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 On their own, windows are really just holes in the walls. But add a window covering like shades, blinds or shutters and you suddenly have privacy, control over the amount of sunlight that fills the area and a better-looking room. Whether you're picking window coverings for one window or for an entire house, you'll need to consider window shape and size, how you use the room and the amount of sunlight you want to let in and keep out.
Honeycomb Shades
Made of spun polyester, honeycomb shades are extremely flexible, making them a good choice to fit windows of unusual shape. They come in single, double or triple combs. The combs give this product its distinctive look, but they also trap air, making these shades fair sound and thermal insulators. Light in weight, honeycombs can be installed vertically or, more conventionally, horizontally. They also offer varying levels of light control. On windows facing west, you might want to totally block out all light on hot days; if your bedroom faces east, you may be more interested in keeping early-morning sun out of your eyes. On other windows, sheer or translucent shades may be more appropriate.
 Horizontal Blinds
While these blinds may be a chore to keep clean, their adjustable louvers offer great light control. The more slats per foot, the less light will leak through the blind. And blinds with cord holes at the back of the slats close more tightly -- a feature to look for if you want them to be light-tight. As for cleaning, some newer products have a factory-applied antistatic-electricity treatment to keep dust from building up.
Window Shadings
A relatively new hybrid of honeycomb and horizontal blinds, shadings feature opaque louvers sandwiched between sheer fabric panels. This lets light in while keeping glare to a minimum. Shadings are particularly useful for windows that face south or east. Once the shade is fully lowered, the ladder-free slats can be opened, tilted for filtered light and partial view or shut for complete privacy with the cord. Using an inside mount, they will fit into angled-or arch-top windows.
 Roller Shades
Before the advent of the mini-blind, roller shades were the standard for fast, no-frills window coverings. Although they're available in translucent films and fabrics as well as traditional opaque materials, they aren't the best choice when it comes to light control: The shade is either up or down, offering no diffusion or direction.
Vertical Blinds
 Most commonly used over sliding glass doors, vertical blinds are also at home with tall casement windows, fixed-glass windows or bow windows, as well as with arch-top and angular windows. Long typecast as a commercial window covering, vertical blinds can bring a sense of drama to a room with their strong lines. More than any other window covering, they enhance the height of a room -- something to keep in mind if ceilings are low in your home. In vinyl, fabric, metal or even matched to wallpaper (by slipping strips of the material into its front face), vertical blinds allow good air circulation and are an outstanding choice when it comes to protection from UV rays, which can be a problem in west-and south-facing windows. The decorative vanes can be inserted into plastic backs that protect them against sun damage and present a uniform look to the street.
 Shutters
Shutters, with their distinctive appearance, inject a lot of character into a room. The width of the slats has a lot to do with that. Vanes can measure up to 5 1/2 in. (these are called "plantation shutters") and down to 3/4 in. Stained or painted solid-wood versions are traditional choices. Smooth white louvers, often made of vinyl, are more contemporary, especially when they're hung in an angled-or arch-top window. Most shutters have flat slats with ends cut at 90¡. For something a little more distinctive, look for slats with rounded ends and beaded and S-shaped blades. With adjustable louvers, control rods can be centered, offset or hidden from view.
 Cord Safety
Alerted to the hazards of accidental strangulation posed by dangling control cords, blinds manufacturers have addressed safety issues in several ways. Break-apart tassels like split open under stress. Another advance is the single-cord control, in which the loop design is eliminated. Wand controls also take the place of cord loops. The ultimate precaution is a remote-controlled blind that has an automatic-stop feature, similar to that of garage doors. If your blinds don't have any of these features, make sure to install a high cleat to neatly stow loose cords out of the reach of young children.
(Based on Internet resources)
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