Since 2004, Budget Blinds co-owners Peter and Karen Glass have provided homeowners in Greater Portland with window coverings across a broad spectrum of styles and budgets. From traditional plantation shutters to sleek, modern roller shades, Budget Blinds offers custom solutions for every room in your home. At their showroom in Falmouth, Peter, Karen, and their team will take the time to design beautiful and practical window coverings to suit your lifestyle and your wallet.

What are some of the custom features and options people may not know about?
We have a plethora of options to make your window coverings totally unique. These include custom-printed roller and solar shades for your home or office, which can be personalized with your own design, a school mascot, or a corporate logo, to name just a few. Our shades can be made with just about any image and at a lower cost than you might think.We can also add remote control to existing roller shades, cellular blinds, and wood blinds by retrofitting them with motorized lift and tilt systems. We even have shades that use their own solar panels for power.

Isn’t customization expensive?
It’s true that motorization used to be quite pricey, but it’s now more accessible. For example, Lutron wired shades and systems that used to cost $15,000 to $25,000 can be purchased for around $5,000 or less. This is mostly due to the growth and reliability of wireless technology. We have entry-level systems like our power wand that replaces a continuous loop cord for about the same price.

Do you offer more than blinds and shades?
As a full-service window-covering shop, we also offer a wide range of drapery and roman shades. We worked hard to bridge the gap between low-budget, off-the-shelf products and premium-priced custom drapes and shades, giving our customers a high-end look and feel at a reasonable cost. In addition, our design-your-own fabric program, DesignINK, allows you to completely personalize your style.

What are the best places in your home to use motorized blinds and shades?
The short answer is: everywhere. It used to be that remote-control-operated shades were only used for hard-to-reach windows such as those behind a bathtub, or in a two-story foyer. But now, shades can be an integral part of a home’s energy system, so it makes sense to use them more widely. They provide insulation or shade at optimal times (automatically based on latitude, longitude, and time of year) and are used to control natural light, therefore saving money on electricity, too.

Having just returned from the annual Budget Blinds convention: what are some of the latest innovations you’re eager to share?
Smart home window coverings are dominating what’s new and we have sorted out the easiest, most reliable, and most affordable products that won’t be obsolete in a few years. We are excited to introduce a new automated wood blind from Lutron with best-in-class smart technology and intelligent tilt automation.

We have some beautiful new roller shade fabrics sourced from the largest window covering trade show in Stuttgart, Germany, that are elegant, sophisticated, and on trend. We also have new innovations in lift systems, like the twin pull roller lift that doesn’t use the ugly, unsafe hanging loop of chain.

We are especially excited to introduce our new Smart Home Collection of motorization and automation. It’s available across most of our product lines so you can mix and match products with the same smart home system for easy set up and control from a simple free app on your smart device