The Scoop on Window Treatments

If you missed our last seminar on window treatments at Uniquely Natalie, here is some information to help you with your window designs. Window treatments, along with accessories, create that completed look whether your room has a beautiful view or you face a brick wall - but windows can be challenging to dress.  So, let’s examine some general parameters to help you meet your challenges.  First, let’s determine the difference between “hard goods” and “soft goods” according to designer workrooms.  As a general rule, workrooms describe “hard goods” as items that cover the window and create privacy, while “soft goods” frame the window, but don’t cover it.

Let’s identify a few types that cover or just decorate windows: 

• Silhouettes and duettes are “honeycomb” type products made of material that is sheer or in a fabric that can be pleated.  It rides up and down and can come with a silver backing to become “shade darkening” for bedrooms, or can be selected in sheer fabrics of various colors with no backing for public spaces.  
• Luminettes are vertical silhouettes which open like curtains and have replaced verticals in many homes.  
• Blinds in wood, metal or vinyl are available in different thicknesses of slats, in white, colors and wood tones.  
• Drapery curtains in choices of sheer, opaque (can’t see through) or semi-opaque (light can come through) can be used as window dressing if they flank the window, but can also cover the window for privacy if they are on a “traveling” rod.  (one the opens and closes)
•  Cornices and valances generally just cover the molding above the window.  To determine the height, start with no less than eight inches and go up to eighteen inches depending on the height of your ceiling and the size of your window.  (HINT:  Cut a piece of cardboard or wood to see the proportion.  The higher you can go while still covering the top of your window frame the taller your window will look.)
• Swags and jabots (draped fabric) over poles or just on a covered board add elegance and softness to formal room settings.  
• Poles (painted or not, plain or fluted) with rings, decorative brackets and finials (end pieces) are popular today, with stationary side panel curtains.
  

Now, here are some tips to help you choose the perfect window treatments:

• Check online and in decorating magazines for ideas. Save photos for reference while you are deciding and shopping.
• Contact a good upholstery or drapery workroom to fabricate your window treatments unless you can do a professional looking job yourself.
• Know information such as pattern, width and repeat (how many times the pattern reoccurs), which affects how many yards of fabric you will need to purchase. This info is usually on the fabric sample tag.
• Get labor cost and yardage estimates from the person who will be doing the work so you can order the correct amount of material. 
• Try “ready-mades” or doing it yourself, but don’t spoil the look of your home with unprofessional or skimpy looking window treatments.
• If you’d like more information or want to visit our fabric library, please contact us at 631-862-6198 or email info@natalieweinstein.com.
  

 

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