Hello! When we bought our house a couple years ago, I took down all of the previous owners' curtains and gave them away on freecycle.. I love the clean look of having no curtains, and all the light that comes in. However, we live in PA and i'm realizing it is a big waste of heat in the winter (and somewhat a waste of the AC in summer) to have no curtains. So I'm looking into them. My question is, it is helpful enough to simply get curtains of a reasonably thick material, or, for insulating benefits, should I really go with curtains sold as "thermal" or insulating? I'm sure thermal must be better, but how significantly better? Any suggestions for a good online source? Is it easy to add a thermal layer behind curtains? (i'm looking at the "tab top" style) Our big living room and dining room windows bow out, so unfortunately i think i have to go with curtains rather than shades. thanks

I've never heard that Solar Shades are to be used on the exterior only and I've seen plenty of use on double pane windows within the house. If a shade had an insulating effect and was sealed along the edges or had sealed side tracks, then that would not be safe to use with double pane. Solar screens are just that.....screens. They go outside the window just as any other type of screen is used. Roller shades can be decorative lightweight window coverings, but the term 'roller' is also used for the Solar Shades since they are usually on some type of roller system. It sounds like Solar Shades will fit your need. Here is a link that might be useful: Interior Shades

We have an open concept family room/ kitchen and dining room. These blinds are falling apart literally. Need advice about what to replace them with. I was also thinking of framing the top and between the windows with trim so that they would like one window instead of three. Thanks in advance!

I use all black out shades, but, I open mine up completely all day. They are only for night time use. Any shade will block out a whole lot of light, if left covering the window during the day. I only have neighbors on the sides, none in front, nor in the back. I really dont have to worry about neighbors looking in here. I dont think I would want any shade even if light filtering covering my windows during the day. If privacy during the day is a big issue, how about using sheer curtains pulled. That gives privacy from neighbors and also allows light to come in and you can look out through them.