A dark backyard was given a new life with dramatic additions of built in planting beds, custom cut salvaged pavers, green screen trellis and a ton of charm. The reclaimed barn doors add a focal point to the east wall while the custom built two-tier planting system allows vines to fill this garden which spans two floors of the client's home.

What began as a renovation project morphed into a new house, driven by the natural beauty of the site. The new structures are perfectly aligned with the coastline, and take full advantage of the views of ocean, islands, and shoals. The location is within walking distance of town and its amenities, yet miles away in the privacy it affords. The house is nestled on a nicely wooded lot, giving the residence screening from the street, with an open meadow leading to the ocean on the rear of the lot. The design concept was driven by the serenity of the site, enhanced by textures of trees, plantings, sand and shoreline. The newly constructed house sits quietly in a location advantageously positioned to take full advantage of natural light and solar orientations. The visual calm is enhanced by the natural material: stone, wood, and metal throughout the home. The main structures are comprised of traditional New England forms, with modern connectors serving to unify the structures. Each building is equally suited for single floor living, if that future needs is ever necessary. Unique too is an underground connection between main house and an outbuilding. With their flowing connections, no room is isolated or ignored; instead each reflects a different level of privacy and social interaction. Just as there are layers to the exterior in beach, field, forest and oceans, the inside has a layered approach. Textures in wood, stone, and neutral colors combine with the warmth of linens, wools, and metals. Personality and character of the interiors and its furnishings are tailored to the client’s lifestyle. Rooms are arranged and organized in an intersection of public and private spaces. The quiet palette within reflects the nature outside, enhanced with artwork and accessories.

Striking bathroom brings the outdoors in with floor to ceiling window and an organic tile wall and features smart home automation to enhance the ambiance. In-ceiling speakers broadcast the music of your choice using a whole-home audio solution, powered by Control4. The recessed smart lighting lighting and accent lights are designed to create the perfect personalized ambiance, whether relaxing after a hard day or getting energized for a night out. Other automation options may include triggering tinted windows for privacy, ambient heating in the floor and placing a TV behind the mirror. Everything can be controlled from virtually anywhere using your Control4 app with a smart phone or tablet device.

Our Privacy Screens are 100% Custom Made in the USA. We are located in Colorado but we can ship for all of the 50 states. We only use high quality American Made steel. All of our Products are custom made. We can add frames, posts, brackets. There are also several designs available through our Etsy listings. Or visit our website to see more options: www.hnpbuilding.com Benefits of our privacy screens: 1- Increased privacy – The nosy neighbors and odd passersby will have a much harder time seeing your own personal goings-on. 2- Shade – On a hot summer’s day, it is always nice to find a bit of shade, and when the sun is beating down on your patio, sometimes you have to bring the shade to you. A privacy screen can offer this much-needed respite from the heat of direct sunlight. 3- Hiding eyesores – Sometimes there are things we need to keep outside and they are not always aesthetically pleasing. Things like air conditioning units and water pumps can really distract from your yard’s scenery. Privacy screens are a good way of dividing and keeping things like this out of sight. 4- Attractive – The right screen can really accentuate your yard, making it a true sight to be seen. What exactly do you do? Driven by curiosity, we thrive on challenging creativity and what is expected when designing for a space. We enhance experience through the creation and design of decorative screens. Ultimately, elevating spaces to bring people together.

This newly constructed home was in need of an outdoor living space and streetscape in a matching contemporary Northwest style. Our studio composed a landscape with an improved entry sequence, balancing the need for personal privacy alongside a distinctive public face. A courtyard oasis with a new deck is enclosed by warm wooden fencing set on top of the contrasting raw texture of a gabion retaining wall that acts as a backdrop to bold streetscape plantings.

Our Privacy Screens are 100% Custom Made in the USA. We are located in Colorado but we can ship for all of the 50 states. We only use high quality American Made steel. All of our Products are custom made. We can add frames, posts, brackets. There are also several designs available through our Etsy listings. Or visit our website to see more options: www.hnpbuilding.com Benefits of our privacy screens: 1- Increased privacy – The nosy neighbors and odd passersby will have a much harder time seeing your own personal goings-on. 2- Shade – On a hot summer’s day, it is always nice to find a bit of shade, and when the sun is beating down on your patio, sometimes you have to bring the shade to you. A privacy screen can offer this much-needed respite from the heat of direct sunlight. 3- Hiding eyesores – Sometimes there are things we need to keep outside and they are not always aesthetically pleasing. Things like air conditioning units and water pumps can really distract from your yard’s scenery. Privacy screens are a good way of dividing and keeping things like this out of sight. 4- Attractive – The right screen can really accentuate your yard, making it a true sight to be seen. What exactly do you do? Driven by curiosity, we thrive on challenging creativity and what is expected when designing for a space. We enhance experience through the creation and design of decorative screens. Ultimately, elevating spaces to bring people together.

Our Privacy Screens are 100% Custom Made in the USA. We are located in Colorado but we can ship for all of the 50 states. We only use high quality American Made steel. All of our Products are custom made. We can add frames, posts, brackets. There are also several designs available through our Etsy listings. Or visit our website to see more options: www.hnpbuilding.com Benefits of our privacy screens: 1- Increased privacy – The nosy neighbors and odd passersby will have a much harder time seeing your own personal goings-on. 2- Shade – On a hot summer’s day, it is always nice to find a bit of shade, and when the sun is beating down on your patio, sometimes you have to bring the shade to you. A privacy screen can offer this much-needed respite from the heat of direct sunlight. 3- Hiding eyesores – Sometimes there are things we need to keep outside and they are not always aesthetically pleasing. Things like air conditioning units and water pumps can really distract from your yard’s scenery. Privacy screens are a good way of dividing and keeping things like this out of sight. 4- Attractive – The right screen can really accentuate your yard, making it a true sight to be seen. What exactly do you do? Driven by curiosity, we thrive on challenging creativity and what is expected when designing for a space. We enhance experience through the creation and design of decorative screens. Ultimately, elevating spaces to bring people together.

Our Privacy Screens are 100% Custom Made in the USA. We are located in Colorado but we can ship for all of the 50 states. We only use high quality American Made steel. All of our Products are custom made. We can add frames, posts, brackets. There are also several designs available through our Etsy listings. Or visit our website to see more options: www.hnpbuilding.com Benefits of our privacy screens: 1- Increased privacy – The nosy neighbors and odd passersby will have a much harder time seeing your own personal goings-on. 2- Shade – On a hot summer’s day, it is always nice to find a bit of shade, and when the sun is beating down on your patio, sometimes you have to bring the shade to you. A privacy screen can offer this much-needed respite from the heat of direct sunlight. 3- Hiding eyesores – Sometimes there are things we need to keep outside and they are not always aesthetically pleasing. Things like air conditioning units and water pumps can really distract from your yard’s scenery. Privacy screens are a good way of dividing and keeping things like this out of sight. 4- Attractive – The right screen can really accentuate your yard, making it a true sight to be seen. What exactly do you do? Driven by curiosity, we thrive on challenging creativity and what is expected when designing for a space. We enhance experience through the creation and design of decorative screens. Ultimately, elevating spaces to bring people together.

A minimal insertion into a densely wooded landscape, the Collector’s Pavilion provides the owners with an 8,000 sf private fitness space and vintage automobile gallery. On a gently sloping site in amongst a grove of trees, the pavilion slides into the topography - mimicking and contrasting the surrounding landscape with a folded roof plane that hovers over a board formed concrete base. The clients’ requirement for a nearby room to display a growing car collection as well as provide a remote area for personal fitness carries with it a series of challenges related to privacy and security. The pavilion nestles into the wooded site - finding a home in a small clearing - and merges with the sloping landscape. The building has dual personalities, serving as a private and secure bunker from the exterior, while transforming into a warm and inviting space on the interior. The use of indirect light and the need to obscure direct views from the public right away provides the client with adequate day light for day-to-day use while ensuring that strict privacy is maintained. This shifting personality is also dramatically affected by the seasons - contrasting and merging with the surrounding environment depending on the time of year. The Collector’s Pavilion employs meticulous detailing of its concrete to steel to wood connections, exploring the grounded nature of poured concrete in conjunction with a delicate wood roof system that floats above a grid of steel. Above all, the Pavilion harmonizes with it’s natural surroundings through it’s materiality, formal language, and siting. Overview Chenequa, WI Size 8,000 sf Completion Date May 2013 Services Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design

Discover how premium light-filtering materials and smart-home automation can secure street-level entryway glass without losing natural daylight. Choosing the right window treatments for a home's front entrance is one of the most challenging design decisions a homeowner can face. The front door is the focal point of a home's curb appeal, often featuring expansive glass panels or side-by-side double doors designed to make a grand architectural statement. During the day, these large glass features are an asset, flooding entryways and foyers with beautiful natural daylight. However, for homes situated on busy local roads or highly trafficked street-level lots, the dynamic completely changes once the sun goes down. The moment interior lights are switched on in the evening, a stark contrast is created with the dark outdoors. This creates a severe privacy issue, leaving the entire foyer completely exposed to passing traffic and pedestrians. Finding a solution that delivers absolute evening privacy without permanently plunging the front entrance into darkness during the day requires understanding how modern window treatment materials and operating systems interact. Light-Filtering vs. Blackout Fabrics The first step in solving street-level privacy is selecting the correct fabric type. Many homeowners mistakenly assume they need heavy, opaque blackout shades to secure their home from outside eyes at night. While blackout fabrics certainly block 100% of the view, they also block 100% of the natural daylight during the day, forcing you to constantly raise and lower the shades just to see inside your own foyer. A more effective approach for entryways utilizes premium light-filtering materials. These specialized fabrics are engineered with a precise, tight weave that operates on the principles of directional light and optical density. Daytime Functionality: When the sun is shining outside, the exterior light levels are significantly higher than the interior light levels. The light-filtering fabric diffuses the intense, direct sunlight into a soft, ambient glow throughout the entryway. This keeps the home bright, eliminates harsh glares, and protects interior hardwood flooring, paint, and trim from damaging UV rays. Night-Time Functionality: At night, the lighting dynamic reverses. The interior foyer lights make the inside bright, while the outside is dark. Because of the specialized tight weave, the fabric blocks the transmission of clear shapes and details. To a person standing out on the street or driving by on a busy road, the view inside is completely obstructed, delivering total privacy when the family is home for the evening. Challenges of Front Door Installations Securing privacy for a double wide front entrance introduces unique structural hurdles that standard windows do not face. Traditional blinds with hanging cords or manual pull chains are poorly suited for front doors. They disrupt the clean architectural lines of a grand foyer, create a safety hazard, and can easily get tangled or damaged when the doors are opened and closed. The window treatments must be mounted high and wide enough above the door trim to ensure that the front doors can swing open and close freely without ever catching on the fabric or the lower hem bar. How We Applied These Principles in Sherrills Ford, NC Applying these exact educational principles to real-world homes is what Cole and I do every day at Bloomin' Blinds of North Charlotte. We recently worked with a homeowner in Sherrills Ford whose beautiful new construction property sat on a highly trafficked road. They loved their double wide front door entrance but felt entirely too exposed to the street at night. We brought our mobile showroom directly to their driveway. This allowed us to hold up premium light-filtering fabric samples directly against their entryway glass, matching the materials perfectly to their home's natural lighting, interior paint, and trim before making a single cut. To solve their street-level privacy issue, we custom-built and installed two matching light-filtering roller shades, mounting them flawlessly side-by-side above the front door frame. To keep the home’s interior design completely cohesive, we carried the exact same style to the back of the house, installing a matching single roller shade on the rear door. Smart Home Window Automation at Your Fingertips Because entryway windows can be tall and awkward to reach manually, our family team integrated advanced smart-home motorization into this Sherrills Ford project. Beyond the convenience of a handheld remote control, these automated roller shades feature seamless Wi-Fi integration. The homeowners can control their privacy through a dedicated smartphone app or link the system directly to their existing voice-activated smart home networks, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit. This allows for complete hands-free window automation. The clients can program custom daily routines—such as setting the front entry shades to automatically lower exactly at sunset—or simply use a voice command to secure the foyer instantly from the comfort of the couch.

Discover how premium light-filtering materials and smart-home automation can secure street-level entryway glass without losing natural daylight. Choosing the right window treatments for a home's front entrance is one of the most challenging design decisions a homeowner can face. The front door is the focal point of a home's curb appeal, often featuring expansive glass panels or side-by-side double doors designed to make a grand architectural statement. During the day, these large glass features are an asset, flooding entryways and foyers with beautiful natural daylight. However, for homes situated on busy local roads or highly trafficked street-level lots, the dynamic completely changes once the sun goes down. The moment interior lights are switched on in the evening, a stark contrast is created with the dark outdoors. This creates a severe privacy issue, leaving the entire foyer completely exposed to passing traffic and pedestrians. Finding a solution that delivers absolute evening privacy without permanently plunging the front entrance into darkness during the day requires understanding how modern window treatment materials and operating systems interact. Light-Filtering vs. Blackout Fabrics The first step in solving street-level privacy is selecting the correct fabric type. Many homeowners mistakenly assume they need heavy, opaque blackout shades to secure their home from outside eyes at night. While blackout fabrics certainly block 100% of the view, they also block 100% of the natural daylight during the day, forcing you to constantly raise and lower the shades just to see inside your own foyer. A more effective approach for entryways utilizes premium light-filtering materials. These specialized fabrics are engineered with a precise, tight weave that operates on the principles of directional light and optical density. Daytime Functionality: When the sun is shining outside, the exterior light levels are significantly higher than the interior light levels. The light-filtering fabric diffuses the intense, direct sunlight into a soft, ambient glow throughout the entryway. This keeps the home bright, eliminates harsh glares, and protects interior hardwood flooring, paint, and trim from damaging UV rays. Night-Time Functionality: At night, the lighting dynamic reverses. The interior foyer lights make the inside bright, while the outside is dark. Because of the specialized tight weave, the fabric blocks the transmission of clear shapes and details. To a person standing out on the street or driving by on a busy road, the view inside is completely obstructed, delivering total privacy when the family is home for the evening. Challenges of Front Door Installations Securing privacy for a double wide front entrance introduces unique structural hurdles that standard windows do not face. Traditional blinds with hanging cords or manual pull chains are poorly suited for front doors. They disrupt the clean architectural lines of a grand foyer, create a safety hazard, and can easily get tangled or damaged when the doors are opened and closed. The window treatments must be mounted high and wide enough above the door trim to ensure that the front doors can swing open and close freely without ever catching on the fabric or the lower hem bar. How We Applied These Principles in Sherrills Ford, NC Applying these exact educational principles to real-world homes is what Cole and I do every day at Bloomin' Blinds of North Charlotte. We recently worked with a homeowner in Sherrills Ford whose beautiful new construction property sat on a highly trafficked road. They loved their double wide front door entrance but felt entirely too exposed to the street at night. We brought our mobile showroom directly to their driveway. This allowed us to hold up premium light-filtering fabric samples directly against their entryway glass, matching the materials perfectly to their home's natural lighting, interior paint, and trim before making a single cut. To solve their street-level privacy issue, we custom-built and installed two matching light-filtering roller shades, mounting them flawlessly side-by-side above the front door frame. To keep the home’s interior design completely cohesive, we carried the exact same style to the back of the house, installing a matching single roller shade on the rear door. Smart Home Window Automation at Your Fingertips Because entryway windows can be tall and awkward to reach manually, our family team integrated advanced smart-home motorization into this Sherrills Ford project. Beyond the convenience of a handheld remote control, these automated roller shades feature seamless Wi-Fi integration. The homeowners can control their privacy through a dedicated smartphone app or link the system directly to their existing voice-activated smart home networks, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit. This allows for complete hands-free window automation. The clients can program custom daily routines—such as setting the front entry shades to automatically lower exactly at sunset—or simply use a voice command to secure the foyer instantly from the comfort of the couch.

Stepping stones in a minimal gravel paved area lead past two lounge chairs to the intimate dining area. The herringbone-patterned limestone patio dissipates into a lush planting bed filled with loose swaths of shade-loving perennials and seasonal bulbs. Beech hedging, and formal clipped evergreens, surround the space and provide privacy, structure and winter interest to the garden. On axis to the main interior living space of the home, the fountain, is the focal point of the garden. A limestone water wall featuring an engraved pattern of fallen Honey Locust leaves nods to the centrally located mature Honey Locust tree that anchors the garden. Water, flowing down the wall, falls a short distance into a pool with a submerged limestone panel. The light noise of the falling water helps soften the sounds of the bustling downtown neighbourhood, creating a tranquil back drop for living and entertaining.

Discover how premium light-filtering materials and smart-home automation can secure street-level entryway glass without losing natural daylight. Choosing the right window treatments for a home's front entrance is one of the most challenging design decisions a homeowner can face. The front door is the focal point of a home's curb appeal, often featuring expansive glass panels or side-by-side double doors designed to make a grand architectural statement. During the day, these large glass features are an asset, flooding entryways and foyers with beautiful natural daylight. However, for homes situated on busy local roads or highly trafficked street-level lots, the dynamic completely changes once the sun goes down. The moment interior lights are switched on in the evening, a stark contrast is created with the dark outdoors. This creates a severe privacy issue, leaving the entire foyer completely exposed to passing traffic and pedestrians. Finding a solution that delivers absolute evening privacy without permanently plunging the front entrance into darkness during the day requires understanding how modern window treatment materials and operating systems interact. Light-Filtering vs. Blackout Fabrics The first step in solving street-level privacy is selecting the correct fabric type. Many homeowners mistakenly assume they need heavy, opaque blackout shades to secure their home from outside eyes at night. While blackout fabrics certainly block 100% of the view, they also block 100% of the natural daylight during the day, forcing you to constantly raise and lower the shades just to see inside your own foyer. A more effective approach for entryways utilizes premium light-filtering materials. These specialized fabrics are engineered with a precise, tight weave that operates on the principles of directional light and optical density. Daytime Functionality: When the sun is shining outside, the exterior light levels are significantly higher than the interior light levels. The light-filtering fabric diffuses the intense, direct sunlight into a soft, ambient glow throughout the entryway. This keeps the home bright, eliminates harsh glares, and protects interior hardwood flooring, paint, and trim from damaging UV rays. Night-Time Functionality: At night, the lighting dynamic reverses. The interior foyer lights make the inside bright, while the outside is dark. Because of the specialized tight weave, the fabric blocks the transmission of clear shapes and details. To a person standing out on the street or driving by on a busy road, the view inside is completely obstructed, delivering total privacy when the family is home for the evening. Challenges of Front Door Installations Securing privacy for a double wide front entrance introduces unique structural hurdles that standard windows do not face. Traditional blinds with hanging cords or manual pull chains are poorly suited for front doors. They disrupt the clean architectural lines of a grand foyer, create a safety hazard, and can easily get tangled or damaged when the doors are opened and closed. The window treatments must be mounted high and wide enough above the door trim to ensure that the front doors can swing open and close freely without ever catching on the fabric or the lower hem bar. How We Applied These Principles in Sherrills Ford, NC Applying these exact educational principles to real-world homes is what Cole and I do every day at Bloomin' Blinds of North Charlotte. We recently worked with a homeowner in Sherrills Ford whose beautiful new construction property sat on a highly trafficked road. They loved their double wide front door entrance but felt entirely too exposed to the street at night. We brought our mobile showroom directly to their driveway. This allowed us to hold up premium light-filtering fabric samples directly against their entryway glass, matching the materials perfectly to their home's natural lighting, interior paint, and trim before making a single cut. To solve their street-level privacy issue, we custom-built and installed two matching light-filtering roller shades, mounting them flawlessly side-by-side above the front door frame. To keep the home’s interior design completely cohesive, we carried the exact same style to the back of the house, installing a matching single roller shade on the rear door. Smart Home Window Automation at Your Fingertips Because entryway windows can be tall and awkward to reach manually, our family team integrated advanced smart-home motorization into this Sherrills Ford project. Beyond the convenience of a handheld remote control, these automated roller shades feature seamless Wi-Fi integration. The homeowners can control their privacy through a dedicated smartphone app or link the system directly to their existing voice-activated smart home networks, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit. This allows for complete hands-free window automation. The clients can program custom daily routines—such as setting the front entry shades to automatically lower exactly at sunset—or simply use a voice command to secure the foyer instantly from the comfort of the couch.

Discover how premium light-filtering materials and smart-home automation can secure street-level entryway glass without losing natural daylight. Choosing the right window treatments for a home's front entrance is one of the most challenging design decisions a homeowner can face. The front door is the focal point of a home's curb appeal, often featuring expansive glass panels or side-by-side double doors designed to make a grand architectural statement. During the day, these large glass features are an asset, flooding entryways and foyers with beautiful natural daylight. However, for homes situated on busy local roads or highly trafficked street-level lots, the dynamic completely changes once the sun goes down. The moment interior lights are switched on in the evening, a stark contrast is created with the dark outdoors. This creates a severe privacy issue, leaving the entire foyer completely exposed to passing traffic and pedestrians. Finding a solution that delivers absolute evening privacy without permanently plunging the front entrance into darkness during the day requires understanding how modern window treatment materials and operating systems interact. Light-Filtering vs. Blackout Fabrics The first step in solving street-level privacy is selecting the correct fabric type. Many homeowners mistakenly assume they need heavy, opaque blackout shades to secure their home from outside eyes at night. While blackout fabrics certainly block 100% of the view, they also block 100% of the natural daylight during the day, forcing you to constantly raise and lower the shades just to see inside your own foyer. A more effective approach for entryways utilizes premium light-filtering materials. These specialized fabrics are engineered with a precise, tight weave that operates on the principles of directional light and optical density. Daytime Functionality: When the sun is shining outside, the exterior light levels are significantly higher than the interior light levels. The light-filtering fabric diffuses the intense, direct sunlight into a soft, ambient glow throughout the entryway. This keeps the home bright, eliminates harsh glares, and protects interior hardwood flooring, paint, and trim from damaging UV rays. Night-Time Functionality: At night, the lighting dynamic reverses. The interior foyer lights make the inside bright, while the outside is dark. Because of the specialized tight weave, the fabric blocks the transmission of clear shapes and details. To a person standing out on the street or driving by on a busy road, the view inside is completely obstructed, delivering total privacy when the family is home for the evening. Challenges of Front Door Installations Securing privacy for a double wide front entrance introduces unique structural hurdles that standard windows do not face. Traditional blinds with hanging cords or manual pull chains are poorly suited for front doors. They disrupt the clean architectural lines of a grand foyer, create a safety hazard, and can easily get tangled or damaged when the doors are opened and closed. The window treatments must be mounted high and wide enough above the door trim to ensure that the front doors can swing open and close freely without ever catching on the fabric or the lower hem bar. How We Applied These Principles in Sherrills Ford, NC Applying these exact educational principles to real-world homes is what Cole and I do every day at Bloomin' Blinds of North Charlotte. We recently worked with a homeowner in Sherrills Ford whose beautiful new construction property sat on a highly trafficked road. They loved their double wide front door entrance but felt entirely too exposed to the street at night. We brought our mobile showroom directly to their driveway. This allowed us to hold up premium light-filtering fabric samples directly against their entryway glass, matching the materials perfectly to their home's natural lighting, interior paint, and trim before making a single cut. To solve their street-level privacy issue, we custom-built and installed two matching light-filtering roller shades, mounting them flawlessly side-by-side above the front door frame. To keep the home’s interior design completely cohesive, we carried the exact same style to the back of the house, installing a matching single roller shade on the rear door. Smart Home Window Automation at Your Fingertips Because entryway windows can be tall and awkward to reach manually, our family team integrated advanced smart-home motorization into this Sherrills Ford project. Beyond the convenience of a handheld remote control, these automated roller shades feature seamless Wi-Fi integration. The homeowners can control their privacy through a dedicated smartphone app or link the system directly to their existing voice-activated smart home networks, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit. This allows for complete hands-free window automation. The clients can program custom daily routines—such as setting the front entry shades to automatically lower exactly at sunset—or simply use a voice command to secure the foyer instantly from the comfort of the couch.

Discover how premium light-filtering materials and smart-home automation can secure street-level entryway glass without losing natural daylight. Choosing the right window treatments for a home's front entrance is one of the most challenging design decisions a homeowner can face. The front door is the focal point of a home's curb appeal, often featuring expansive glass panels or side-by-side double doors designed to make a grand architectural statement. During the day, these large glass features are an asset, flooding entryways and foyers with beautiful natural daylight. However, for homes situated on busy local roads or highly trafficked street-level lots, the dynamic completely changes once the sun goes down. The moment interior lights are switched on in the evening, a stark contrast is created with the dark outdoors. This creates a severe privacy issue, leaving the entire foyer completely exposed to passing traffic and pedestrians. Finding a solution that delivers absolute evening privacy without permanently plunging the front entrance into darkness during the day requires understanding how modern window treatment materials and operating systems interact. Light-Filtering vs. Blackout Fabrics The first step in solving street-level privacy is selecting the correct fabric type. Many homeowners mistakenly assume they need heavy, opaque blackout shades to secure their home from outside eyes at night. While blackout fabrics certainly block 100% of the view, they also block 100% of the natural daylight during the day, forcing you to constantly raise and lower the shades just to see inside your own foyer. A more effective approach for entryways utilizes premium light-filtering materials. These specialized fabrics are engineered with a precise, tight weave that operates on the principles of directional light and optical density. Daytime Functionality: When the sun is shining outside, the exterior light levels are significantly higher than the interior light levels. The light-filtering fabric diffuses the intense, direct sunlight into a soft, ambient glow throughout the entryway. This keeps the home bright, eliminates harsh glares, and protects interior hardwood flooring, paint, and trim from damaging UV rays. Night-Time Functionality: At night, the lighting dynamic reverses. The interior foyer lights make the inside bright, while the outside is dark. Because of the specialized tight weave, the fabric blocks the transmission of clear shapes and details. To a person standing out on the street or driving by on a busy road, the view inside is completely obstructed, delivering total privacy when the family is home for the evening. Challenges of Front Door Installations Securing privacy for a double wide front entrance introduces unique structural hurdles that standard windows do not face. Traditional blinds with hanging cords or manual pull chains are poorly suited for front doors. They disrupt the clean architectural lines of a grand foyer, create a safety hazard, and can easily get tangled or damaged when the doors are opened and closed. The window treatments must be mounted high and wide enough above the door trim to ensure that the front doors can swing open and close freely without ever catching on the fabric or the lower hem bar. How We Applied These Principles in Sherrills Ford, NC Applying these exact educational principles to real-world homes is what Cole and I do every day at Bloomin' Blinds of North Charlotte. We recently worked with a homeowner in Sherrills Ford whose beautiful new construction property sat on a highly trafficked road. They loved their double wide front door entrance but felt entirely too exposed to the street at night. We brought our mobile showroom directly to their driveway. This allowed us to hold up premium light-filtering fabric samples directly against their entryway glass, matching the materials perfectly to their home's natural lighting, interior paint, and trim before making a single cut. To solve their street-level privacy issue, we custom-built and installed two matching light-filtering roller shades, mounting them flawlessly side-by-side above the front door frame. To keep the home’s interior design completely cohesive, we carried the exact same style to the back of the house, installing a matching single roller shade on the rear door. Smart Home Window Automation at Your Fingertips Because entryway windows can be tall and awkward to reach manually, our family team integrated advanced smart-home motorization into this Sherrills Ford project. Beyond the convenience of a handheld remote control, these automated roller shades feature seamless Wi-Fi integration. The homeowners can control their privacy through a dedicated smartphone app or link the system directly to their existing voice-activated smart home networks, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit. This allows for complete hands-free window automation. The clients can program custom daily routines—such as setting the front entry shades to automatically lower exactly at sunset—or simply use a voice command to secure the foyer instantly from the comfort of the couch.

Utilizing the right plants can really spruce up the look of your property. But before you go and buy the first plant you see, it’s important to think about how dedicated you are to maintaining them and how much time you are willing to invest in them. All plants are alive and need love and attention. The amount of love and attention can vary depending on the plant. If you are a busy person who doesn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to the care of your plants, this doesn’t mean you can’t have plants and have them thrive. There are many low-maintenance plants that you can choose from. These will allow you to add to the aesthetic of your property, without consuming your time to care for them. We here at Five Star Tree Services have come up with a list of the best low-maintenance shrubs for you to consider. Flowering Shrubs Looking to add colour and beauty to your landscape? You might be thinking regular flowers can do this, but have you considered flowering shrubs? These are something simple and beautiful that you can add to your yard. Hibiscus These plants come in many colours. It is also known as Chinese Hibiscus, China Rose, and Tropical Hibiscus. This evergreen perennial is native to warm temperature, subtropical and tropical places around the world. The flowers it produces can be 3-8 inches in diameter. Some resemble trumpets. Every flower has 5 or more petals and can range in colours from red, orange, yellow, purple, pink, and white. Flowers are constantly produced by this plant but each blossom only lasts a day. Its growth can be 24 inches a year and has the potential to reach 15 feet fully grown. Forsythia This shrub is part of the olive family. It is mostly native to eastern Asia but one is native to southeastern Europe. This plant is also known as golden bells. This is a deciduous shrub that can grow to 3-9 feet but ones with rough grey-brown bark have been known to grow to 20 feet. With opposite positioned leaves, that can grow between 2 and 10 cm in length. They produce bright yellow flowers and will bloom in early spring before the leaves come out. Evergreen Shrubs It is beneficial to have more green plants around you. There was a study done that showed women can have improved mental health and a longer life expectancy if you live in or near green areas. If you have a busy life and don’t have space in your home, you are able to still benefit from and experience evergreen shrubs. They are perfect for small yards and large ones alike. Euonymus This plant is native to places like East Asia, North America, Madagascar, the Himalayas, and Europe. Depending on what country you are in will determine the species you encounter. These have many names and you might have heard them referred to as a spindle tree, burning-bush, euonymus, strawberry-bush, spindle, or wintercreeper. There are 130 species of deciduous small trees, evergreen shrubs, and lianas. The wintercreeper is a herbaceous perennial vine and it can grow to 70 feet. But it usually is left at 2-4 feet as a mounded shrub. It has egg-shaped leaves that measure to 1-2.5 inches long and 1-1.75 inches wide. They can vary in colour, such as dark green, green-gold, or green-white. Blue Star Juniper This is a needled shrub and is a member of the cypress family. It is native to the Himalayas, Afghanistan, and western China. You might also know it as flaky juniper, Himalayan juniper, or singleseed juniper. This is a dwarf shrub and when it gets to a mature size, it is a compact mound measuring from 1-3 feet high and 1.5-3 feet wide. It grows slow and has a tendency to grow out and not up. It has silvery-blue foliage and is densely packed with needles that are awl-shaped. Privacy Shrubs Everyone wants privacy while you are in your home or yard. Some people decide to install a fence in order to give themselves privacy. But there is a more creative way to acquire your privacy; with privacy shrubs! If you are looking for something that is different from a fence and low-maintenance, privacy shrubs are exactly what you are looking for. Not only do these plants provide you with the much-needed privacy you desire, they also add beauty to your landscaping. Some suggestions are as follows: Thuja Green Giant This is a genus of coniferous trees that belong to the cypress or Cupressaceae family. 3 out of 5 of these plants are native to Eastern Asia and the other 2 are from North America. This evergreen can also be known as Thuja green rocket or green giant arborvitae. They are fast growing and can grow to 3-5 feet in one season. Growing in a uniform shape, when mature, they can be 50-60 feet tall and 12-20 feet wide. They have tiny, glossy leaves that resemble scales. These overlap tightly together and create a fan of foliage. Boxwood hedges These evergreen shrubs and small trees are slow growing. You might also have heard them called boxes. They are native to numerous places that include Mexico, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, and southern and western Europe. These plants have been specifically grown for their foliage but they also produce a flower. They can grow from 1-20 feet tall and spread 2-8 feet wide. They have leathery feeling leaves that are lace-shaped or almost round. The colours can range from pale green to dark blue-green. They produce small yellow-green flowers in the spring. WARNIIG: this plant produces a toxic alkaloid that can hurt humans and animals. If a person or animal were to eat the leaves, it can trigger convulsions, dizziness, intestinal distress, and respiratory failure. If you come in contact with the sap, it could cause skin irritation. It is best to avoid this plant if you have small children or pets. Wax Myrtle Tree This large shrub or small tree is native to the Caribbean and North and Central America. There are many names for this plant that include bayberry tree, southern wax myrtle, southern bayberry, tallow shrub, and candleberry. It is very adaptable to various habitats but it naturally will grow near rivers and streams, wetlands, dunes, fields, pine barrens, hillsides, and in mixed-broadleaf and coniferous forests. This shrub can grow 20-25 feet tall with light olive-green leaves that have serrated edges. It also has smooth thin gray-brown bark. It can also produce bluish-white fruit which grows on short stalks in clusters. How Five Star Tree Service Can Help When looking for privacy for your home, utilizing low-maintenance plants is a great way to do this. It is also a great way to add something unique to your yard. Some of these shrubs will require some maintenance, which is where our team at Five Star Tree Services can help! We offer shrub trimming services in Toronto and if you require our assistance, make sure to give us a call at (416) 990-3355.

Built on 1+ acres this 1,300 sq ft home is complete. A privacy fence was installed for fido and added security, protection from western Oklahoma winds and personal privacy. The client chose a privacy fence at the rear of the home and installed bermuda sod partially surrounding the house.

Discover how premium light-filtering materials and smart-home automation can secure street-level entryway glass without losing natural daylight. Choosing the right window treatments for a home's front entrance is one of the most challenging design decisions a homeowner can face. The front door is the focal point of a home's curb appeal, often featuring expansive glass panels or side-by-side double doors designed to make a grand architectural statement. During the day, these large glass features are an asset, flooding entryways and foyers with beautiful natural daylight. However, for homes situated on busy local roads or highly trafficked street-level lots, the dynamic completely changes once the sun goes down. The moment interior lights are switched on in the evening, a stark contrast is created with the dark outdoors. This creates a severe privacy issue, leaving the entire foyer completely exposed to passing traffic and pedestrians. Finding a solution that delivers absolute evening privacy without permanently plunging the front entrance into darkness during the day requires understanding how modern window treatment materials and operating systems interact. Light-Filtering vs. Blackout Fabrics The first step in solving street-level privacy is selecting the correct fabric type. Many homeowners mistakenly assume they need heavy, opaque blackout shades to secure their home from outside eyes at night. While blackout fabrics certainly block 100% of the view, they also block 100% of the natural daylight during the day, forcing you to constantly raise and lower the shades just to see inside your own foyer. A more effective approach for entryways utilizes premium light-filtering materials. These specialized fabrics are engineered with a precise, tight weave that operates on the principles of directional light and optical density. Daytime Functionality: When the sun is shining outside, the exterior light levels are significantly higher than the interior light levels. The light-filtering fabric diffuses the intense, direct sunlight into a soft, ambient glow throughout the entryway. This keeps the home bright, eliminates harsh glares, and protects interior hardwood flooring, paint, and trim from damaging UV rays. Night-Time Functionality: At night, the lighting dynamic reverses. The interior foyer lights make the inside bright, while the outside is dark. Because of the specialized tight weave, the fabric blocks the transmission of clear shapes and details. To a person standing out on the street or driving by on a busy road, the view inside is completely obstructed, delivering total privacy when the family is home for the evening. Challenges of Front Door Installations Securing privacy for a double wide front entrance introduces unique structural hurdles that standard windows do not face. Traditional blinds with hanging cords or manual pull chains are poorly suited for front doors. They disrupt the clean architectural lines of a grand foyer, create a safety hazard, and can easily get tangled or damaged when the doors are opened and closed. The window treatments must be mounted high and wide enough above the door trim to ensure that the front doors can swing open and close freely without ever catching on the fabric or the lower hem bar. How We Applied These Principles in Sherrills Ford, NC Applying these exact educational principles to real-world homes is what Cole and I do every day at Bloomin' Blinds of North Charlotte. We recently worked with a homeowner in Sherrills Ford whose beautiful new construction property sat on a highly trafficked road. They loved their double wide front door entrance but felt entirely too exposed to the street at night. We brought our mobile showroom directly to their driveway. This allowed us to hold up premium light-filtering fabric samples directly against their entryway glass, matching the materials perfectly to their home's natural lighting, interior paint, and trim before making a single cut. To solve their street-level privacy issue, we custom-built and installed two matching light-filtering roller shades, mounting them flawlessly side-by-side above the front door frame. To keep the home’s interior design completely cohesive, we carried the exact same style to the back of the house, installing a matching single roller shade on the rear door. Smart Home Window Automation at Your Fingertips Because entryway windows can be tall and awkward to reach manually, our family team integrated advanced smart-home motorization into this Sherrills Ford project. Beyond the convenience of a handheld remote control, these automated roller shades feature seamless Wi-Fi integration. The homeowners can control their privacy through a dedicated smartphone app or link the system directly to their existing voice-activated smart home networks, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit. This allows for complete hands-free window automation. The clients can program custom daily routines—such as setting the front entry shades to automatically lower exactly at sunset—or simply use a voice command to secure the foyer instantly from the comfort of the couch.

Girl and Boy Bedrooms: Personalization: Allow each teenager to express their individual style and interests in their bedroom decor. Incorporate their favorite colors, artwork, and decor elements that reflect their personalities. Ample Storage: Include sufficient storage options like closets, shelves, and drawers to accommodate their belongings and keep the rooms organized. Flexibility: Design the space in a way that allows for flexibility and future adaptations as their needs and preferences may change over time.