Shades & blinds in Silver Summit

Where US-40 meets I-80

Silver Summit is the stretch of Summit County around Silver Creek Junction, where US-40 starts its run south toward the Jordanelle and Heber, a few miles east of Kimball Junction at roughly 6,500 feet. Until the 2010 census it was simply counted as the north end of the Snyderville Basin. Today it takes in the family neighborhoods off Highland Drive, larger homes on the hills on the north side of I-80, and the land around the Silver Summit interchange on US-40, where a busy roundabout now connects Highland Drive and Trailside with the neighborhoods across the highway. It is a place people live year-round, and most of the window questions we get in Silver Summit come from everyday family life rather than ski weeks.

Not the same as Silver Creek

The names are close, and so are the two areas, but they are not the same job. Silver Creek and Silver Creek Village sit on the other side of US-40 and have their own page, built around a planned village with townhomes and design guidelines. Silver Summit homes are more often detached houses on bigger lots, some of them built in the 1990s and 2000s along the frontage roads and Highland Drive, others newer and higher on the hillside. That difference shows up at the glass: more mixed window sizes, more original builder blinds, and more houses where every side gets full sun because the lot is open sage and grass.

Open hillsides and all-day sun

With few mature trees on many Silver Summit lots, the sun reaches the house early and leaves late. East bedrooms brighten before six on a June morning, and great rooms that look west toward the Wasatch ridgeline can be hard to use on a clear afternoon. In winter, the snow-covered hills reflect light into the house all day. We usually pair blackout shades in east-facing bedrooms with solar screen shades on the west view walls, and we bring several weaves so you can see how open or dark each one looks on your own windows before deciding.

Home offices off the highway

A lot of Silver Summit households include someone working from home, or commuting via I-80 and US-40 a few days a week. Home offices tend to end up in a spare bedroom or a bonus room over the garage, and those rooms are often the hottest and brightest in the house. A tight-weave solar fabric cuts screen glare while keeping the room bright enough for video calls, and a top-down, bottom-up cellular shade can keep the lower half private if the desk faces the street. If you'd like the office shade to lower itself on hot afternoons, that is a good place for a battery-powered motorized shade.

Wind on the hill

The open terrain around the junction catches wind, and homes higher on the hillside feel it most. If you leave windows open on summer evenings, a light shade can billow and tap against the frame. Heavier bottom rails, side channels or an outside mount that sits clear of the opening help, and cordless operation means there are no cords whipping around. In winter, lowering cellular shades at dusk adds a layer at the glass on the windward side of the house.

Replacing builder blinds room by room

Many owners start with the rooms that bother them most: a kids' room that never gets dark, a slider with broken vertical blinds, or a kitchen window that glares at dinnertime. Doing a house in stages is fine. We keep a record of the fabrics and colors you choose so the later rooms match from the street. For simple, high-use rooms, well-made blinds or manual roller shades are often all you need.