Planning Window Coverings for a New Construction Home
Window coverings are one of the last things installed in a new home and one of the first things you need on move-in night. Planning them a little earlier than feels natural avoids both the bare-window weeks and the compromises that come from deciding everything in a rush.
When to start
A comfortable timeline: start choosing during finishing, when flooring and paint decisions are being made, and have measuring booked as soon as windows are installed and casings are complete. Custom treatments take time to make, ours run about one to two weeks after the consultation, so working backwards from your possession date tells you when to decide.
Measuring needs finished openings. Quotes from floor plans are estimates at best; final fabrication should always follow real measurements of real windows, which is why we measure in person.
The one decision that is easier before drywall
Motorization. Battery-powered motorized shades install cleanly in any finished home, so nothing is ever lost. But if you already know certain windows will be motorized, planning wired power into those openings while the walls are open gives you options that are harder to add later. High feature windows and wide patio spans are the usual candidates. Our motorization guide covers the choices in more depth.
Room-by-room decisions worth making early
- Bedrooms: decide who needs true darkness. See blackout versus light-filtering for the room-by-room logic.
- Great rooms with tall glass: decide whether tall windows will ever need adjusting. If yes, that is a reach problem, and reach problems are motorization problems.
- Street-facing rooms: daytime privacy with daylight usually means filtering fabrics; think about what evening privacy needs to look like too.
- Wet rooms: bathrooms and laundry rooms want moisture-tolerant treatments.
Coordinating with finishes
Treatments read best when they are decided alongside paint and flooring rather than after. Two practical rules serve most new builds well: keep the street-facing colour consistent for a composed exterior, and let fabric texture, not loud pattern, carry the interest in open-plan spaces where many windows are visible at once.
A realistic sequence
- During finishing: shortlist styles and fabrics, and flag any windows for wired motorization.
- Windows and casings done: consultation and measurement.
- One to two weeks later: fabrication complete.
- Before or just after move-in: professional installation.
If your build is at the finishing stage now, a free consultation fits neatly into it: we measure what is ready, help you choose, and sequence the rest around your possession date.