If you are living in a city, then you know how important it is to have effective curtains and blinds. Whether it is the dead cold of the winter or the blazing hot part of summer, having effective curtains and blinds can keep not only the light out of the house, but insulate your windows from letting the outside elements in.

The least insulated parts of every house are the doors and the windows. Doors that lead to the outside are generally well insulated, and the worst part of the insulation of doors is when you open them. With windows, however, they are relatively thin compared to the siding of your house and are transparent, so they can let a lot of light and heat into your home, as well as let a lot of heat out of the home.

Covering your windows with effective curtains and blinds can not only make your home more comfortable, but save money on your heating and cooling bill every year.

What are the most effective curtains and blinds?

Styles of curtains

There are many styles of curtains and blinds that you have to choose from when redecorating your home. Some of them aren’t as pretty, but they do a great job of keeping the light and heat out, and others focus more on aesthetic and don’t insulate nearly as well. Here are some styles of curtains that you can keep in mind when looking for the right curtains for your home.

Sheer curtains

Sheer style curtains give a finished look to your home. While they aren’t very good at keeping the elements out of your home, if you want to slightly dim a room and keep a lot of natural light in your home, having a set of sheer curtains can really bring the room together.

Blackout

Blackout curtains and blinds will completely block out any light that tries to come in from the outside. Blackout curtains can not only eliminate light from entering, but they are thick enough that they can block out some of the heat trying to come into your home. A good style choice for blackout curtains is combining them with sheer curtains, that way you have options for the room.

You can combine them by having the sheer curtains on the inside, if you choose to go with a panel pair setup, that way you get the best of both worlds. If you put them on the same rod, there is the downside that there will be some sunlight entering the room if you don’t pull the curtains correctly. Getting a double rod for your window is the ideal way to make sure that light doesn’t enter and you have more options for curtains and blinds.

Styles of blinds

There are a couple different styles of blinds out there, and making sure that your home has a high-quality feel and that your blinds are effective are incredibly important. Blinds can make the job of the curtain significantly easier and blinds are much easier to handle than curtains.

Roller shades

Roller shades are made out of natural or synthetic fabrics and can be rolled up and down your windows with ease. They are much easier to work with over traditional blinds and can be super effective depending on the thickness of the fabric that you buy.

Venetian blinds

Venetian blinds are the most common style of blinds, and are likely what you think of when you think of blinds. They are relatively thick and block out a lot of the sunlight, while still being easy to manage. The advantage these have over micro blinds is that they are much harder to damage and are more pet friendly than other kinds of blinds.