Reasons to turn your window blinds up:

Directs light and heat up to the ceiling. A good strategy for summer, when you want to keep room cooler — could help cut air conditioning bills. Folks outside usually are less likely to see into your house On the flip side (pun!) the ‘con’ is: Less aesthetically pleasing.

Reasons to turn your blinds down:

Tilting the window blinds down directs light and heat into the heart of the room. This may be a good strategy for the winter, when you want to warm the room. Tilt them down, and the blinds look “softer” and arguably, “better”. Blinds turned down it may make it easier for peeps to peep in.

When we asked readers(as if!), reader Steve was agnostic on the issue. However, he flagged another vexing question — should horizontal window blinds be turned up or down? I asked the experts at Hunter Douglas, and yup, now everything is illuminated. Their complete response is below, but in summary:

Steve wrote:

The real question is how blinds should be closed – concave side facing in or out. Believe me; this is a very contentious issue in my household.

I installed classic old-school Hunter Douglas aluminum horizontal window blinds in my kitchen.

Because I’m a fan of the product — and because I know that Hunter-Douglas is a longtime industry leader, I contacted the PR folks there to see if they could find a company expert to provide us with a bona fide scientific answer, and they did….

Bobby Dill, General Manager of the Hunter Douglas Horizontal Blinds Division, provided this assessment of the pros and cons of how to angle the slats on horizontal window blinds aka in the postwar days as “venetian” blinds:

It really is consumer preference, although we know that turning the slats upward (front edge of the blind upward) usually provides more privacy, less light into the room, and minimizes heat transfer into the room…. Closed in the inside up direction, blinds may not have as soft an appearance, but there is greater control of daylight entering the room. Sunlight and some radiant energy will be deflected upward and away from the room. This benefit is especially relevant in places like offices, where there can be substantial energy savings derived from maximizing that amount of natural lighting in the space.

With that said, tilting to the front (front edge of the blind down) provides the most aesthetic benefit, but will admit more light through the small gaps where slats overlap because of the angle of sunlight on the window. Really, it comes down to personal preferences and the particular situation. Horizontal blinds provide benefits and functionality when tilted in any position. There is no “right” or “wrong ” way go.

Thank you, Mr. Dill.

Hey, I learned from this, Steve! Duh. I didn’t know.

So, Steve… does that help? Readers?