I wish window treatments had been a part of the selections in the build of our new house. (1) because we'd have hardwired in motorized shades and (2) because we'd be done with them by now, since our house is basically finished.

I am feeling as overwhelmed about them as I was about every other selection on the way, so I thought I'd pick your brains. Here are our considerations:

1. We like the simplest possible styles. We're not trying to make any statement. Roller shades suit us the most, we think. But what types of materials are there, and what are the advantages?

2. We don't want blinds, curtains, or plantation shutters. The less dust and cleaning the better, and we've been there, done that with blinds, curtains, and plantation shutters.

3. In the master bedroom we want blackout shades for nighttime, but we are thinking of a dual roller system for daytime. The issue is that the room has both windows and sliding glass doors to the screen porch. But we could have dual roller shades on the windows and just blackout shades on the doors, since the porch will keep the door from ever being in direct sunlight. That would save us a lot of money not to do the dual shade thing on the doors. Any thoughts?

4. In our bathroom we're thinking of a top-down bottom-up shade, so we have the option of covering just the bottom when taking a shower. But I believe there is no such thing in a roller shade? How weird would it be to have cellular or Roman just in the bathroom, but roller shades everywhere else? Are there types of shades that do better in bathroom humidity?

5. There is a corner room that is a music studio for practicing (I'm a classical musician.) It gets lots of light, and of course I want to protect wooden instruments. Would solar shades be best here? Would that be the best material to have everywhere? How much more do solar shades cost, in your experience?

6. We're going to use a local window company, so we will be limited to the brands of shades that the local companies carry. Any preferences of brands, from those of you who have shopped for shades recently? The companies we're looking at, between them, carry Hunter-Douglas, Graber, Alta, Somfy, CACO, Eclipse, and Norman.

7. Of course, budget is always an issue! By hiring a window treatment company we'll already be spending more than we would doing it ourselves (but that isn't physically an option for us.)

Any insights you can give would be appreciated.

Photo is of master bedroom windows. Proportions are all off (there's not so much room between the windows) because I took it from our Parade of Homes site.