Spring has a way of making everything about your home feel more visible.
After months of Spokane winters, short days, heavy skies, windows mostly shut, April arrives and suddenly you notice every room differently. The light is back. The house feels exposed. And the blinds you meant to replace two years ago are now impossible to ignore.
This spring, Spokane homeowners are making upgrades. A few clear trends are emerging. Here is what we are seeing most in 2026.
Woven wood shades and bamboo blinds have been gaining momentum for a few years. 2026 is the season they went mainstream in Spokane homes.
The appeal makes sense. After a long, gray winter, homeowners want warmth. They want materials that feel organic and grounded, not plasticky or institutional. Woven woods bring that immediately. They soften a room, work with both modern and traditional interiors, and pair naturally with the Pacific Northwest aesthetic that many Spokane homes already lean into.
The most popular pairings: woven wood shades in living rooms and dining rooms, layered with sheer roller shades for light control in rooms that face south or west.
A few years ago, motorized window treatments felt like something for high-end new construction. That has changed.
In 2026, motorized blinds and shades are showing up in everyday Spokane homes. The reason is practical, not just cool. Spokane summers are intense. By July, west-facing rooms can become genuinely uncomfortable by early afternoon if shades stay up. Motorized blinds let you program your window coverings to adjust automatically as the sun moves through the day.
You set it once. Your home stays comfortable without you thinking about it.
If you are deciding between operating manually or going motorized, our smart blinds vs manual comparison walks through when motorization is worth it. For the broader smart home story, see Spokane smart blinds: the next evolution of comfort and efficiency. The premium option in this category is Hunter Douglas PowerView Motorization, which integrates with Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit.
Motorization is also popular for hard-to-reach windows: skylights, tall great rooms, transom windows above doors. For more on how motorization helps during Spokane's short winter days, see our dedicated guide.
For a while, the clean single-shade look dominated interior design. One roller shade, clean lines, minimal hardware.
That aesthetic is not going away, but layered treatments are having a strong moment in 2026. The combination most homeowners are choosing: a sheer shade for daytime privacy and light diffusion, paired with a blackout layer or drapery panel for evenings and bedrooms.
In Spokane, this has a practical angle. Summer sunrises happen early, sometimes before 5 AM. A single light-filtering shade does not give bedrooms the darkness most people want. Cellular shades with blackout liners, or layered treatments, solve this without sacrificing the airy daytime look homeowners love. If sleep is the goal, see our deeper take in Sleepless in Spokane.
Spokane gets more sun than most people outside the region expect. Summer temperatures regularly push into the 90s, and west- and south-facing rooms can become genuinely hot by midafternoon.
Solar shades are the most popular solution we are seeing this spring. Homeowners are ordering them now, in April and May, rather than waiting until they are miserable in July.
Solar shades filter UV rays and reduce heat gain while keeping your view intact. They work during the day when the sun is strongest, without making your room feel dark or closed off. For living rooms, home offices, and any room that faces the afternoon sun in Spokane's South Hill, Liberty Lake, or Kendall Yards neighborhoods, they are one of the highest-impact upgrades you can make.
Alongside the trends coming in, a few things are clearly on the way out.
Faux wood horizontal blinds, the standard builder-grade option in most homes built before 2015, are being replaced at a high rate. They warp in heat and humidity, collect dust, and do not hold up well over time. Most homeowners who have them are upgrading to cellular shades or roller shades that are easier to operate and more durable. If you are stuck with faux wood in a kitchen or bathroom where it actually performs well, our kitchen window treatment guide covers what to keep and what to swap.
Outdated cornice boxes and heavy fabric valances are also being removed in favor of cleaner, more minimal hardware or drapery panels with simple top treatments. For more on what kept its place and what didn't, see our roundup of custom window treatments by room.
One quiet trend for 2026 is the return of vertical window treatments for sliding doors and tall windows. Modern fabric verticals and Luminette verticals look almost nothing like the rattling vinyl verticals of the 90s. They drape like a soft drapery and operate quietly.
For patio doors, Skyline verticals and banded shades are gaining traction as a cleaner, more contemporary alternative to traditional vertical blinds.
Reading about trends is useful. Seeing them in your actual space is what matters.
Every home in Spokane has different light conditions, window sizes, and architectural details. What looks stunning in a Kendall Yards loft may not work in a North Spokane craftsman, and vice versa.
If you are weighing local specialists against big-box retailers, our piece on how Spokane Blinds stands out from other local window blind companies covers what makes the difference. If you are considering a premium option for your living or dining room, our honest review of silhouette shades walks through when they are worth the investment and when they are not. For something more sculptural, see how Pirouette shades transform a living space. And if shutters are on the table, our quick read on whether shutters increase home value covers the case.
At Spokane Blinds, we offer free in-home consultations where one of our local specialists comes to your home, takes precise measurements, and brings samples from our full collection so you can see exactly how each option looks in your space before committing to anything.
No guesswork. No returns. Just window treatments that actually fit your home and your life.
Spring is the best time to make this move, before summer heat makes the wrong window coverings something you are living with every single day.
Schedule your free in-home consultation with Spokane Blinds today.
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