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Taste and personal style come through in the beginning of the conversation — simplicity, as an element in the overall design, etc. But note the words chosen regarding the blinds.  They’re there to offer protection from the roving eyes of neighbors. Americans aren’t alone in this, of course.  Look at the compound layout of many Argentinean homes, the uchi/soto concept in Japan.  But it has implications if your coming up with new designs for windows or the things we use to cover them.

Living Room Windows

• Have blinds but I don’t use them. I like the natural light to come in. Just close the curtains when I don’t want light or people to see in. Mostly only at night.
• Curtains are just strips of fabric hung on a bar with metal clips that are connected to rings. Not typical curtains you would find in a store.
  

Front Door

• No shade/curtain. Too high to worry about someone looking in. It’s very high up on the door and way above eye level.
  

Kitchen Window

• Short curtain that is on this window was left from the previous homeowners. I don’t particularly care for the style or color but haven’t made the time to look for something else.
• I like that there aren’t blinds on this window because when I’m standing at the sink I like to look out. This window sits high off the ground (second level) so I don’t worry about someone breaking in or looking in through this window.
  

Kitchen Sliding Doors

• Curtains are pretty much always open. I think I’ve closed them a handful of times since I’ve lived in the house (3 years). I only closed them when I felt it was letting in too much heat (mid-summer) and when I was scared one night because I thought I heard a noise outside.
• I don’t care for the style or color of these curtains either but they were left by the previous homeowners as well. I haven’t shopped for new ones simply because I haven’t made the time nor do I really know what I want. There’s always the cost factor too.
• I definitely would not put vertical blinds on these doors. I like the natural light too much and don’t care for the look of vertical blinds. I think they can look cheap, even if they’re not.
  

Bedroom Windows

• I didn’t include pictures of these, but each bedroom window treatment is different throughout the house. It’s a work in progress – replacing one at a time as I paint the rooms. I don’t want to spend the money on blinds/curtains until I know what the new paint color will be.

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Images from Hamburg, Germany and KC, Missouri

"The Gothic age produced the great cathedrals of Europe and brought a full 

flowering of stained glass windows. Churches became taller and lighter,
walls thinned and stained glass was used to fill the increasingly larger
openings in them. Stained glass became the sun filled world outside. Abbot
Suger of the Abbey of St. Denis rebuilt his church in what is one of the
first examples of the Gothic style. He brought in craftsmen to make the
glass and kept a journal of what was done. He truly believed that the
presence of beautiful objects would lift men's¹ souls closer to God."

With the advent of the cathedral as a regional seat of power in the early
Middle Ages, the art of forming mosaics of stained glass in windows
flourished. Though the art had been in use elsewhere, the extravagant and
symbolic use of the windows would see their peak with The Church.

The works served several purposes aside from the architectural:

First, for a population that was almost wholly illiterate, the depictions of
bible stories would serve as illustrations and lessons for the priests and
bishops to point to during mass.

Second, they created a holy ambience that would focus the congregation. The
stained glass would change the color and quality of the light in the knave,
giving what to the peasant would seem an ethereal glow. This created an
atmosphere "primed" for worship, convenient since most of those present
wouldn't understand the latin lessons anyway.

Third, symbolically they represented a membrane between the sacred and the
profane. Through the window was the real world. Sin, hate, pain, suffering.
The stained glass was a shield from that into the sanctuary of the church
and instead made the window a symbolic looking glass into the Heavens.

Quite a lot of structural and functional utility in such a simple concept.

There is one window in our house that defines our morning, inspires our afternoon and summarizes our day. It is where we meet for breakfast and look west to see what weather is on the horizon. It is through this window that we can see the city wake up and go to sleep. It is through this window that we sit and enjoy the passing of the seasons from spring blossoms to long summer days to autumn leaves to winter ice on the river. It is at this window we sit down and enjoy our dinner while discussing the day’s happenings.

  It is through this window that we allow the outside world into our home.

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I prefer to live life with the blinds closed, but its more a function of proximity to other buildings/windows than a hatred of natural light.

Windows aren’t just a way of letting in light or viewing the outside world.  Windows speak volumes about the way cultures articulate space.  At the café, expressly meant for English tourists in Paris, the pattern on the drapes speaks to an idealized sense of the English countryside.  When the native Parisian was asked about them, he couldn’t identify why, but he knew they would not work for a French café. “Too many pastels,” was the best he could do.

The nature of windows in Paris and they treatments people apply to them are a constant reminder that even in a city packed with several million lives, you are part of the French social reality.  Small communities stacked on eon top of the other — 6 stories up, but you can see and wave to the neighbor on the 3rd story across the street.  They invite you onto the balcony, they invite communication.  

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Windows_to_a_nations_soul.zip (1.08 MB)

This window faces a commercial parking lot in west Los Angeles. It's in my
office, and although we've discussed getting some sort of window treatment,
I've never actually gone out and purchased any. It's not that I have
purchased some and didn't like them, but every day when I consider buying a
blind or curtain, the light seems to spill in exceptionally well, and I just
can't bring myself to cover up the window. It remains unadorned and
generally unloved, with a sizeable crack in the upper corner, and yet it's
still one of my favorite windows.