Blinds - Bedroom at front of house (ideas wanted)

Hi I was just wondering what people have done for window furnishings on their master bedrooms which are at the front of the house.

I had originally planned on putting sheers and block out curtains but I am now thinking I will probably need a heavy duty blind there at night (Im a bit paranoid about seeing into windows at night ).

The problem with this is I dont like the idea of people looking into my bedroom during the day either. But I would like to be able to have the blinds open as it is a lovely big window and a lovely view.

What has everyone else done? or planning to do?

Thanks in advance

Oooo I hope you get some good advice cause I'm having the same problem It's really doing my head in as to what type of curtains/blinds I should get. I hate vertical blinds because we had them in our last house and I REALLY wanted something different but they seem to be our only option at the moment mainly because of costs.

Our bedroom is at the front of the house also and too make matters worse the window is huge ... its 2450w x 1820h So I'm tossing up between sheers and block out curtains OR verticals. I think the block out curtains would give enough privacy at night. Our house is about 20 metres from the road though so sheers would probably be enough during the day.

The panels look really good too and would be fine for block out but then you would probably still need a sheer curtain or something similar for when you want it open during the day .

do you have a pic of the window? Is it ground or 1st floor? is this the only window in the room? budget?

you also need to consider what you want from your window treatments to help decide which one(s) are suitable. You state privacy during the day, but you have a view so maybe the blinds that many have used here that can be seen through when you look out but not from outside during the day (ie see through from outside at night when you have light on) or a cafe curtain style where the bottom half of the window is covered for daytime privacy but views can be seen through top half.
You also state block out, is that because you want the room to be absolutely dark or blocking most light eg when the sunrises - you can have two treatments of blind and b/o curtains. Or is it just that you don't want your shadow seen at night from outside, which if you you don't have stong light shining towards window, a tight weave fabric with good quality cotton or cotton/poly lining with generous fullness should be enough.

There are many choices.................

Our master bedroom as well as my formal sitting room are at the front of the house. They both have a very wide window (9' wide). The windows already had a white roman blind fitted, but I have just added curtains - a sheer in the middle, and 2 heavier curtains at the side. At night we close the blinds, and during the day open the blind and leave the sheers closed, which filters the view from the street but allows light in.

Hi Thanks for your responses ,

Pebbles, your window is exact same size as ours so looks like we have the exact same dilemma.


4 walls, sorry no pic, its a single story house so window on the ground floor, not sure about budget for this particular window yet just trying to suss out what the options are. Do you have any links for the threads where those blinds you can see out but not in during the day were discussed? I had a vague recollection of something like that but couldnt remember where I had seen it and couldnt find it in a search. Definitely something worth looking into.

Mishb, that is what I was thinking of doing too but thought 3 things hanging in the window might be a bit excessive but if it works fine for you maybe I will just go ahead and do that.

We just have timber venetians (well, pretendy timber, really but don't tell anyone ). They give total blockout to make the room nice and dark on summer mornings when the sun comes up stupidly early, plus for night-time privacy.

The thing I like about venetians is the control over light and privacy...with the blades tilted the right way and at the right angle, you can see out and let light in, but nobody can see in. If you set the blades to horizontal, you get maximum light and view, but you can also see in ...it's all about the tilt.

Some people like to hang sheers over white venetians, or have blockout roller blinds with sheers over....both of those are good options too. Another popular choice is the double roller or Roman/roller combo - the top blind is a blockout fabric and the underneath one a sheer, light-filtering one. You can open the heavier blind and still have daytime privacy with a view out. This link has a good example:

http://www.arianacurtains.com.au/Images/blinds&shutters/Roman/ROMAN&E-SCREEN.gif

We have the roman/roller combo that kek mentioned in our bedroom. We find it works really well. The roller is a sunshade fabric which lets light in and we can see out of during the day, but noone can see in. At night we put the blockout roman down for extra privacy (although it is hard for people to see in unless the light is very bright inside the house)

We had our bedroom windows tinted. During the day time, with no lights on noone can see in. For night we have block out roller blinds. With these up for daytime we have a perfect view outside, no blinds or sheers in the way and privacy at night - perfect!

I have a roman blind, with sheers, and two blockout drapes on either side (these are just for decor, I don't close the drapes).

I pull the blind up during the day, the sheers block the view from the outside while still letting most of the light in.

It's a pretty big window, 9' wide I think.

I guess I'm lucky that my MB is upstairs, but it still faces the street, so the potential for prying eyes to look in is still there!

At the moment I have redishades, but white plantation shutters will be installed next week to all 7 windows that face the street (3 in MB, 2 on study and 2 in Bed 3)....and I can't wait!!!

Our old house was single story and the MB was also at the front of the house (closest to the street too), and we had 3 roman blinds, no sheers. It worked out OK, as there was also a biggish tree in front of the window which helped obscure the view! The only problem with the 3 romans (across 1 huge window that opened in the middle so needed 3 separate blinds) was it faced east and the sun would peek through the small gap between the blinds and wake me up...