mades are cheap, but also cheaply made L Usually available in discount chain stores or some department stores, the selection is small and sizes will be usually longer than most windows, in order to fit as many windows as possible.

Window casings generally do measure slightly different even if designed to be the “same” size. What does that mean when hanging ready-made products in these different size windows? They all fit differently with bigger and some smaller light gaps are often too long with the bottom of the shade bunched up, creating a sloppy ill-fitted look.

This is already giving us some clues about the benefits of custom made blinds and shades. Every custom blind will be fabricated after point of order, and cut to the nearest 1/8” inch. This ensures a clean tight fit in width and height so every window can be dressed and fitted correctly. By the way, we do not exactly impress either, when wearing clothes that are too tight or too baggy and long

Custom blinds have much better quality hardware, components, fabrics & materials; this translates into thicker more durable slats, better woven and designed fabrics, thicker materials and made to last cordlocks, tilt-mechanisms and so on. Also far superior is the range of products, colors, fabrics and materials, ensuring to find something for everyone’s taste and decor. A custom made shade always comes with a manufacturer’s warranty, usually for a limited lifetime.

When creating a comfortable and inviting living space around us, it is so important to create a harmonic and beautiful environment that we can enjoy, feel good about and that is pleasing to our senses. A quality window treatment will help to do just that.

Hunter Douglas is one of the most popular window coverings manufacturers in the world. They offer trendsetting product lines, leading the way on design and technology. This is also the true for their faux wood blinds. Hunter Douglas Everwood Blinds come in an array of painted-like and stained-like finishes. The whites include textured finishes, while their TrueGrain line is unbelievably close in the look of a real hardwood blind, also including distressed “stains”.  

While being one of the more expensive window coverings, it is still easy to find Hunter Douglas faux wood blinds on sale at one of the many Hunter Douglas retailers. One of the most popular window coverings for the home is the 2” faux wood horizontal window blinds. Faux wood blinds are both functional and energy efficient to save you money while giving your home an elegant classy look.

Faux wood blinds are made of a unique blend of North American Hardwood and specially selected composite materials. The advantages of faux wood as opposed to real wood are that faux wood blinds can endure the heat, moisture and sunlight that real wood blinds cannot. The color of real wood blinds will fade with the summer sun causing your blinds to discolor, the heat will dry them out and the moisture can cause them to bend and warp. Faux wood blinds do not have any of these side effects from the sun and the heat and they are more affordable than real wood.

With this said, be sure to check back on our sale on the Everwood blinds starting on 2/16/2009.

Looking for room-darkening honeycomb shades of great quality and beauty? Hunter Douglas has a classic collection that has been around for many years and continuous to be a great seller for its wonderful color choices, solid quality and great functionality. The “Hunter Douglas Duette Classic Eclipse H7-series features a 3/8” single cell honeycomb shade constructed to block all light from entering the room. The hole-less design increases room darkening and offers a classy, more finished appearance, and the sharp horizontal pleats provide a clean contemporary feel to your home. Duette Classic shades utilize the foil technology to block light and are ideal for bedrooms or any room where complete light control is desired. Every cell is lined with an aluminum liner to keep the light out, while insulating at the same time.

 The Hunter Douglas Duette (H7) Classic Eclipse 3/8″ Opaque shades offer an R-Value of 5.89 which is a very high insulating value. The Hunter Douglas Duette Classic Room Darkening shades will therefore save you money with your electricity because they are extremely energy efficient by trapping air inside the cellular pocket and insolating the air before it enters your home.  Honeycomb shades keep cold air during wintertime and hot air during summertime out of your home helping to reduce your energy cost. Hunter Douglas Duette Classic room darkening shades are available up to 174” in width and can therefore cover extremely wide windows. The Hunter Douglas Duette shades can be customized to fit almost any window in your home including semi-circle windows and odd shaped windows. Follow the link above to find out more specifics, view colors about this collection.

We are doing it again  going a little crazy with our sales that is. We will have the entire Bali Blinds & Shades product line on sale for rest of the month of February. This time it will be an entire 10% that you can save. Our sale is including all online products (but not limited to):

• DiamondCell Cellular Shades
• Images Faux Wood Blinds
• Roller Shades
• Roman Shades
• Northern Heights Wood Blinds
• PVC Vertical Blinds

Bali’s product offering has something in it for almost anybody who is shopping for window coverings. The highly popular Bali Cellular Shades line with their soft touch fabrics offers great insulation and even superior insulation when opting for the double cell. Also in high demand are the Wood Blinds. Bali offers the traditional 2” slat as well as the newer 2 ½” slat for a shutter-like look. Anybody looking for a fabric look should browse our online selection of Roller Shades and Roman Shades. Have a patio door to cover or extremely wide windows? Take a peak at our Bali Vertical Blinds.

Bali covers all of their products with a Limited Lifetime Warranty and is a steal with our current pricing!

Roman shades are becoming more and more popular window treatments in upscale homes and designer magazines because of the beautiful and soft fabric folds that are created when the shade is raised or lowered. Roman shades offer classic and clean lines to maintain a sophisticated look throughout your home. Depending on manufacturer, roman shades are window treatments that utilize a series of fabric tapes, rings and cords that are stitched onto the backside of the fabric for raising and lowering the shades which draws up into horizontal folds when raised.  Pricing is usually in the upper price range of window treatments, as they are more labor intensive. Off course there are many places, especially on the net, where pricing will be more competitive on top name brand products.

Before purchasing a roman shade, there are different design options one can choose from. A flat panel roman shade is perfectly flat when it is fully extended. Next to the contemporary flat panel shade is the hobbled or “tear-drop” style that offers gentle folds for added dimension. Another consideration is what level of light control you will need. Is it a bedroom (darkening material), a living area (light should filter into the room) etc. And then off course the material itself – crinkled, with pattern, shiny etc? Lastly you will have to make a decision on operating system. Standard lift, top down-bottom up (where applicable), motorized lift etc.

While there are places online where one can find cheap roman shades, we certainly recommend sticking with a major brand, where the manufacturer’s experience is paired with a solid warranty. After all, creating a comfortable and inviting living space is one of the most important investments you can make.  

For those of you who have small windows on either side of your front door know that providing privacy and cover for these windows can be tricky and hard to find.  Many people do not realize the possibilities available for side windows and resort to sheers or leaving them bare, which will rob you of the often needed privacy in these areas. Another added benefit when covering the thin tall windows on the sides of your front door is the added insulation. Any window treatment will be better than none. When covering your front windows you should consider that all of the window coverings in the front of your house could esthetically match. You don’t want the front of your house to expose three or four different window treatments, which will take away from the outside appearance.

Today, you can easily find custom window blinds or shades for your sidelights. Depending on brand, you can find cellular shades that are made with a width as small as 6” and they provide privacy while still illuminating a soft glow in the room from behind the shade. Hunter Douglas goes even down to 4”, however, this shade wouldn’t be operable. On narrow windows like this you are limited to the standard cord lift option; therefore a cordless lift or retractable cord will not be available. Also wood blinds or faux wood window blinds (for example Hunter Douglas’) can be made as small as 6”. This narrow blind would be made with a center tilt only up to 11”, at which width a tilt AND lift is possible. Same thing with the aluminum mini blinds. Many of the Roller and Roman Shades are starting at 12” or 16” in minimum width and are therefore usually not ideal for most entry-door windows.

Please keep in mind that different manufacturers have different minimum widths and heights, therefore, contact us anytime for specific product information on any window treatment you might be interested in.