No, they are not tax deductible. I have them in several rooms and since I'm in Florida I had to go with faux wood. I actually like the look of the faux, but maybe that's because it's the only kind you ever see in this state, thanks to the humidity. Whether or not you use draperies with them is your choice and depends on the look you want. They don't have to be treated, and give a nice clean, finished look to windows on their own. But for a more formal room where you need something extra or a punch of color, you could do stationary panels on either side.

Think about hotel rooms. They so often have a room-width black-out curtain ... and behind it a thin sheer ... and usually some type of non-moveable header (either cloth or wood) ... and they pull open so nicely. While staying in a hotel a year or so ago, I decided that's exactly what I want, so I took a good look at the hardware involved. Hotels have ceiling mounted tracks. Something like this: This ceiling-mounted curtain track can be supported every 2-3 feet, eliminating any possibility of sagging rods as years go by. You can cut them to fit your dimensions, and they're even available in around-the-corner styles. The negatives, of course, are that you'll need floor-to-ceiling curtains, and you'll probably have to do some sewing adjustments to the curtains yourself. Still, I'm going to do this in my bedroom, where I expect to open/close the drapes frequently. I wouldn't do it in, say, the dining room, where I'm going to use plantation shutters and curtains that'll essentially never move.

Thanks everyone! I did consider both slider plantation shutters and replacing with French doors. With the slider, I was worried in our small space it would be too shutter heavy. I don’t love the sliding door, and French doors would look so much better - we are just contemplating how much money we want to invest in a place that isn’t our forever home. We have already replaced all the flooring and countertops, and repainted the entire home top to bottom. The shutters will be another big chunk of change, but the vertical blinds and old wood blinds have to go! :)

Add decent draw sheers to the slider, and leave the rest AS IS. No need to add to the plantatio shutters, especially at the baby stage of young life. Unless you want to remove all, skip curtains entirely and do roller screen shades, or Silhouette shades. The living space and furniture ? No to curtains.