Scottsdale, Arizona, has many microclimates that depend on the mountains and valleys as to the temperature ranges. The area is considered a desert location with sunshine and extreme heat most of the year.
Window treatments can be the frosting on the cake or the cherry on top of your banana split as they add the finishing touch to any room of your home. They are available in many different styles and types from which to choose. Most modern window treatments are used in layering to dress your large and beautiful picture windows.
What are Modern Window Treatments?
Just as technology is constantly evolving, so is the window treatment market. Modern window treatments are much more than the old-fashioned plastic white mini blinds of the 1970s. Newer items give you much more modern spaces, and they are made to be very durable and last for many years. Using the right combinations instead of just going with a trend means you can always change out one item in a layered window and have an entirely new look and feel. This year’s color will change each and every year, but modern window treatments will give you many choices and look classic and timeless.
What are Modern Flat Fabric Shades?
Modern flat fabric shades are made from updated fabrics in new and exciting patterns and colors. Fabric is considered a soft window treatment because it is soft to the touch, and it also softens hard lines in your spaces, such as tile and wood floors and marble countertops, to lighten the area.
The flat Roman shade is a beautiful piece of work that looks flat when it is completely closed. When you raise this shade, it forms nice and tidy folds at the top of the window. The knife pleat style of a flat Roman shade has a formal and structured appearance and gives your windows a lot of interest and depth when it is raised.
Soft fold or hobbled Roman shades show soft and graceful folds of fabric when they are closed or raised entirely.
Roller shades are also made of fabric and use a roller mechanism at the top of the window. When you raise them, the excess fabric rolls onto the top in a tidy roll out of sight. This allows you to see more of your beautiful outdoor views when the shades are raised, as they don’t require as much room at the top of your windows. The beauty of roller shades is that you can choose from thousands of fabrics fused to shade backing, so your choices are fathomless.
Transitional shades are a newer version of fabric roller shades. They are made from horizontal strips of two fabrics that alternate down the length of the window. One of the fabrics is thicker to block light, and the other is light filtering. This allows you to block some of the heat in the space but still allows you to see outside through the light-filtering fabric strips. They are the best of both worlds and work great in more narrow windows that don’t get as much sunlight.
What Are the Types of Window Treatments Perfect for Arizona Weather?
Scottsdale is near the state capital of Phoenix, which is endearingly called “The Valley of the Sun.” We see more than 330 days of sunshine annually in the desert climate and experience all of the extreme heat too. If you are out playing golf at Grayhawk Golf Club, TPC Scottsdale, or Scottsdale Silverado Golf Club, when you return home, you want a nice cool area to relax in and enjoy a cool drink.
Arizona weather dictates that you have superior window treatments to block the extreme sunlight and heat from entering your home. This can be accomplished in many manners, depending on what type of feel you want in each room in your home. You should also be aware that the sunlight shines on the backs of your window coverings, which can harm some types more than others. Hardwood blinds and shutters will eventually yellow and fade in the intense UV rays no matter what paint you have or which natural stain color you choose. This is why it’s essential to select window treatments that won’t be affected by the extreme sun.
Energy efficiency is a considerable concern for Arizona as well. When the dog days of summer hit, your poor air conditioning system runs almost non-stop and increases your bills significantly over most of the entire year in this area. You should find an energy-efficient solution to your window treatment needs, and you will be pleasantly surprised when they let you recoup the entire cost in energy savings—and very quickly.
Modern Window Treatment Ideas for Arizona
So, you know you need superior window treatments that will be durable and long-lasting and save you energy. Other items that your perfect window coverings need to satisfy are:
- Light and privacy control
- UV protection of textiles
- Child and pet safety
- Sound absorption
- Style
This may seem like many qualities to look for in a window treatment, but when you choose custom treatments from a local professional, you can easily have all of these items satisfied.
If you have a modern home with modern decor, it only makes sense to match all of your window treatments to that style. Modern window treatments are simple designs with clean lines made in the newest colors and materials. Modern homes usually have a neutral color palette with some bright pops of color to lend interest to the space.
Beautiful Modern Blinds
Modern blinds dictate that they are cordless to match your modern style. Dangling cords on blinds look very dated and disorganized, which will draw the wrong kind of attention to them. Faux wood is your best choice. Faux wood blinds are a work of art and look fantastic when finished in a stain color that matches your modern home. They are fabricated with materials that resist warping, bending, breaking, and fading in bright and hot sunlight.
If you choose blinds for a room that has a little color and is primarily a neutral palette, you may decide to have faux wood blinds painted in color instead of stained to make a statement piece of your windows.
Vivid Vertical Blinds
Vertical blinds work very well in large expanses of windows or even entire walls of windows. They work exceptionally well for covering large expanses of any glass, including sliding glass doors and floor-to-ceiling windows. You have choices in pastel colors in the modern vertical blinds that will complement your neutral and contemporary decor in any room.
Solid Color Solar Shades
Solar shades are an excellent solution for windows in Arizona. They can filter out light and heat but still allow you to see your magnificent views outside. You can choose from different levels of openness in solar shades. Openness refers to the tightness of the weave, which directly reflects the amount of light the fabric will let in your home. Generally, there are three levels of openness: low, medium, and high. The high openness factor works best in windows with a lot of hot sunlight.
Layering with Draperies
If you want modern window treatments and love style, you can use blinds or shades on your windows as the base layer and add some beautiful draperies to work twice as hard in blocking heat and light. This is usually accomplished with a solid color shade or blind and then using draperies with a coordinating color or a small print to add accents of color to your rooms. If you want to tie the entire space together, you can have custom-made draperies and perhaps some throw pillows in the same patterned fabric.
Innovative Operations
The most modern of window treatments are the motorized options. They can save you valuable time from walking to each window covering and closing or opening them by hand. If you’ve ever left your home in the morning and forgotten to close the window treatments and then came home to a hot house, then this can be a great solution for you. You can program pre-set times for the window treatments to open and close with the touch of a button on an app. Motorized window treatments are very streamlined in appearance and super quiet when they operate too. They can be added to an existing smart home or be the start of this exciting and helpful modernization era.
As you can see, you have several options for blocking harsh sunlight out of your Arizona home. Enlisting help from an experienced local designer will give you access to the most types of window treatments possible.
Professional designers also have much better access to thousands of fabrics in different weights, colors, and patterns from which to choose, so you will have thousands of lovely choices that are also energy efficient.
