Oh KSWL- my guys run 5-15 miles on the open prairie at least three times a week. They swim nearly daily in the summer. Long swims while retrieving duck dummies that are shot from a .22-type launcher. DH is a rabid hunter; the dogs point, track, retrieve everything from doves, grouse, pheasants, ducks, geese, rabbits, squirrels, coyotes, fox, muskrats, raccoons, etc. In the winter they pull DH on the sled just like the Iditarod dogs. He has harnesses for them to pull the bike in the summer. I will guarantee there are no dogs in the state that get harder workouts than mine. They have an extremely high prey drive; and being a versatile hunting breed, everything is prey. They know all the hunting commands; they follow verbal, whistle, and hand signals. But when a squirrel, turkey, coyote, or cat crosses the yard they go berserker! They are so well behaved in the house. They love everyone and don't know what "stranger" means. Babies, little children, kids, and puppies are fawned over and slurped endlessly...until a squirrel goes past the window. I do trap the nasty things...but more keep coming. DH burst out laughing when he read 'more exercise.' Sam water retrieved ducks from 5:30 a.m. until 3:45 p.m. today. He was the only dog for five hunters; they each got their limit. Yesterday Harry hunted grouse all day. They stay outside, weather permitting, (this is North Dakota) as much as they wish. I am always here to open the door. It's constant "in and out", especially with younger Sam; he spends hours in the huge back yard - chasing the squirrels, trying to climb the trees to get to them, jumping on the fence to get leverage and running/barking his fool brains out! Our yard is three deep lots. The entire back yard is fenced. These 75-lb. hunks will never not go after game; it would require alteration of their DNA! They are my DH's dream team. He spent 22 years in the AF in some of the worst parts of the world. He was always looking forward to and planning when he could be home year round and finally have, enjoy, train, and work these amazing hunters. I figure - so what if I don't get floor-length drapes; I'll come up with a nice Plan B. I do get the joy of these two fur kids that love me to pieces. My hubby, after going all around the world and getting shot at in every sand box the US has been involved in; is now living his dream. And he is still a USAF cop; he's just on the "civilian" side now. That leaves plenty of dog-working time, no more foreign trips, and he's not been shot at for 9-10 years now! Life is good on the Prairie. For me, the dogs, and the Ole Mountain Man! This post was edited by caroline on Mon, Oct 13, 14 at 0:51

Designer Banded Shades by Hunter Douglas are an excellent choice of window coverings for this space! Love the look. Not only will they help with sunlight control but they will also finish off the space and soften the room with such large windows. As far as the sliding door goes, the recommendation of Luminettes vs. Skyline Gliding panels are exactly what I could recommend. The Skyline is more modern and goes with the Banded Shades better than the Luminette in my opinion. You loose the functionality of tilting a vane that the Luminette offers but I find that most people use the sliding door as all or nothing meaning it's either closed for privacy, or open for visibility out. You also have more options for coordinating fabrics/colors in the Skyline than you do in the Luminette so I would recommend going that route.

Just to update this thread - we ended up with the Lutron Caseta shades and we are thrilled with the end result. We don't have a comparison point with Hunter Douglas and I think you can't go wrong. But for every reason we chose Lutron - the sleekness and quiet motor - we couldn't be happier. We did hard wire the windows and during construction two of the wires were cut so that was a problem. In hindsight I might have waited to order the shades after I knew we had electricity to every window confirmed. It would have been a bit incovenient but we could have ordered the battery operated shades for those windows then. Instead we had to repurchase battery operated shades for those windows after purchasing the hard wire shade. So an expensive situation. Hope this helps!

Each price was the ENTIRE cost for the motorized blind. When they go on sale, it’s usually 30-40% off the regular price. I was able to get 50% off because a few months prior I got a couple of rooms full of blinds and the woman who worked with me kindly took off another 10%. It was like $2400 for nine motorized blinds (including remote and installation). It doesn’t get much better than that as far as price goes. Go to Lowe’s and they will walk you through the entire process....and make sure to ask when they’re going on sale (which happens quite frequently).