Get Hunter Douglas Silhouette Shades for Those Huge, Loft Windows

The prevalence of loft space for sale or rent in many urban areas - with their accompanying large windows - presents a couple of big problems for anyone who spends one night in such a place.

The first is light. The second is privacy.

And when you're talking about a lot of windows, those two big issues can become huge, especially when the sun wakes you up that first morning as it breaks over the horizon, or the first time you notice your neighbors across the street are spending a lot of time looking at you through their windows.

At first, at seems these problems are almost insurmountable. Where in the world could you get treatments large enough to fit the wide, floor-to-ceiling windows that many loft spaces have held over from their industrial days and offer to tenants as a point of pride?

The happy answer is that where there's a need, designers and manufacturers are happy to fulfill it. With the boom in loft living and the explosion in suburban homes with immense windows, companies such as HunterDouglas have created lines of blinds that work especially well on big windows.

These treatments run the gamut from sheer blinds that provide some privacy but allow in light to darker, heavier treatments that block all light (or prying eyes) from outside.

A great option to accomplish both is cellular shades, which combine the adjustable attributes of blinds with the more uniform appearance of a shade. The HunterDouglas Silhouette shadings are a perfect example. Horizontal fabric "vanes" are suspended between two sheer fabric panels. When the precisely aligned vanes tilt, they let in more or less light just like traditional blinds. When they are fully raised, they disappear completely into the head rail, installed at the top of the windowsill.

Even better, they are available in a wide range of sizes to fit even the largest windows, up to 120 inches in height and width.

Good window treatments are also a bonus because the ability to screen ultraviolet rays can spare wood floors, rugs and furniture the damaging effects of sunlight. They also boost a window's energy efficiency, preventing light from outside from heating up a room too much and insulating them from outside cold.

A bonus for city dwellers is that such treatments also help dampen sound from outside, which can be a major issue when the alarm on the car parked below your window goes off at 3 a.m.