Your Free Home Visit for Window Treatments in Rochester MN

Fabric you liked in a showroom can look gray and flat at your own window in November. That's the main reason to shop for window treatments in Rochester at home. A free in-home consultation brings samples to your rooms. Someone asks how each room gets used, measures every window and gives you a clear quote before leaving. Winter is a good time for it, because you see your rooms at their darkest and coldest.

Who offers free in-home consultations in Rochester?

Several companies here will come to your house, and we're one of them. What matters more is what happens once someone is inside.

A good visitor looks at every window you want covered, including the small ones by the door. They ask how you use each room before they show you a single fabric. Then they hold samples up at your own glass. You should leave with a clear quote and no pressure to decide on the spot.

Before we come: a look at your rooms after dark

There's one bit of homework I'd ask for. In mid-November the sun sets in Rochester around a quarter to five. If you work a normal day, you get home after dark. So the windows that bother you in winter may not be the ones you noticed in summer.

Walk around one evening with the lamps on and note which rooms feel like they're on display from outside. Note which windows you avoid sitting near because they feel cold.

Where you live changes that list. Say your front windows look out on Kutzky Park. There's no house across the street, just an open play field and a paved trail through the park. It's a nice view by day, but after dark the people walking that trail can see straight into a lit room. A house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Byron may end up with a very different list.

Bring that list to the visit, since it tells us more about your house than a saved photo ever would.

Samples at your window, in winter light

Fabric looks different in every house. A store shows it under bright and even lights. At home it sits in gray November daylight or next to a lamp at night. White can look cold. Beige can turn pink. We bring samples to your rooms so you see them in your own light, next to your own walls.

If you can, look at each sample twice: once in daylight and again in the evening with the lamps you actually use.

The visit is also when we talk about cold glass. If a window feels cold, we'll go over cellular shades and what they can do there. Another post compares single, double and blackout cellular shades room by room. If you've had frost on the inside of the glass, mention it. Our post on frost inside Rochester windows explains what a covering can and can't do about it.

For the windows on your evening list, we'll show you room-darkening fabric or a second layer that closes at night.

Every window measured, and a clear quote

Along the way, we ask about each room. Who uses it, and at what time of day? Does anyone sleep in or work nights? If kids or pets play near the windows, that decides whether you go cordless or motorized.

Before we leave, we measure every window we've talked about. That includes the odd ones, like a narrow window by the door or a basement window in a well. Custom blinds and shades are made to those numbers, so the odd windows matter as much as the big ones. In Minnesota every bedroom needs an escape window that opens without special effort, and that includes basement bedrooms (Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry). On that window the shade has to raise all the way and stay clear of the crank. Measuring is our job, so you don't need a ladder or a tape.

Then you get a clear quote during the visit. Take your time with it. You can also start with two rooms and do the rest later. If you go ahead, our own team installs every order.

Which rooms should come first?

Start with the windows on your evening list, since those are the ones you live with every night until spring. A cold window by your reading chair matters more in January than a pretty one in a room you rarely use.

I wouldn't pick anything just because it's popular. A look that ignores how your room gets used will bug you within a month. Choose for light, privacy and cold glass first. Style can come after that.

Keep the evening list short and honest, and do those rooms well before you touch the rest. When you have it, ask us over to talk through window treatments in Rochester in the rooms themselves.

Kevin Sill is CFO and co-owner of the family-owned Budget Blinds franchises serving Rochester and southeast Minnesota.