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Let's Talk - Winter Months are Coming - Get the Best Price & Comfort from Smart PNW

Winter time is right around the corner so it’s a good time to talk about winter solutions.

Summer can have high costs with kids being out of school and family vacations planned, but winter is the most common budget-breaking time of the year with some of the most unavoidable costs.

While Smart PNW can’t help you with your holiday shopping, we know that the colder months tend to be more difficult on the budget. Travel to visit with family, get togethers with friends and coworkers,  amongst buying gifts for holiday celebrations can all add up. A few other things home owners need to account for during fall is property tax being due at the end of October and with the falling temperatures heating bills go up as well.  Heating, is, of course, a major expense during the winter but cold weather also means you need to make sure your family has warm coats and boots for the season as well! With little ones around, that can add up as quickly! It makes most people want to hold off most large home improvement projects, but it can also be a great time to take advantage of sales, rebates, and more. Let’s look at some reasons for purchasing custom window treatments before the winter weather comes to town and holidays start to impact family and work schedules.

Let's Talk - Winter Months are Coming - Get the Best Price & Comfort from Smart PNW near Tacoma, Washington (WA)

First, let’s talk about winterizing a home to reduce that utility bill. Shorter days means you will have your electricity or fuel running more often with lighting and heating. How can Smart PNW help? Our Hunter Douglas line of Applause and Duette window treatment shades have the highest energy efficiency ratings on the market. During the winter, your windows are the biggest transfer of heat in your home letting the warmth escape and the cool air to linger close to that window. Putting in a honeycomb cellular shade is the best option to reduce how much heat you are losing in the window in winter time. Hunter Douglas has the Duette Architella product which has the honeycomb within a honeycomb insulating layer to have the most enhanced insulation properties of any product on the market. Hunter Douglas Duette and Applause products are AERC rated and certified products which takes four measurements to indicate how energy efficient products are. The AERC looks at the U-Factor and Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) as well as a Cool Climate Rating and a Warm Climate Rating. Any of our Smart PNW sales consultant or team members would be able to give you the specific product specs to look at all four measurements for yourself.

Each fabric line is going to have slightly different energy ratings, but across the board double honeycombs rate higher than single cellular shades. Room darkening shades have better insulating properties in both cool and warm climate ratings as well. The Alustra Duette Architella Room Darkening honeycomb shades have the best ratings across all four categories judged!

Taking your shades a step further, automating your cellular shades to increase insulating properties would be a huge factor in limiting the temperature transfer. With the touch of your smart phone or with pre-set routines, your shades can open and close to maximize airflow and temperature transfer to keep your home comfortable during all times of the day whether you are there or not. Reducing heat loss can be automatic with a routine set and controlled for your motorized cellular shades! Duette Architella works over time, not only providing great insulation during winter but in summer as well.

With that said, if you don’t currently have any cellular shades the best time to get them is before the coldest months of the year, January and February! The most popular sale time of the year is November with the holidays coming up, and the world of window treatments is no different. Smart PNW offers their Black Friday sale all November long, so it’s possible to still get in projects before the holidays and having guests over! On top of a discounted November sale, Hunter Douglas Seasons of Style give even greater benefits for clients who purchase during the month of November! Custom window treatments are a big investment for home owners, so the long term benefits of investing in energy efficient products pays off to the home owners with comfort in their home during all times of the year.

While home improvement projects can run into issues with rain and snow delays, window treatments and indoor projects have the flexibility to accommodate your schedule with installation and our team works to have everything run smoothly for our clients. All of this said, transitioning to the cooler and wetter months is a great time to give Smart PNW a call and start researching your home improvement projects including custom window treatments to help your home be stylish and comfortable all through the winter months!