You might already have window coverings on your Raleigh, NC home and want to add some curtains. Or, you might have curtains but want to add other window coverings, like shutters. Other coverings, like shutters, are ideal for privacy, flexible control over light entering the room, and insulation, while curtains offer a soft, stylish, and decorative touch to a space. What can you do? Is it possible to have two kinds of window coverings? Can you have both shutters and curtains?

You can absolutely have both window coverings and curtains. Let’s focus on combining shutters and curtains.

Whether you love your shutters but want some curtains or love your curtains and want some shutters, there are a few different ways you can enjoy the style and benefits of both. Curtains are all about style. Not that shutters aren’t stylish, but curtains come in thousands of different lengths, shapes, materials, and prints. Shutters, on the other hand, can help reduce your home’s energy usage, and therefore your energy bills, but acting as a barrier to the temperature outside. They also act as noise barriers to muffle the loud sounds of the outdoors and block unwanted light for more restful sleep, easier TV watching, or even a nice daytime nap. Shutters also give you flexibility as, unlike curtains that can either be opened or closed, shutters have both panels and slats that can be adjusted as needed or wanted for light control and privacy.

Why not enjoy both? You can easily combine shutters with curtains. For example, add curtains and shutters to the windows in your bedroom. While shutters can help darken a room a lot, there can sometimes still be a little light that gets through between the shutter panels and the frame. If you want a total blackout effect for sleeping, layer some curtains on top of the shutters to guarantee complete light blockage.

Curtains and café style shutters go well together. Café shutters only cover the bottom half of a window, so adding valances above the shutters offers additional shade as well as a charming touch. The café shutters give you the privacy and light control while the valance provides the style, as a bare top half of a window would look very strange and unfinished. You can also add curtains to full height shutters. Full height shutters, like plantation shutters, offer insulation, noise reduction, and light blockage that curtains alone can’t provide. But adding curtains as well can give you more style and customization. Take bay windows, for example. It can be hard to find curtains that match the exact curve of a bay window. But you can easily get custom shutters that will fit over your bay windows to give you coverage and privacy, and then add curtains to the side of the bay windows for style. You can also draw the curtains for additional light blockage as needed.

These are just a few of the many ways that you can combine curtains and other kinds of window coverings, like shutters. If you want to learn more about Raleigh, NC window coverings, just reach out to Kiwi Designs, Fine Blinds & Shutters.