I agree that your blinds should match the white of your trim as best you can. If you go with the creamy ivory, I think they're going to look yellow or dingy next to the trim. I really don't think white blinds are going to draw your eye to look at them any more than an off white would. also, I think you'd be happier with the faux blinds vs. opaque duettes - which I think would block your view more and make you feel more closed in. As far as the faux vs. real, I have both, and you really can't tell the difference. I ordered my blinds from blinds.com - their house brand faux and I have one window that is 96" and did one blind. That blind is heavy and I think it would be a problem to raise and lower it every day. But, to be honest, why would you raise and lower the blinds? Other than to clean them, I just shut or open them, and the size has no affect on that functionality. Wood blinds have that heavy bottom panel, and really don't look nice raise half way etc. You can't really raise them out of the way anyways because all the slats take up headroom. So, in a long winded response - go with faux, check out the pricing on blinds.com(great customer service and excellent pricing), and 72" shouldn't be a problem for a single blind across both windows. One last thing, if you are worried about 72", you can order two blinds on a single head rail, so it's one blind across the top for the mounting and the header bar, but there's two independently controlled blinds underneath. You would measure them so that the blinds are separated right at your center divider between the two windows. I did this in my son's room - on his 96" window because I was afraid he'd break them if he didn't raise them carefully. The problem here is you need to adjust each blind separately and it's a pain to get them exactly in alignment if you open and close them alot. Hope this helps!

I am also trying to make this decision for shutters in a new house. I have Hunter Douglas in my current house and love them and have never had a problem with them. I think HD is made in USA while Norman is made in China - so I am leaning toward HD again.

I just spoke with the person who had placed the original order for our Alta shades (lesser of the H-D shades?) and she said that she wouldn't reorder from them right now. needless to say they are backed up in production and not only was my order delayed but came in all wrong - one with valence, one not, one too short, one too long. I'm ordering H-D shades next just fyi @Shadesbyshane.

For anyone ordering drapes: here's what I learned going down that rabbit hole ordering linen drapes for our living room: I called a couple local places for a quote (local window covering stores tht sell everything) and they pretty much laughed at me when I asked to get a quote and said plan to spend 10k for drapes for a large living room window. Apparently they are not looking for business? A couple places never called/email back. oh well, moving on I checked out the following: 1. Jcpenney/HomeDepot/Macy's custom window treatments: all served by Custom Decorators Inc. (CDI) (for extra fun, check out their yelp/google reviews). When you call each store for window coverings, the call is answered by Custom Decoratr's Inc answering as JCp/Macy's/HD. From start to finish, everything is handled by CDI, but you think you are working with Macy's/HD/JCP. If there are any problems, there is noone at JCP/Macy's/HD to help you. I found this out when I didnt get a call back from JCP, made a call to Macy's, scheduled an appt., called back to JCP and learned it was the same designer that I had an appt with Macy's. ( why they wanted to schedule me through macys and not JCP?) For drapes and hardware, CDI sells just kirsch brand- it is not explained to you when you schedule an appt-they tell you you'll meet with a designer who has tons of drapery samples and choices. After the free in home consultation, I was nver given a quote. Btw, JCP used to have awesome custom window treatments but within the last 2 years outsoruced to CDI. :( 2. Shade Store- tested samples from Smith and Noble, loft curtains, and a few others from etsy. Shade store had the best quality linen drapes and that is who we chose. Smith and Noble was a close second, but I didnt like how my phone/email was slammed from SN "designers" wanting to "help"-aka get me to order from them. I blind tested my husband several times with samples and shade store always won out. Shade Store also makes curtains for restoration hardware. We did not choose the drapery hardware from Shade Store as the cost of purachsing hardware thrugh SS was at east 2x the cost ( shade store uses Forest brand drapery hardware, good but not "the best"). Shade store has an awesome selection of samples and I felt like all the fabrics were extremely high quality. If there is a shade store in your city they will come out and do a free measure which was very helpful. I was able to work with a design constustlant who was very kind, knowledgable and able to help out getting my cost down. Installation is extra - I felt $500 install was a little steep, so we will be installing ourselves. 3. Drapery Hardware: check out Designer Drapery Hardware, they sell all top brands of hardware: after a lot of research and help, we ended up witha custom Kirsch 1 3/8" desgigner metal motorized rod that can connect to your wfi, and its decorative at the same time. kirsch has several finials to choose if you wantfancy, and plain finials if you are going mdoern and simple. Deisgner Drapery Hardware will schedule a design consultation with you before you order for free, I must have called them 5 times and and they were as patient on the 5th call as the first. Before ordering drapes, be sure to spend time on their website playing around with the different types of hardware-lots to learn. If we hadnt gotten motorized, I would have chosen "select" brand drapery rod. Drapery is expensive and all in for a 13 ft window- linen drapes with a motorized decorative track rod is coming out to 4k for our project. This pricing is similar to plantation shutters we've purchased through jcpenney cutom decoratoring in the past. ( before they switched....booo- they put out at least 60 longtime employees with this change) One note, a lot of the companies have these eternal 20% sales- this is true, but I found their pricing to be very dynamic- both the drapes and hardwre price went up the next day after I ordered. i'm sure with supplies and shipping pricing has gone up quite a bit. Hoping these reviews are helpful for somone out there-drapes were our only choice for this window, it was a big learning curve and thankful to find a solution that completes the room.