Before pulling something down or getting rid of it, think long and hard about why it's there.

The older house I moved into had full blockout blinds as well as thick curtains with wooden pelmets on top as well. Last year, thinking I would do some decorating, I pulled out all the old thick curtains and gave them away along with the pulldown blinds. Then I removed the pelmets and replaced it all with wooden venetian blinds. Big mistake. It's now winter and very cold here and often below freezing. So now the hot air is running down the windows across the cold glass and out the bottom again basically acting as a cooler built in to each room. This type of airflow is exactly what pelmets were designed to stop. I'm also getting condensation now where as before the curtains and blinds were enough to create an air barrier to stop this. All up this is going to cost me quite a bit with the heating bill this year already being double due to the exposed windows and buying new curtains and blinds again. Luckily I didn't throw out the pelmets and have been able to take advantage of a few sales and second hand purchases or it might have cost even more.