Window Blinds for Maryland, DC & Virginia Homes: A Climate-First Buying Guide

Mid-Atlantic does not take its time. In Washington DC, it is not uncommon to reach 90°F in the summer, with the humidity that makes it feel more like 100°F. Maryland winters can reach far below zero, and nor’easters and freeze-thaw cycles can crack and bend materials that were not designed to endure the abuse. Northern Virginia goes between the two extremes in the same calendar month.

A majority of window treatment manuals are authored in a generic American home. It is dedicated to you, either in Maryland or DC or Virginia, where the weather lives up to all the blinds and shades and shutters you ever have to mount.

Take the wrong and you have bent slats, swollen timber, stained cloth and blinds which broke down two summers ago. Make the right choice and your window treatments will pay you back in reduced energy bills, a more comfortable living environment, and an appearance that endures.

The Mid-Atlantic Climate: What You’re Actually Dealing With

Before deciding on the kind of window treatment, it is good to know what the climate of the area is actually up to your house – and to your windows in particular.

Hot and damp summer. Summers in Maryland often hit 88°F with humidity of over 70%. The sticky subtropical climate that DC experiences implies that it is not only hot but heavy too, especially in July and August. Of all the sunlight that reaches a home through normal, double-pane windows, about 76% of the sunlight enters the building in the form of heat. Your air conditioning is already on the verge of overworking. The improper window treatment exacerbates the situation.

Cold and drafts in winter. Winter in DC is not as long as in New England, but drafts in old and historic houses are the stuff of legends. Up to 30% of a home’s heating energy can escape through poorly insulated windows. Not only are there still many houses in Capitol Hill, Annapolis, Old Town Alexandria and Bethesda with original single-pane windows, but window treatment has not been a decorative matter in such cases but a practical insulation.

Four-season temperature swings. The climate of Maryland is capable of changing 70 degrees between the extreme temperatures of the seasons, i.e., more than 90°F during summer and less than 20°F during winter. Such a range of temperature change strains expansive or shrinking, curving or drying up materials. Typical aluminum mini-blinds do not block heat, but conduct it. Raw wood is moist and it swells. PVC may crack when subjected to prolonged exposure to UV.

Coastal and bay humidity. Homeowners living along the Chesapeake Bay, or along the Potomac River or any tidal body of water are experiencing high moisture in the air and not necessarily only in summer. Salt-laden atmosphere speeds up corrosion of metal elements and hastens untreated wood more than inland.

All the recommendations in this guide are determined by understanding these four climate factors.

The Best Window Blinds and Shades for Mid-Atlantic Homes

Solar Shades: Excellent at Blocking Heat and Glare

Solar shades are your best defence against summer heat gain in DC row-house windows facing south or west, townhomes in Northern Virginia, or Maryland colonial windows.

Solar shades are made of a special open-weave material that reflects infrared radiation – the component of sunlight that is converted to heat when it goes through the glass. Solar shades do this and do not require blackout as opposed to blackout options and they do not obstruct your view outward and natural light in the room. Just consider them as sunglasses to your windows.

Openness factor matters. The less openness factor percentage the higher heat and UV the fabric blocks:

• 3–5% openness – maximum heat and UV rejection, or slightly less view clarity
• 10% openness – high performance with a more outward perspective
• 14%+ openness – softer filtering, preferable in rooms where view holds a high value

Solar shades have been found to be especially useful in home offices in the Northern Virginia and Maryland suburbs where the sun in the afternoon shines through into a west-facing window, causing screen glare that makes working uncomfortable. They minimize glare without the need to shut the shade fully or turn on the artificial light.

Cellular (Honeycomb) Shades: Best for Year-Round Energy Efficiency

The cellular shade (also known as a honeycomb shade) is, perhaps, the sole window treatment designed specifically to meet the dual-season needs of the Mid-Atlantic.

The name gives an explanation of the construction: cloth is rolled into hexagonal air pockets, which trap heat and provide an insulating buffer between your window glass and your living space. During summer, this buffer retards heat flow towards the inside. During winter, it retards heat flow.

The statistics of the performance are impressive. Tightly fitted cellular shades can prevent 40% or more of heat loss through windows in heating seasons, which amounts to approximately 10% savings in heating energy. During a cooling season, they can cut off unwanted solar heat gain by up to 60%, bringing the total solar gain to about 20% with a good fit.

Single-cell vs. double-cell. Single-cell shades have one layer of honeycomb pockets. Shades that are of a double-cell form will provide an extra layer of insulation. In rooms that receive much sunshine or rooms that are next to exterior walls that are poorly insulated – as is the case in older Maryland and DC houses – the upgrade to a double-cell is worthwhile.

Top-Down Bottom-Up functionality is particularly convenient in Northern Virginia and DC townhomes where windows on the street should be privatized at the bottom and the top should be free to allow natural light to penetrate. This is an option that allows you to reduce the shade on the top without increasing on the bottom instead of completely solving a real issue with urban and semi-urban Mid-Atlantic houses.

Cellular shades can be used in all rooms: bedrooms, living rooms, home offices, and any room where energy performance is of equal importance to beauty.

Faux Wood Blinds: Best for Humidity-Prone Spaces

Real wood is beautiful. It also works well in a dry climate. In DC and Maryland, coastal Virginia – it is a liability.

Real wood swells, warps and becomes out of shape in the constant wetness. Even in a place where the summer humidity is regularly high, 70-90% of wood blinds in kitchens, bathrooms, sunrooms, or any other room that is close to an exterior source of moisture will display the effects within a few seasons. Slats tilt, tie-down, and clean horizontal lines which you paid money on turn wavy and jagged.

Faux wood blinds solve this directly. Faux wood blinds are made of composite materials, usually a combination of wood and polymer core, and are designed to resist warping, swelling, cracking and fading in any environment, whether hot or humid. They offer the same visual comfort as actual wood, in the same assortment of stains, paint, and finishes, and none of the vulnerability to maintenance.

Faux wood blinds are the correct choice for:

• Kitchens – steam, cooking moisture, and temperature changes
• Bathrooms – everyday dampness
• Basements – below-grade moisture and temperature fluctuation
• Sunrooms and enclosed porches – direct exposure to sun and outdoor humidity
• Homes near the Chesapeake Bay or tidal waterways – high ambient moisture throughout the year

Even in interior rooms not in contact with moisture – a formal dining room, a study, a bedroom – high quality real wood blinds are still an excellent choice and provide a level of warmth and grain depth lacking in composite. The answer is simple: to fit the material to the surrounding of the room.

Plantation Shutters: Best for Historic and Traditional Homes

History is rich in the DC metro area. Georgetown row houses. Capitol Hill Victorians. Annapolis colonials. Alexandria Federal-style townhomes. Maryland farmhouses. Such houses should have window decorations that reflect their personality, and the plantation shutters do so with great ability in addition to being serious insulators.

Plantation shutters are closed which provide a solid physical wall between your window glass and the room. That wall sends summer heat back out before it can get into your conditioned air, and the wall insulates in the winter. The level of structural insulation that is accorded by this type of window treatment is not available in any other type of window treatment.

Material selection matters here, especially in the Mid-Atlantic:

• Composite shutters – the best in humid conditions. Blend wood-grain appearance with waterproof construction. Will not bend, crack or peel in summer DC humidity. Suggested in the majority of houses in the Mid-Atlantic.
• Polysatin shutters – designed to work in high moisture areas. Perfect in the bathrooms, kitchens or any other room that has direct exposure to moisture. Won’t bend, splinter, dry, crack or peel.
• Real wood shutters – direct sun and outdoor humidity exposure. Homes along the Chesapeake Bay or tidal waters – high year-round ambient moisture.

Plantation shutters also increase the quantifiable resale value of a house – a fact that would be applicable in the competitive real estate market such as Montgomery County, Fairfax County and close in neighborhoods of DC.

Another point to add concerning Maryland homeowners in particular: energy-efficient plantation shutters can also be eligible to the federal residential energy efficiency tax credits. Confirm your eligibility with your tax consultant in the event of a complete home installation of shutters.

Roller Shades: Best for Modern Homes and Home Offices

Roller shades are the workhorse of the modern window treatment with clean lines. One piece of fabric is rolled neatly into a thin cassette at the top of the window, there is no visible hardware, no slats, no piles of dust.

Roller shades have their place in two main situations in the Mid-Atlantic market:

Modern and contemporary homes. Roller shades are used in newer construction in Northern Virginia and in suburban Maryland and redeveloped neighborhoods in DC, where they are used to supplement open floor plans and floor-to-ceiling windows without competing with the architecture. They come in all varieties of light-filtering to blackout fabrics and thus can suit any room requirements.

Home offices. Working remotely has permanently changed the way Mid-Atlantic professionals use their homes. A west office in Arlington or Rockville is subjected to scorching afternoon sun in the spring and fall. Roller shades with filters not only minimize glare on the screen but also do not completely block natural light. As backgrounds to video calls, they provide a clean, neutral appearance, with no visual distractions.

Use daytime with pair light-filtering roller shades and room-darkening in bedrooms to create a flexible, layered effect that accommodates the season-by-season change in the region.

Vertical Blinds: Best for Sliding Glass Doors and Large Windows

Homes in the suburbs of Maryland and Northern Virginia are replete with sliding glass doors – to decks, patios, screened porches, and backyard areas. Normal horizontal blinds are not able to cover these openings in a clean manner. Vertical blinds are the right choice.

Vertical slats are suspended on a track at the head of the window or door frame and travel left or right, fitting the entire width of wide openings and having smooth, uniform operation. They do not pile up dust on slat surfaces easily as compared to horizontal blinds and they are easy to maintain.

In the case of sliding glass doors, vertical blinds are also more compatible with the motion pattern of the actual door – the panels will pile up against one side as the door is opened, entirely clearing the door without any bunching or interference of the blinds.

Fabric vanes make vertical blinds far more palatable than traditional vinyl slats, and can be used in a living room, the master bedroom, or the main-floor family room, where the sliding door is the center of the room.