I'd like to put in a vote for Roman blinds. If you are at all handy with a sewing machine, they are ridiculously easy to make and there are sooo many great colour and pattern options in stores which carry fabrics.

I didnt really think about window treatments when I decided on transom windows. I think they are much more difficult to dress. Let me start by saying that I left all the transoms open and covered only the windows.

I used a combination of pleated shades (common areas) and roman shades with floor length curtains for the Master bedroom. (We have a full view door in the bedroom, and I really needed to be able to cover that too.) I love the ease of use and color options on the roman shades, but I'm not wild about the way they look when open. On the other hand, the pleated shades absolutely disappear when they are open. My trim is white and so is the shade, and nobody ever even notices that we have shades during the day. I can post a pic if you want me too. I thought about wood or faux-wood blinds, but they don't stack as flat as the pleated, so they are more noticable when open.

Good luck with whatever you choose- it an get expensive quickly if you don't have standard size windows!

We have transoms on all of our windows. I think the general rule is to leave them uncovered. However you mention that one of the rooms is a bedroom. In that instance I would consider sunlight that may come in through that window while your dd is trying to sleep. We have two bedrooms and a bathroom across the front of our home along with a DR, foyer and study. All these rooms face east and receive morning sun. We also wanted similar treatments so we opted for large curtain panels that completely cover the window when closed and the lining is the same color on all of them so the view from outside is consistent. When fully open, you can't see the curtains from the street.

We also have roman shades, shutters and woven wood blinds throughout the home and love them all. However, do consider how the sunlight may affect bedrooms. Here's a pic of one of our bedrooms with panels along with our DR.

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Thanks for the responses. msu girl - would love to see pictures!

OK, so I really didn't want to go with the wood blinds. I think I may look into making the roman shades...I suppose I could do them all white (but will they end up looking dirty?)

So what do you think of this. If I really don't need anything over the stairwell window and office area window, maybe I could just do floor length curtains in dd's room (like in superchick's pictures) that would cover dd's transom when she was sleeping, then I could just leave them open during the day.

One more question :-) Do window treatments make a difference in appearance from the outside of the house vs. no treatments? I guess what I'm trying to ask is will having no treatments make the house look unfinished, or cold?
Ok, I lied...one more question - will it look weird if they are not all the same window treatments across the front porch???

Uh, I thougth I was done overthinking things, LOL!

I have transoms. One thing I had not thought about until I started looking for window treatments was the height of the "stack" of blinds and roman shades when the treatments are fully open. The "stack" (i.e., the slats when stacked up when the treatment is fully open or up) on wood blinds is very thick and the stack would have covered up my transoms completely on my taller windows (I wanted inside mount) and I wanted to be able to see the transoms. All the blind/roman shade manufacturers that I looked at provided information about the "stack" height, so it's easy to get that information. An interior designer that I know says that wood blinds are really intended to be kept down down most of the time and then you adjust the slats to let in light/view. But we live out in the country and have nice views and I didn't want to be looking through slats when I looked at my view. Good luck.

Yes, over time, the fabric on roman blinds collects dust, and depending on whichever room you put them in (like a kitchen)they'll collect a bit of greasy dust. Fortunately mine are multicoloured so you don't notice, but you do have to vacumn them once in a while. I'd love to be able just to wash them, but wouldn't dream of tackling the process of uninstalling them and ironing them. The long and short of it is, I don't know that I would go with white for Roman blinds.

gardenchick1 I love your windows, can you tell me more about them? Thanks

Here's the bedroom with the combination of roman shades and full length curtains. I really wanted a curtain with a little more pattern, but selection is limited when you are looking for 8' length. I didn't pic out new bed linens yet, so I guess basic was safe.

Here's the shades closed.

And here's the pleated shades. I love the way they disappear into the framing. When people come in the house for the first time at night, they always ask when we got window treatments! I splurged on cordless in the breakfast nook, without cords is even cleaner looking.

Last pic is shades closed.

Hope this helps!

msu girl - THANK YOU so much! I really appreciate the pictures, they have given me new ideas!

The view out your windows is really beautiful - and so is your home!

Thanks again for sharing!

msu girl
How are your roman blinds mounted to your windows? It doesn't look like there is much room to mount them.
Maria

The roman shades are attached with the same type of little metal clips that you attach blinds with. 2 screws per clip and they were up. The piece of fabric that is on the top is actually attached with velcro to the top of the blind. That made the blinds very easy to put up. It provides a slightly different look also, if you decide not to use it. This is the first time I ever used roman shades, and I'm pretty happy with them.

Hmmm, I see. It's all good food for thought and it's great to hear from others about going about the same things in different ways.
Thanks

LOVE your paint colors! What are they?

If you hadn't mentioned the pleated shade I would have never seen it. That's really neat.