Getting ready to dip my toe into the world of smart shades. The Lutrons look stylish, and the warranty is attractive, but the Ikea ones are so damn affordable, and I heard they have vastly improved in the past few years.

Can anybody make a recommendation for the Ikea smart shades (in particular, the honeycomb Tredansen)? Or can you justify the price of the Lutron for me somehow?

Our new place is blessed to have numerous, gigantic windows with splendid exposures, but is also cursed to have numerous, gigantic windows with splendid exposures. To outfit just the major windows into bedrooms and into the living room (for projector screen blackout) on the Luton would be like $5K.

Moving into a new apartment that has drywall returns already installed around the windows, but does not have any window framing or sills (I understand they’re called stools when on the interior).

I’d like to add in sills / framing, but I am not sure if I need to remove or reduce the drywall returns first, or if I can add framing and a sill on top of what is already there. There is concern that sills that are too thick will impede the ability to open the windows themselves (double-hung, grab bar at the bottom to open / close).

What is good to know when approaching this kind of project?