| Home Decor Tips: How to Dress Your Windows
Functionality vs. The fun part is choosing a style that suits your room and your own individual taste. Whether you choose metal or wood rods and finials or brackets with acanthus leaves or ivy, the possibilities-and the selections-are endless. . For a bit of city chic, grommet top curtains offer a soft, contemporary look. The flat or slightly pleated panel hangs from the rod with decorative clip-on rings for a soft, casual look. Fabric panels with clip-on hardware also offer a cutting-edge look. The panels fall straight and traverse by hand. Are they double hung windows that open top to bottom or bottom to top? Are they crank casement or awning windows that roll out and have interior screens? Are they awning windows that roll out? And keep the depth of the window frame in mind, especially if you're thinking of mounting window treatments such as blinds or shades inside the frame. And pleated shades look good alone or when combined with soft window treatments. A good solution may be pleated or cellular shades. Blinds (both horizontal and vertical) and shutters allow more flexibility since the slats or louvers can be adjusted to supply some visibility to the outside while still allowing privacy. Take a good look at your windows and how they are made. Windows treatments can also function as moderate form of insulation. And pleated shades with a cellular construction use the air space between a dual layer of material to give added protection against summer heat and winter cold, potentially reducing your utility bills. You may even want room darkening treatments rather than light filtering so you don't need to wake up when the sun rises. On the other hand, in your living room you might want your window treatments to function primarily as decoration, so you might not be as concerned with privacy as you are keeping the treatment open to the light and the view. Top Treatments The beauty of top treatments is they're able to stand alone or be combined with other treatments for a truly spectacular effect. Scarves, both structured (sewn with draw-up cords that help you create shape) and unstructured (a length of fabric draped over a rod or holders), are immensely popular. For a more formal look, swags offer uncompromising elegance with formal jabots or cascades to punctuate the look. Hardware In choosing hardware, you need to take into consideration both function and aesthetic needs. Decorative hardware serves a dual role-it not only supports the treatment but becomes an accessory, like jewelry to apparel, that completes the over-all appearance of the treatment. For traversing draperies, consider the amount of "stack back" (the amount of space taken up by the drapery when it is drawn open) and plan to mount a rod wide enough to include that. It's important (and fun) to consider the decorative element of your treatment. Tiers-typically shorter single or multi-layered curtains-are always popular. They can hang straight or be tied back using fabric ties or decorative hardware, dependant on the look and function you want. They can also have decorative trim such as ruffling, banding or even a novelty pattern. Full-length rod-pocket or pole-top panels are a mainstay in soft treatments and can be constructed with different sized pockets to accommodate a wide range of rod styles. What's hot for draperies and curtains? Sheers of all kinds-voiles in cottons, silks and synthetics, gauze, netting, smooth or textured, laces and even metallics in bronze, pewter and gold. You may simply want your windows to be a beautiful accessory to your room-decoration is also a very important function of window treatments. And you can be as subtle or as sophisticated as you desire. Choosing The Treatment That Suits Your Room Before falling madly in love with a particular window treatment, it's important to take some time to make sure the treatment is right for the room. For example, if you wish to combine vertical blinds and draperies, you'll need drapery brackets that project far enough over the blind so that both are operable. If you have a good view, require a lot of natural light, or if you just like the look of the window, you may prefer a treatment that exposes most of the glass. Older homes may have deeper frames while some newer homes may have shallower ones. You may want to visually heighten your room by mounting a fixture far above the window opening, at or from the ceiling. Vertical blinds are an especially good choice for sliding glass doors or long expanses of glass. Vanes can be made of aluminum, vinyl, fabric, or vinyl with fabric inserts to coordinate with other fabrics throughout your room. Next, consider your privacy needs. Pleated and cellular shades are made of fabric that's folded in narrow folds, accordion style. And the "vanes"-the vertically hanging strips that make up the blind-can be rotated by pulling a cord to control light and still maintain some privacy. They are available in an array of solid colors, patterns and textures in sheer, translucent and opaque fabrics. Roller shades are typically made of vinyl or fabric and are available with a straight edge or a decorative edge (like a scallop effect) with or without applied decorative trim. The cellular or honeycomb variation allows fashion colors on the inside and white on the exterior (so that all windows look uniform from the street) together with an insulating quality gained from the dual-wall construction. Pleated shades, when raised, create a very narrow stack-up and thus are a particularly good choice if you wish to reveal all of the glass when privacy and light control are not needed. "Casual" is the buzzword, and natural fabrics like cottons, silks and linens are hot like never before. Duck and denim are in evidence in many collections, and lush, thicker fabrics such as velvets, quilted fabrics and even chenilles are gaining popularity. Today's synthetics are also in vogue, however, interpreted in sheers as well as opaque fabrics creating convincing impressions of linen and silk. |
Sunday, 3 June 2012
Home Decor Tips: How to Dress Your Windows
