Use wooden blinds then or nice white blinds.

Well, you sew :)...how about some nice romans if it's a formal space?

Wood blinds with a tape color that coordinates with the valances. But if the windows are near the sink I would be hesitant to use a light tape color or anything fabric than could get splattered.

Wood blinds. IMO, they're both elegant and casual and fit with all decorating styles.

I also agree with your husband about privacy. We live in the country and our closest neighbor is a 1/4 mile away. But when we first moved here many moons ago, another couple who lived in the country, a pastor and his wife, were murdered, just two miles from us, at night.

Tis ashame, but it's locked doors and pulled blinds for us at night time. :(

They make faux wood blinds the wide ones you can not tell the difference they even have the woodgrain texture, I have whtie wood faux at two doors and love them.

How about cellular shades?
I have one for my kitchen window as well as for our glass insert door. They close up to almost nothing, and would hide nicely behind your valance. The ones we have don't have any strings/pulls - just a small little plastic tab and the operate very smoothly and easily. We love them!

Here is a link that might be useful: Skandia Cellular Shades

I was thinking Romans too

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I will look into the wood blinds in white. I'm not familiar with cellular shades, but will look them up. We don't have a window over our sink, it's in a corner. Thanks for the ideas.

I'll throw in my 2 cents on this since I have both wood blinds and cellular.

I have cellular shade on some windows and wood blinds on my kitchen windows. I like the cellular much more. They open to almost nothing and are very light weight which makes them easy to open. I have double cell light filtering. That type still lets the light in during the day but you can't see into the house through them at night.

The wood blinds are very heavy. If you plan to keep them down all the time and just tilt open the slats, that's okay, but if you want to be able to pull them up all the way every day so you have a completely open view, they aren't very good for that.

I have to agree with pl71....those wood blinds are heavy to mess with 2x a day!! The cellulars are light weight & can be opened/closed with one finger - no cords hanging down either. The stack is very small so could easily be hidden during the day by the valance that you can make (you lucky duck...you can make your own treatments!)

Smiles:)

I have off-white cellular shades on my kichen window and hate them! In the kitchen they get dirty and you cannot clean them! Spaghetti sauce splattered on them and I can't wipe it off, it just smears. They get dusty and are hard to clean. I would have rather gotten the faux wood blinds for that window. I don't think those are as heavy as the real wood either and at least you can clean them off easily. Just my .02.

I have faux wood and I love them. The are heavy though so I just use one hand to help them up as I pull the cord with the other. If you don't you risk having the cord break. At least mine did on the last pair.

This is so good to get the pros & cons about blinds and cellular shades. I so appreciate everyones input.

How do window coverings prevent murder?

Please compare shutters to wood blinds, real or faux?

I have wood blinds that are frequently raised and lowered. I don't find them heavy - and I'm the closest thing to a weakling you'll meet. Maybe it depends on the blinds. The slats on mine are very thin. I think we got them from blinds.com

ROFLMAO sue36...

mbarstow, I have the wood blinds (dark to match the table and chairs) in the kitchen, and like them a lot. I do have to dust them every week with an ostrich feather duster. I also have valances on the window.

Now I didn't realize this when I bought them, however they have the wood blinds, without the extra strings in the center. Without the strings in the center, you can slide the slats out and clean them thououghly and then slide them back in.
Prior to that I had regular micro mini white blinds and they got very greasy. We took them down
in the spring and fall and washed them outside. The wood blinds are wide and are easier to clean in place. I have the cellular blinds in the Living Room and they get dusty.
There is grease and steam in the kitchen, so I can't imagine having cellular blinds in the kitchen. I also had cellular blinds in the dining room, and family room, since I don't need the privacy in the back of the house, I took them down, cause I was tired of trying to keep them clean.
The cellular blinds sure are pretty though, and look nice from the outside as well as the inside.
Joann

Oh goody, here we go again. Nothing like sarcasm and buddies chiming in and turning into a mob mentality.

I didn't say closed blinds prevent murder, but strangers cannot look into a home at night and see where the people are if the shutters are closed. It gives them a big disadvantage. Intruders PREFER to know where the adults are is all I'm saying. Common sense. ;)

Another vote for cellular shades, though spaghetti sauce spatter frequency should be taken into consideration.

You want to commit a random murder. Two houses side by side, one where you can observe what's going on, one you can't. Which would you choose? Unless possibly the no-blinds person sits at the table cleaning his gun collection.

What are your hobbies mbarstow - LOL!

Holy Cow! I'm getting toooo much information. But I do think I've been convinced that the cellular shades look lovely, but I'd regret them especially in a kitchen.

another thought that has nothing to do with covering the windows is to plant some privacy outside your window, maybe a trellis with a vine, or some pretty dwarf fruit trees, something beautiful to look at out there..

also you might consider folding shutters on the bottom 1/2 of the window that you fold up at night..but i like the idea of screening the view from the neighbors with something beautiful OUTSIDE as well..we have a similar problem here and have been enclosing our property with trees and shrubs, i planted dwarf peach trees in front of my living room windows where i need mostly SUMMER privacy as our neighbors are only here seasonally from Detroit.