KB Home upgrades: the Design Studio, window treatments, and what to add after closing

Updated October 25, 2026

The short version: KB Home offers window treatments at its Design Studio, so you have a real choice: take them with the house, financed with it, or leave the windows bare and choose once you’ve lived with the light. Either way, spend at the studio on what goes into the walls and floors, raise any window problem at the orientation or the early follow-ups, and fit shutters after that.

Shutter Boys and Shade Boys aren’t connected with KB Home. What follows about KB Home comes from its own published pages, linked in the sources; the rest is our own advice.

How a KB home gets built

KB builds to order: “Every KB home is uniquely built for each customer, so no two KB homes are the same,” as it put it when opening its Tucson studio in February 2026^[8]. You choose a homesite and floor plan, sign a purchase agreement, then personalize the home at the KB Home Design Studio^[1]. KB says it gives “regular updates and key milestone check-ins”, with “scheduled walk-throughs during construction and a final walk-through before closing”^[1]. KB says it builds in 49 markets^[9].

KB’s New Homebuyer’s Checklist sets out the build in more detail. Two meetings matter for window coverings: a “Pre-drywall meeting onsite with your construction superintendent”, while walls, ductwork and wiring are open, and the homeowner orientation, which includes a demonstration of the home, an overview of the limited warranty and a joint inspection. The checklist says that unless everyone is happy, “we won’t close your home until the matter is noted and resolved”^[4].

Three Design Studio appointments

Every buyer is assigned a personal design consultant^[8]. The checklist lists a discovery call, an initial selection appointment by video call, and a final selection appointment in person at the studio^[4]. KB’s Boise studio page describes the same three steps and adds a weekly no-contract preview evening^[3]. On its Design Studio page KB lists choices from flooring and light fixtures to appliances and countertops, cabinets, faucets, paint and doors, smart home and digital wiring options, and the ability to modify your floor plan. It says “many of our design choices are included at no additional cost”, and that options beyond them can, in most cases, be financed through your home loan^[2].

Our rule of thumb for the three appointments, not KB’s advice:

• Spend on what’s hard to change later. Floor plan changes, cabinetry, flooring, tile, plumbing fixtures and anything wired behind drywall. Changing these after you move in means tearing out finished work.
• Think twice about what attaches to finished surfaces. Light fixtures, hardware and window coverings can be added or swapped later without opening a wall. Rolling them into the loan spreads the cost, but you pay interest on it for as long as the loan runs; the CFPB’s homebuying tools help you see what a bigger loan costs^[10].
• Use the discovery call for questions, not decisions. It’s the cheapest time to ask what your community includes as standard, including the window coverings.

Window treatments: at the studio, or after closing?

KB’s Design Studio page lists “Window treatments (Hunter Douglas® and more)” among the choices^[2]. It’s a fair option. Here’s how the two routes compare, in our view:

A mix is common: take the studio’s coverings for the bedrooms so they’re dark on night one, and leave the living room and the big windows until you know how the sun moves through the house. If you leave them, bedrooms and street-facing windows are where shutters earn their keep; a wide sliding door is often better served by a shade.

From contract to the 18-month visit

These milestones come from KB’s checklist and warranty pages; KB says its timeframes are estimates. The last column is our suggestion.

The pre-drywall meeting is the one people don’t connect with window coverings. Shutters need nothing in the walls, but motorized patio shades do need power if you choose a hard-wired motor. It’s a question to ask, not something KB promises: whether an outlet or a junction box near the patio can be added at that stage depends on your community and contract.

The KB warranty, and fitting shutters without creating a question

KB says its warranty in most regions is “10 years for structural coverage, two years for mechanical systems, and one year for workmanship and materials”, and that coverage transfers to a later buyer if you sell within 10 years^[5]. You can call for emergencies, which KB defines as “anything that may make a home uninhabitable”, or submit a request online, listing several issues in one form^[6]. KB also says it runs “pre-set warranty follow-ups”^[5].

KB’s public pages don’t say what the full Limited Warranty guide excludes; that guide is in your KB documents. Most new-home warranties don’t cover damage caused by work the homeowner has done, so a few habits keep things clear:

• Photograph every window before anything is fitted. Dated photos of clean frames and sills settle who caused what if a question comes up later.
• Raise window items before you fit anything. A window that sticks, or a cracked sill, belongs on your 10-day or 30-day list. A shutter frame screwed over a problem makes it harder for KB’s team to see and fix.
• Know what you’re screwing into. Our install guide fixes the shutter frame into the window opening. If you can’t tell whether a screw would go into the window unit itself, ask KB’s warranty team before you drill, and read the alterations section of your warranty guide.
• Keep the window’s own parts free. Check that locks and latches still work with the shutter frame in place.

Energy, sun and which windows to start with

KB says its homes are “designed to be ENERGY STAR® certified”, with the caveat that it doesn’t warrant any as-built home will achieve certification, and claims a new KB home uses 20% less energy than typical new homes^[7]. Those are KB’s claims about the house. Interior coverings act after the sun has passed through the glass, so they’re about light, privacy and glare more than energy; our energy guide covers what the research measured. In KB’s sunbelt markets, the west-facing rooms are usually the ones people do first after the bedrooms. West windows and sunrooms

What a four-bedroom home adds up to

Most owners don’t do every window on move-in day. Here’s a made-up home, not a KB plan, priced in stages from our live price list:

Each window is priced on its own, so the stages add up to the whole; splitting an order only means each part ships separately. Keep the louver size, moulding and colour the same from the first order so later rooms match. The designer prices your own sizes in a few minutes.

Matching shutters to KB trim

New-build trim is usually one paint colour throughout, and shutters look best when they read as part of it. White is our standard colour; if your trim is a different white, the designer lets you name a paint to match, which adds to the price. KB’s Boise studio page lists Sherwin-Williams among its brands^[3], so ask your design consultant for the exact product, colour name and sheen of your trim, and write it down at the final appointment. The same colour in a different sheen looks like a different colour on louvers, which catch the light at every angle.

Questions worth asking your KB design consultant

These are questions, not claims about what KB offers; the answers vary by community.

• Which window coverings are included in my community, and which rooms do they cover?
• If I add window treatments at the studio, who services them under warranty?
• What paint, colour and sheen is the trim?
• Are the windows single-hung, sliding or casement, and which way do the handles project?
• How deep is the window opening, from the room side of the trim to the glass?
• Can an outlet near the patio be added before drywall, in case I want motorized patio shades?
• Does the HOA review patio shades or anything fixed to the outside of the house?

The trim colour and the window depth matter most for shutters: one decides the colour match, the other which louver size tilts freely.

Upgrades worth adding after closing

Once you have the keys, these are the upgrades that attach to a finished house. Timing and HOA notes are our rule of thumb; check your own association’s rules.

Cords matter in a house with small children: the CPSC urges cordless window coverings^[17]. Shutters have no cords, and our cord safety guide covers the rules.

Outside, and the rooms where shades suit better

Shutter Boys makes wood shutters. Our sister company, Shade Boys, makes the rest: windproof motorized patio shades that run in side tracks, for a covered patio or porch, which you can fit yourself or have a local installer fit, and indoor roller, solar and patio door shades made to measure. A sliding door or a wide wall of glass is often better served by a shade than a shutter; bedrooms and street-facing windows are where shutters earn their keep.

Anything fixed to the outside of the house usually goes to the homeowners association first. Ask for its architectural review form before you order patio shades, and expect it to ask for the colour, the mounting and a photo of a similar product. Shade Boys’ HOA guide covers what boards usually look for on the windows; no product is approved everywhere, because each association decides for itself.

KB Home states and our local pages

KB lists homes in these states^[9]. Our state pages show local housing and weather figures and what they mean for shutters: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.