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Window Treatment Trends 2026: 12 Trends We Are Installing in South Florida

Twelve trends, each shown in a real Exotic Shades & Draperies install with the fabric and the motor named, plus what is out, style ideas by interior and the published prices.

★★★★★Rated 5.0 · 122 reviews Fort Lauderdale · 35 Miami Beach · Lutron Certified Dealer · Updated September 2026

Trends and Style Ideas · 2026

What we are installing this year, and why

Written from the fabric schedules of our own installs, Sunny Isles to Southwest Ranches and one residence over Central Park: a trend earns its place here when it shows up on more than one job and solves something South Florida glass actually does.

The 12 trends At a glance Style ideas by interior South Florida specifics What is out What it costs FAQ

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The short version

The big one: layers: a sheer for the day, a solar screen for the glare, a blackout for sleep, in the same opening, each on its own motor.
Control: motorized by default on big glass, and run from the wall keypad, the phone and voice rather than a drawer of remotes.
Hardware: either it disappears into a ceiling pocket or a wood valance, or it is chosen as a finish: decorative rods, hand-finished Palladiom, a black architectural fascia.
Color: warm neutrals - alabaster, parchment, limestone, chalk - are replacing cool grey on the drapery and light-filtering layers; white stays on ocean-facing screens.
Fabric: real linen and cotton-linen sheers, chenille, wool blends and velvet; texture is doing the work pattern used to do.
Sun: solar screens tuned to each exposure, 3% where the sun hits straight on and 5% where the view matters, instead of one fabric everywhere.
Dark: blackout treated as a system: side channels, a sealed top, caulking, and drapery on bent tracks where a roller cannot get there.
Scale: walls of glass handled as one gesture: coupled rollers on one motor, synchronized runs, 2.5 in tubes on 147 in shades, sheers to 16 ft.

The Trends

Twelve trends, twelve real installs

In the order we would prioritize them on a new project.

Layered windows: a sheer, a solar screen and a blackout in one openingLayers
Motorized by default, and on the house system rather than a remoteOn the house system
Nothing on the ceiling: recessed pockets and hidden tracksRecessed pockets
Warm neutrals replace cool grey: alabaster, parchment, limestone, chalkWarm neutrals
Real linen and cotton-linen sheersReal linen sheers
Texture over smooth: chenille, wool blends, velvet and textured weavesTexture
Solar screens tuned to the exposure, not one fabric everywhereScreens by exposure
Blackout as a system: side channels, caulking and drapery that turns the cornerBlackout system
Custom wood valances and cornices are backWood valances
Romans, shutters and woven textures for the secondary windowsRomans and shutters
Hardware meant to be seen: decorative rods, hand-drawn drapery and architectural fasciasHardware as finish
One line across the glass: coupled, synchronized and oversized shadesOne line

Layered windows: a sheer, a solar screen and a blackout in one opening

Layering means two or three treatments on the same glass, each doing one job: a sheer drapery for softness and daytime privacy, a solar screen for glare and heat with the view kept, and a blackout for sleep. It is the trend that matters most on floor-to-ceiling glass, because one opening now has three jobs and no single fabric does all three.

Motorization is what made it practical. When each layer has its own motor, the layers become scenes: screen down for the afternoon, sheer across for the evening, blackout down at night, everything up for the view. Where the wall has no room for a track, a dual roller shade puts the screen and the blackout on two tubes behind one fascia.

Seen atRitz-Carlton Residences, Sunny Isles Beach

Three layers on Lutron: ripplefold sheers in Loro Piana Interiors Limoges White on Sivoia QS drapery tracks, T-Screen 3% solar shades in White for glare with the water view intact, and Highland blackout shades in White where the residence sleeps, all under HomeWorks QS and integrated into Crestron. At the Ritz-Carlton Residences Miami Beach every bedroom got a sheer for daytime and a blackout behind it, with Basketweave solar shades behind the drapery layers. Sunny Isles case study.

Pages: Sheer draperies · Solar shades · Blackout shades · Dual roller shades

T-Screen 3% solar shade layered behind sheer draperies on one wall at the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Sunny Isles Beach — Ritz-Carlton Sunny Isles: the T-Screen 3% solar layer behind the Loro Piana sheers, blackout in the bedrooms, every layer on Lutron Sivoia QS.

Motorized by default, and on the house system rather than a remote

On big South Florida glass we motorize by default; that is no longer the trend. The trend is where the control lives. It is moving off the remote in the drawer and onto the wall keypad, the phone and voice, with the shades in the same scenes as the lighting: "Good night" closes the blackouts, "Morning" opens the sheers, and the terrace screens answer the same keypad as the interior shading.

In a wired new build that means Lutron HomeWorks or a Crestron or Control4 system with a keypad in every room. In a condo it means a Somfy TaHoma or a Lutron bridge and Apple Home, Alexa or Google Home, on battery motors that need no wiring, no opened walls and no construction approval in most buildings. Battery or wired is the first decision; what each system costs is the second.

Seen atLandmark Ranch Estates, Southwest Ranches

Not one remote in the house: every roller on a Somfy Sonesse 50 dry-contact motor and every drapery on a Glydea 60 wired track, hard-wired into the home's Lutron system with a keypad in every room. On Hillsboro Mile the whole home runs Lutron Sivoia QS on HomeWorks QS, one press per room; at The Hemispheres a condo runs Somfy Sonesse 30 Zigbee on TaHoma with Apple Home and Siri; at Trump Tower III Crestron shades were commissioned into the residence's Control4 keypads; and the Fort Lauderdale oceanfront estate runs its exterior terrace shades on the same Lutron system as the interior. Landmark case study.

Pages: Motorized shades · Lutron · Somfy · Crestron · Control4

Lutron wall keypad with one-touch shade control in an oceanfront villa — The control point of 2026 is the wall keypad, the phone and voice: here a Lutron keypad running hard-wired blackout and Roman shades in one of six Turks and Caicos villas.

Nothing on the ceiling: recessed pockets and hidden tracks

The minimalist trend, done properly, is not a slimmer cassette; it is no cassette. The roller or the drapery track sits inside a pocket framed into the ceiling before the drywall closes, so the fabric simply begins at the ceiling line and, from inside the room, there is nothing on the ceiling but light. On a 10 or 12 ft ceiling with a wall of glass it is the difference between hardware you live with and hardware you never see.

It has to be planned at framing: a single roller needs a 3.94 in square box, a wider one 5.12 in, a motorized drapery track a 140 mm profile, and the low-voltage cable lands in the box before paint. In an existing home the same look comes from a soffit or a wood valance, which is the next trend. Recessed shade pockets · recessed curtain tracks · pre-wiring guide.

Seen atTrump Tower III, Sunny Isles Beach

Every treatment in the residence is recessed: Crestron motorized rollers in Mermet E Screen 5% White/White in ceiling pockets throughout, and a Crestron drapery track pocketed wall to wall in the primary suite, on a facade that steps and curves so almost no two openings shared a width. At Landmark Ranch Estates every roller, track and Roman sits inside a pocket framed before the drywall closed; at the Boca Raton oceanfront condo the general contractor let us recess the Somfy Irismo 45 tracks so the linen falls from the ceiling line. Trump Tower III case study.

Pages: Recessed pockets · Recessed tracks · Recessed and concealed treatments

Dining room at Trump Tower III looking down the length of the residence with every shade pocketed into the ceiling — Trump Tower III: the run of pocketed Crestron solar shades down the ocean wall, nothing on the ceiling.

Warm neutrals replace cool grey: alabaster, parchment, limestone, chalk

The palette is moving. The cool greys and stark whites of the last decade are giving way to warm off-whites and sand tones that sit with wood, stone and linen instead of fighting them. Read our recent fabric schedules and the names repeat: Alabaster, Parchment, Limestone, Chalk, Gardenia, Shell, White/Linen, Porcelain.

White is not gone; it has moved to the right layer. On ocean-facing glass a White/White screen keeps the room bright and lets the ocean stay the loudest thing in it, and white blackouts read as ceiling when they are up. The warmth goes on the drapery and the light-filtering layer, where a cool grey reads cold against South Florida light. Charcoal screens still win where the sharpest view matters, because a dark weave disappears in front of the eye. How screen color changes the view.

Seen atBay Drive, Pompano Beach, and The Hemispheres, Hallandale Beach

A beach house whose great room is one wall of glass carries Phifer SheerWeave 4000 Eco 5% in Eco/Alabaster, a warm off-white weave chosen so the room stays bright instead of tinted. At The Hemispheres the living areas run Mermet Elba Daylight in Limestone and the bedroom its blackout twin, Elba Twilight in Limestone, chosen to sit with the owners' furniture before the first measurement. In Boca Raton a new home runs fourteen Lutron rollers in Aura Parchment and its blackout drapery in Villa Nova Toronto FR Chalk. Bay Drive case study · Hemispheres case study.

Pages: Solar shade fabrics · Lutron fabrics · Coastal drapery fabrics

Great room at Bay Drive, Pompano Beach with SheerWeave 4000 Eco 5% Alabaster solar screens fully lowered — Bay Drive: SheerWeave 4000 Eco in Eco/Alabaster, a warm off-white that keeps the beach legible and the room bright instead of tinted.

Real linen and cotton-linen sheers

Sheers are our most requested drapery, and the request we hear more every year is for linen or a cotton-linen blend rather than a polyester voile: the softness and the slight irregularity of the weave, the way it takes light. Wide-width linens (118 in) are sewn seamless, hung ripplefold on a track and cut to the room, not to a packet length, which on a 10 to 12 ft ceiling is the only way the panel reaches the floor.

The fullness is part of the look: 120% is our usual call for oceanfront sheers, deep enough that the wave reads even when the panel is drawn. Linen has a cost of its own: it moves with humidity and floors are rarely level in an older building, so panels are cut to the shortest measurement of the opening and steamed in place. Linen that kisses the floor looks right; linen that touches it breaks. Sheer draperies · ripplefold.

Seen atOceanfront Condo, Boca Raton

Villa Nova Geneva in Chalk, a 60% cotton, 40% linen plain, for the living-room sheers on recessed Somfy Irismo 45 tracks; in the master, 100% linen in Kravet Basics 4843-1, a 118 in wide-width woven in France, with Berlin Snow White blackout rollers in side channels behind it. At the Ritz-Carlton Residences Miami Beach the children's rooms got a 100% Belgian linen sheer (Jean de Merry Mirage, Fog) and an open-weave linen sheer (Fabricut Composite, Rain), and at the St. Regis Longboat Key the great-room sheers are Mitchell Meadow Breeze Winter at 120% fullness. Boca Raton condo case study.

Pages: Sheer draperies · Ripplefold · Coastal fabrics

Living room with Villa Nova Geneva cotton-linen sheers drawn across the ocean wall on a recessed track, Boca Raton — Boca Raton: cotton-linen Geneva sheers drawn across the ocean wall, the recessed Irismo 45 track invisible above them.

Texture over smooth: chenille, wool blends, velvet and textured weaves

On the drapery layer, texture is doing the work pattern used to do. Instead of a print, the interest comes from the hand of the cloth: a chenille with real weight, a wool or wool-linen blend, a crinkled or striated sheer, velvet where a room wants to go dark and quiet. In plain warm neutrals, texture is what keeps a room from reading flat.

It changes the fabrication. Chenille and wool-blend panels are interlined and weighted so they hang in a column; velvet is dressed rather than pressed; a reversible cloth has to go up with the right face out. It also reaches the shade layer: Mermet Elba is a textured light-filtering roller fabric, and Romo Zyla a textured wide-width semi-sheer, chosen for the weave more than the color. Custom draperies · pinch pleat · blackout draperies.

Seen atFasano Fifth Avenue, New York, and Landmark Ranch Estates

For a Miami designer's Manhattan residence: pinch-pleat drapery in Villa Nova Atlantis Camelia, an EasyClean chenille with real weight, drawn by hand on Forest Group rods over striped white sheers. At Landmark Ranch Estates the primary suite hangs Kravet Couture Adagio, a wool blend, her closet a wool-linen Roman in Kravet Couture Spume, and the theatre a double-sided velvet, velvet on both faces, 24 by 11 ft on two tracks. At the Ritz-Carlton Residences Miami Beach the schedule ran to Holland and Sherry melange wool jacquards, a Norbar velvet blackout and a Pindler crinkled organic-texture sheer. Fasano case study · Landmark case study.

Pages: Custom draperies · Pinch pleat · Home theater treatments

Villa Nova Camelia chenille drapes and striped sheer drawn against the light at Fasano Fifth Avenue, New York — Fasano Fifth Avenue: Atlantis Camelia chenille and a fine-striped sheer, hand-drawn on Forest Group rods, motorized blackout hidden behind.

Solar screens tuned to the exposure, not one fabric everywhere

The old order was one screen fabric for the whole home. The 2026 order is openness chosen per elevation: 3% where the sun hits the glass straight on, 5% where the view matters and a terrace already shades the glass, 1% where privacy and heat matter more than the view. Same fabric family, different weave, so the rooms still match.

The numbers that decide it are published: Mermet E Screen in charcoal passes 2% of visible light at 1% openness, 5% at 3% and 7% at 5%, while White/White passes 11%, 13% and 17% of visible light at the same openness (its solar transmission is 14%, 16% and 20%). A dark yarn absorbs and a white yarn passes and reflects, so charcoal gives the sharpest view and white the brightest room. 1, 3, 5 or 10 percent · solar or blackout.

Seen atSalato, Pompano Beach

The same residence three times on three floors: Mermet E Screen 3% White/White on the dining glass, where the side of the building hits the room straight on, and E Screen 5% White/White on the ocean side, which sits under a terrace, so more light and more ocean come through. In Boca Raton a new home runs Lutron Aura 5% Parchment in the bedrooms, office and loft and Aura 3% in the master bath and on the stairs; a golf course guest house runs SheerWeave 2500 at 1% in V21 Charcoal. Salato case study.

Pages: Solar shades · Openness guide · Mermet and Phifer screens

Living room at Salato, Pompano Beach with the E Screen 5% shades down and the ocean still visible through them — Salato: E Screen 5% on the ocean side, 3% on the side exposure that takes the sun straight on, in the same unit.

Blackout as a system: side channels, caulking and drapery that turns the corner

A blackout fabric alone does not make a dark room; light finds the edges. The rooms that actually sleep dark treat blackout as a system: an opaque fabric rated 0% light transmittance, side channels that trap the fabric edge, a fascia or pocket that seals the top, a hembar that meets the sill, and caulking at the window edge on a building that is not square. On a run of glass that turns a corner, the answer is often not a roller at all but blackout drapery on a bent motorized track.

The measure is part of it. Channels add width to the order, a hembar box hides the bar at the sill, an H-profile closes the gap where a window and a door meet at different heights, and a dual roller puts a screen in front of the blackout so the room is not black or nothing. Blackout shades · blackout draperies · motorized tracks.

Seen atLuxury Home, Boca Raton

The owners have a hard time sleeping and needed a completely dark master bedroom whose windows sit at angles: a bay of three and a slider with two windows beside it. A blackout roller cannot get there on angled glass, so the room got blackout drapery in Villa Nova Toronto FR Chalk on two bent motorized tracks that close as one line around the corners and stack clear of the glass by day, with six Lutron Triathlon rollers behind them. At Turnberry Ocean Club the Sparta Twilight blackouts run inside side channels, no glowing outline at 7 AM; at The Hemispheres and the Boca Raton condo every window edge was caulked before the blackouts went in, two to three hours to hang the shades and five or six on the caulking. Boca Raton home case study.

Pages: Blackout shades · Blackout draperies · Solar vs blackout

Blackout drapery closing around a bent motorized track over three angled master bedroom windows in Boca Raton — Boca Raton: Villa Nova Toronto FR Chalk blackout drapery closing around the bent track, the Triathlon rollers in Aura Parchment behind it.

Custom wood valances and cornices are back

A valance made to the opening in lacquered or painted wood hides the roller or the track and turns hardware into millwork. It is the answer for an existing condo where there is no depth above the glass for a pocket and no wall for a fascia, and it is coming back as a design choice in its own right: a slim painted line above every window instead of a row of cassettes.

Ours are made to each opening's profile, mitred where windows meet at a corner, and sized around the tube, the fabric roll and the motor, so the shade drops clean in front of the glass. On a drapery, the same valance conceals the track and gives a ripplefold a finished top. Valances, cornices and pelmets.

Seen atThe Hemispheres, Hallandale Beach

About two and a half inches of clearance above the glass, not enough for a standard fascia, let alone a roller with fabric on it: solved with a custom lacquered basswood valance made to each opening, a 60-degree angle cut on the spot where the windows meet at the corner, and a 110 in shade on a reinforced tube in the same depth. In Boca Raton a golf course home hangs its Kravet Smart ripplefold under a custom wood valance that conceals the track, and at Landmark Ranch Estates the kitchen rollers sit behind fixed faux-Roman valances. Hemispheres case study.

Pages: Valances and cornices · Somfy Sonesse · Roller shades

Custom wood valance concealing the ripplefold drapery track in a Boca Raton master bedroom — Boca Raton: the custom wood valance that hides the ripplefold track; at The Hemispheres a lacquered basswood valance solved 2.5 in of clearance.

Romans, shutters and woven textures for the secondary windows

The tailored soft layer is back where a roller looks too commercial: a flat Roman shade in linen or a wool blend for baths, closets, kitchens and studies, plantation shutters with a hidden tilt for the guest house, woven woods in bamboo, reeds, grasses and jute for an all-glass room that runs cold. Each pairs with the draperies in the main rooms so the house speaks one language.

Two things changed. Romans are sewn, not assembled, lined in black where one has to black out, and motorized where one covers a bedroom window; and shutters are no longer asked to do everything, so a blackout honeycomb goes behind the louvers for a fully dark morning. Roman shades · fold types · plantation shutters · woven wood shades.

Seen atGolf Course Home, Boca Raton, and Landmark Ranch Estates

Lacquered basswood plantation shutters with 3 1/2 in louvers and a hidden tilt on guest-house windows 18 ft up, with Coulisse Edmonton blackout honeycomb behind each panel on Somfy Cord Lift WireFree CL32 RTS motors recharged by solar panels, because the owner wanted absolutely no light in the morning. At Landmark Ranch Estates, flat Romans in Kravet Basics Silken Textures through most baths, closets and the powder room, a Kravet Couture Spume wool-linen Roman in her closet, and Kravet Design lined in black where a Roman had to black out. In Turks and Caicos, six villas of custom Romans in Artelino cloth on Lutron's roman-shade kit, hard-wired to the keypads. Golf course case study · Landmark case study.

Pages: Roman shades · Plantation shutters · Woven wood shades · Honeycomb shades

Close-up of lacquered basswood shutter louvers with no visible tilt rod on a high guest house window in Boca Raton — Boca Raton guest house: lacquered basswood shutters, 3 1/2 in louvers, hidden tilt, and a motorized blackout honeycomb behind each panel.

Hardware meant to be seen: decorative rods, hand-drawn drapery and architectural fascias

The counter-trend to hiding everything: where the hardware shows, it is chosen as a finish. A custom rod in blackened steel with the drapery drawn by hand, the small daily ritual of a good hotel; a hand-finished Lutron Palladiom bracket that is meant to be looked at; a black architectural fascia with a designer bottom bar on an inside-mounted roller. The modern work still happens, motorized and out of sight, behind it.

It suits rooms where a pocket was never an option and a plain cassette would cheapen the window: traditional and Mediterranean houses, French doors, deep-set windows and pre-war buildings. Drapery hardware · Lutron Palladiom · the Palladiom line.

Seen atFasano Fifth Avenue, New York, and a Fort Lauderdale oceanfront estate

At 815 Fifth Avenue the drapery and the sheers operate by hand: pinch-pleat chenille traveling with striped white sheers on Forest Group decorative rods, the classic hotel gesture done properly, while motorized blackout rollers do the modern work behind them, out of sight. On a 12,000 sq ft Fort Lauderdale estate every window runs Lutron Palladiom, the architectural flagship whose hand-finished hardware is meant to be seen, and every drapery glides on customized decorative Lutron tracks. In Boca Raton fourteen Lutron Triathlon rollers sit inside-mounted behind a black architectural fascia with a designer bottom bar. Fasano case study · Fort Lauderdale estate.

Pages: Drapery hardware · Lutron Palladiom · Pinch pleat draperies

Living room with three French windows dressed in chenille drapery and striped sheers on decorative rods at Fasano Fifth Avenue — Fasano Fifth Avenue: chenille and striped sheers on Forest Group rods across three French windows, drawn by hand.

One line across the glass: coupled, synchronized and oversized shades

Walls of glass wider than any single fabric are treated as one gesture. Two, three or four rollers are coupled end to end on one motor so a 22 ft elevation moves as one line; separate motors are synchronized so a wraparound rises together instead of in a ragged row; a 147 in shade goes on a 2.5 in aluminum tube sized for the span, so the fabric rolls flat without ripples; sheers run to 16 ft and finish flush to the floor.

The fabric sets the first limit: solar screens run to 124 in usable width in one piece, blackouts to 116 in. The hardware sets the second: 144 in is the widest standard single roller in the lines we install (Lutron lists Palladiom and the Triathlon WIDR to 144 in), so past either limit an opening normally becomes two coupled shades on one motor, sized so the hembars meet at a mullion; Lutron Sivoia QS couples tubes from 20 in to 20 ft and holds every hembar within 1/8 in. A wider single shade is engineered for its opening rather than picked from a chart: the 147 in dining shades at Salato run Somfy Sonesse 50 RTS motors at 120 V on 2.5 in aluminum tubes chosen for that span, and a 110 in shade at The Hemispheres sits on a reinforced tube because a standard one would bow in the 2.5 in of depth available. Covering large windows · sliding glass doors · how the widths are measured.

Seen atBay Drive, Pompano Beach, and Salato, Pompano Beach

Five Somfy Sonesse 30 Zigbee rollers hanging side by side on one wall of beach-facing glass, set to travel as a single line: every bracket at the same height, every hem landing level, every motor's limits matched so nothing races ahead or lags behind. At Salato, on Somfy Sonesse 50 RTS at 120 V, the dining shades run about 147 by 120 in on 2.5 in tubes and the master bedroom 144 by 120 in as a single shade with one seam; at Landmark Ranch Estates a 22 ft family-room wall is three coupled panels on one motor and the gym couples panels at 160 in high; at The Hemispheres the wraparound is synchronized to rise as one line of fabric. Bay Drive case study · Salato case study.

Pages: Large windows · Sliding glass doors · Somfy Sonesse

Five Somfy Sonesse 30 Zigbee roller shades lowering together across the great room sliders at Bay Drive, Pompano Beach — Bay Drive: five shades in one line across the great room glass, limits matched so they travel together.

At a Glance

The twelve trends on one table

What each trend replaces, where it belongs, the install that shows it and what it does to the budget. Prices are our published figures, budgetary and before tax.

Trend	What it replaces	Where it belongs	Seen at	Cost signal
1. Layers	One fabric asked to do three jobs	Floor-to-ceiling glass, bedrooms on the water	Ritz-Carlton Sunny Isles	One motorized shade per layer; sheers from $85 per ft of track
2. On the house system	A drawer of remotes	Every motorized home; battery motors in condos	Landmark Ranch Estates, Hillsboro Mile	$733 to $3,141 per 72 x 84 in roller by motor system
3. Recessed pockets	Cassettes and surface fascias	New construction and gut renovations	Trump Tower III, Landmark	Framed by the builder at drywall stage; the shade prices by size and motor
4. Warm neutrals	Cool grey, stark white on every layer	Drapery and light-filtering layers	Bay Drive, The Hemispheres	No premium; a fabric choice
5. Real linen sheers	Polyester voile, ready-made lengths	Living rooms and bedrooms on glass	Oceanfront condo, Boca Raton	$85 per ft in a house, $95 in a condo, manual track
6. Texture	Prints and flat plains	Draperies, Romans, theatres	Fasano Fifth Avenue, Landmark	Set by the fabric house; interlining adds
7. Screens by exposure	One 5% screen everywhere	Every elevation that takes sun	Salato, Pompano Beach	Same price, different weave
8. Blackout system	A blackout fabric on its own	Bedrooms, nurseries, media rooms	Luxury Home Boca Raton, Turnberry	Channels, caulking or a bent track added per window
9. Wood valances	A row of cassettes	Condos with no depth; drapery tops	The Hemispheres	Millwork per opening, quoted with the shade
10. Romans and shutters	A roller on every window	Baths, closets, kitchens, guest houses	Golf Course Home Boca, Landmark	Shutters $25 to $45 per sq ft installed
11. Hardware as finish	Hidden hardware, plain cassettes	Traditional rooms, French doors	Fasano Fifth Avenue, Fort Lauderdale estate	Hardware chosen as a finish, quoted per window
12. One line	Windows treated one at a time	Sliders, walls of glass over 144 in	Bay Drive, Salato	Coupled shades priced as two; 2.5 in tubes on wide openings

Style Ideas by Interior

The same trends, six different houses

Trends are not a look; they are a set of decisions that land differently in a glass tower and a Mediterranean revival. Six recipes built from what is on this page, each from products and fabrics we have installed.

Modern coastal

Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach waterfront homes

Cotton-linen or linen sheers at 120% fullness on a recessed or ceiling-mounted track, a 3% or 5% screen in a warm white behind them, blackout rollers in side channels in the bedrooms, wood or lacquered valances where a track has to be hidden. Palette: chalk, alabaster, sand. The Boca Raton oceanfront condo is the model.

The glass tower

Sunny Isles, Brickell, Miami Beach and Hallandale condos

Rollers in E Screen White/White on the ocean side, recessed where the building allows and behind a slim fascia or a basswood valance where it does not; sheers wall to wall on a motorized track in the primary suite; a dual roller where the bedroom has no wall for a track; Somfy WireFree battery motors on TaHoma where the association bars wiring, and Sonesse 30 Zigbee motors on a wired 24 V DC run where it allows one, since Zigbee is the radio, not the power. Turnberry, Trump Tower III and The Hemispheres show the three answers.

Mediterranean revival

Coral Gables, Palm Beach and the older Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods

Pinch pleat in a chenille or a wool blend on decorative rods, drawn by hand, with motorized blackout hidden behind for the bedrooms; flat Romans in linen for the deep-set windows; lacquered basswood shutters with 3 1/2 in louvers and a hidden tilt for the courtyard rooms; charcoal screens on the loggia glass so the garden stays sharp. Warm parchment and limestone rather than white.

Mid-century and MiMo

Miami Modern condos and 1950s waterfront houses

Keep the lines: an 80% ripplefold for a shallow contemporary wave, charcoal 3% screens for the sharpest view, a black architectural fascia with a designer bottom bar on inside-mounted rollers, Allusion sheer verticals or a panel track on the slider you walk through all day, and plain textured plains, no prints.

Classic and traditional

Formal rooms, French doors and estates

Interlined draperies in chenille, wool or velvet on decorative rods or Palladiom tracks, hobbled or flat Romans in the study and the baths, custom cornices over the drapery, sheers behind the panels, and blackout as a system in every sleeping room. The Fasano residence over Central Park and the Fort Lauderdale oceanfront estate are the references.

The new-construction estate

Southwest Ranches, Parkland, Boca Raton and Pinecrest builds

Everything designed in before the drywall: pockets for every roller, track and Roman, one shielded Cat 6 plus one 16-2 low-voltage cable to each shade, coupled rollers on one motor across the long elevations, sheers to 16 ft flush to the floor, a Lutron keypad in every room and not one remote in the house. Landmark Ranch Estates, from measuring day to programming.

South Florida Specifics

What the trend lists written elsewhere leave out

The national trend pages are written for double-hung windows in a temperate climate. Six things about South Florida glass that change which trend applies and how it is built.

Two roller shades meeting at an angled corner under the lacquered basswood valance at The Hemispheres, Hallandale Beach, halfway down over the ocean view — The Hemispheres: 2.5 in of clearance above the glass, a 110 in shade on a reinforced tube, a basswood valance made to the opening. Case study.

West and south sun

A 3% screen where the sun hits straight on, charcoal where the view matters most, and a lining generous enough that a linen Roman does not fade. Honeycomb shades are the one soft treatment with a published insulation value, R 3.5 to 4.4, which is why they go in west-facing bedrooms behind the shutters or the drapery.

Sliding glass walls

Sliding doors are most of what we cover in condos and waterfront homes. The treatment has to clear the handle, stack on the fixed side and cover a span that is one measurement, not two windows: motorized rollers coupled over 144 in, sheers on a track wall to wall, Allusion sheer verticals or a panel track for the door you walk through all day, bypass shutters where the house is traditional.

Humidity and salt air

Composite shutters in baths, kitchens and oceanfront rooms, hardwood where the room is formal; woven woods in conditioned rooms and a fabric Roman in the bath; performance and EasyClean chenilles on the drapery; linen cut to the shortest measurement and steamed in place because it moves; coastal-rated hardware and Somfy exterior motors on the terrace screens.

Impact glass and concrete

Many South Florida frames are about 3 in deep and the slab above is concrete: a Somfy Sonesse 30 tube tucks inside a 3 in frame, a Lutron Roller 64 sits proud unless it is pocketed or outside-mounted, and brackets go into block with specialty fasteners. On a new build the pocket is framed before the drywall; on an existing ceiling a soffit or a valance does the job.

Condo rules

Battery motors mean no wiring, no opened walls and no construction approval in most buildings; a new condo comes with empty conduit and a pull line, which a wired job has to map before the first shade goes up; exterior screen colors are confirmed with the association first. Zigbee and RTS are radio protocols, not a power source: a WireFree RTS battery motor on a TaHoma gives app and voice control without touching the building's wiring, while the Sonesse 30 Zigbee we install runs on wired 24 V DC, as at Bay Drive and The Hemispheres.

Ceilings at 10 to 12 ft

Ready-made lengths stop at 120 in. Custom sheers are cut to the room, at 120% fullness on oceanfront glass, and a 16 ft panel is dressed and hung differently from an 8 ft one. Measure from the track to the floor at both ends and the middle; floors are rarely level over 20 ft of glass.

What Is Out

Eight things we would skip in 2026

Not because they are ugly, but because each one is a compromise we end up replacing. The installer's list, not the showroom's.

Grey on grey

Cool grey draperies and grey light-filtering fabrics read cold against South Florida light and the wood, stone and linen now in the rooms. Warm off-whites and sand tones have replaced them on our fabric schedules; grey survives as charcoal on the screen layer, where it disappears in front of the view.

One fabric on every exposure

A 5% screen on the side of the building that takes the sun straight on is a compromise; a 3% on the shaded ocean side is a darker room than it needs to be. Salato ran 3% and 5% in the same unit for that reason.

A blackout fabric without the system

An opaque roller inside the frame leaves a halo of light at every edge. If the room has to sleep dark it gets channels, a sealed top, a hembar and caulking, or blackout drapery with returns, or it does not get called blackout.

A drawer full of remotes

One remote per room was the 2015 answer. In 2026 the shades join the scenes: a keypad, an app, a voice assistant, and the terrace screens on the same press as the living room.

Ready-made lengths on a 10 ft ceiling

A packet length stops short and the rod sits on the frame. Custom panels are measured from the track to the floor and cut to the room; on a wall of glass the track goes at the ceiling.

Dated PVC verticals on the slider

Old PVC verticals read as dated the moment the rest of the room is done. Allusion sheer verticals, a panel track, motorized rollers or sheers on a track cover the same door without the clatter.

Surface hardware in a new build

If the drywall is still open, the pocket is a framing detail and the wiring is a cable pull, and both are cheapest before the ceiling closes. Cassettes on the ceiling of a house that is still being built are a missed opportunity, not a style.

Fabric on the floor where people walk

A 3 to 6 in puddle belongs to a stationary silk or velvet panel where nobody walks. Panels that move every day float 1/2 in off the floor; stationary ones break 1 to 2 in. Linen that touches the floor breaks and goes back to the workroom.

What It Costs

The published figures behind the trends

Trend pages usually say "affordable" and stop. These are our own quote-engine figures, September 2026, budgetary and before tax; the instant price tool and the track calculator turn your sizes into a range without an email.

One motorized roller shade, 72 x 84 in

about $733 on our Essential tier, $793 on Somfy WireFree, $1,910 on wired Somfy and $3,141 on Lutron, fabric and motor included, budgetary and before tax. A layered window is one of these per layer; a dual roller is roughly two sharing one fascia.

Custom sheers

$85 per linear foot of track width on a manual track in a house, $95 in a condo unit: a 20 ft glass wall is about $1,700 or $1,900. The track width is the number that sets the price; the fabric house sets the rest of the quote.

A motorized drapery track

a 12 ft track with a rechargeable motor, remote and installation is about $1,452 track only and about $2,833 with a smart-hub motor, ceiling mount and lined drapery, from the track calculator.

Plantation shutters

typically $25 to $45 per square foot installed, by material, louver size and shape; a blackout honeycomb behind the panels is priced as a shade.

Instant Price Track Calculator Published Pricing Cost by System

Good to Know

Frequently asked

What are the window treatment trends for 2026?

Layered windows with a sheer, a solar screen and a blackout in one opening; motorization run from the house system, the phone and voice rather than a remote; hardware that either disappears into a ceiling pocket or a wood valance or is chosen as a finish; warm neutrals replacing cool grey; real linen and cotton-linen sheers; texture over pattern in chenille, wool blends and velvet; solar screens tuned to each exposure; blackout treated as a system with side channels and caulking; the return of Romans and shutters for secondary windows; and walls of glass handled as one coupled, synchronized line. Every one of these is on a page of this site as a real install, with the fabric and the motor named.

Are grey window treatments out of style?

On the drapery and light-filtering layers, largely yes: our recent fabric schedules run to Alabaster, Parchment, Limestone, Chalk and White/Linen, warm off-whites that sit with wood, stone and linen. Grey survives as charcoal on the solar-screen layer, because a dark weave gives the sharpest view through the fabric, and white stays on ocean-facing screens where the room should be bright.

Are curtains out of style in 2026?

No. Sheers are our most requested drapery, and floor-to-ceiling linen or cotton-linen sheers on a motorized track are the most common thing we install on a wall of glass. What is out is the short ready-made panel on a rod at the frame: custom panels are measured from the track to the floor, hung at the ceiling, at 100% or 120% fullness, and cut to the room.

What is the most popular window treatment for sliding glass doors in South Florida?

Motorized roller or solar shades, normally coupled on one motor once the span passes 144 in, with sheers on a track wall to wall where the room wants softness; Allusion sheer verticals or a panel track for a door that is walked through all day; bypass shutters in a traditional house. Sliding doors are most of what we cover in condos and waterfront homes, and the treatment is sized to clear the handle and stack on the fixed side.

Are motorized shades worth it?

On big South Florida glass we motorize by default, because a 12 ft slider or a 10 ft sheer is not something to pull by hand twice a day and because the layers only work as scenes when each has its own motor. Published, one 72 x 84 in motorized roller runs about $733 on our Essential tier, $793 on Somfy WireFree, $1,910 on wired Somfy and $3,141 on Lutron, before tax. Battery motors suit condos and finished homes; wired motors suit new construction, where the cable is pulled at framing.

What color window treatments are trending in 2026?

Warm neutrals on the drapery and light-filtering layers: alabaster, parchment, limestone, chalk, gardenia, shell, white/linen and porcelain are the names on our recent schedules. On the screen layer, White/White for a bright ocean-facing room and charcoal for the sharpest view. Blackouts are usually white so they read as ceiling when they are up.

Are Roman shades still in style?

Yes, as the tailored soft layer on the secondary windows: baths, closets, kitchens, studies and children's rooms, in linen, wool blends and textured plains, flat-folded, lined in black where one has to black out and motorized where one covers a bedroom window. Landmark Ranch Estates has flat Romans through most of its baths and closets; six Turks and Caicos villas run custom Romans on Lutron's roman-shade kit from the keypads.

Are valances outdated?

The gathered fabric valance of the 1990s, yes. A custom wood valance made to the opening is back, in lacquered or painted basswood, because it hides the roller or the track, turns the hardware into millwork and solves the condo where there is no depth above the glass: at The Hemispheres a lacquered basswood valance made to each opening covers a roller that had about two and a half inches to live in, turning a 60-degree corner.

What window treatments work with floor-to-ceiling glass in a condo?

Motorized rollers in a solar screen, recessed into the ceiling where the building allows and behind a slim fascia or a wood valance where it does not; sheers on a motorized track wall to wall; a dual roller with a screen and a blackout on two tubes where the bedroom has no wall for a track; blackout in side channels where the room has to sleep dark. Battery motors on a hub give app and voice control without touching the building's wiring; a Zigbee motor still needs power, and the Sonesse 30 Zigbee runs on wired 24 V DC.

What is trending for bedrooms?

A sheer for the day and a blackout for the night in the same opening, and blackout treated as a system: side channels, a sealed top, a hembar and caulking at the edges, or blackout drapery with returns on a track. On angled or wraparound glass the answer is drapery on a bent motorized track that closes as one line around the corners and stacks clear of the glass by day, as in the Boca Raton home whose owners needed a completely dark room.

Are plantation shutters still in style in Florida?

Yes, and they are being specified more carefully: composite for baths, kitchens and oceanfront rooms, hardwood or lacquered basswood for formal rooms, wide louvers with a hidden tilt, and a blackout honeycomb behind the panels where a bedroom needs a dark morning, because louvers always let a little daylight find the edges. Typically $25 to $45 per square foot installed.

Do the trends change the price?

Some do not: a warm neutral costs what a grey costs, a 3% screen what a 5% costs, and a pocket in a house under construction is a framing detail. The trends that add cost add it per layer or per window: a second or third motorized layer, side channels and caulking for true blackout, a decorative rod or Palladiom bracket over standard hardware, a custom valance, a bent track. Our published pricing page and the instant price tool give the figures before we visit, and the quote you sign is the number you pay.

Every install named on this page has its own case-study page on this site with the full fabric schedule, the motors and the control system; the trends are drawn from those schedules and from our daily work in Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Boca Raton and Palm Beach. Fabric figures are the suppliers' published data (Mermet E Screen transmittance, Lutron honeycomb R-values); prices are our published quote-engine figures, budgetary and before tax, September 2026. Written by David Martineau, owner of Exotic Shades & Draperies, Lutron certified dealer, Somfy Expert, Crestron and SDN certified. Updated September 13, 2026; this page keeps its address and is revised as the schedules change.

David MartineauOwner, Exotic Shades & Draperies · Lutron · Crestron · Somfy Expert · SDN Specialist Certified · About the workroom

See the trends in fabric, not on a screen

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