Window Coverings

By now every one knows my personal style is pretty timeless, erring on the side of casual instead of formal.

I like rustic, but we're not talking antlers.  Formal is not my personal cup-of-tea.  Traditional, I like.  Straight lines, yes.  Minimalistic accessorizing or ... big pieces, mirrors, pots, candles, trees, and my all-time-favorite, topiaries.  What is it with those guys?  Fresh flowers, yes.  Bigger is better.  Groupings of smaller.  Not too busy.  Tone-on-tone, love.  Texture, love.  Linen, love.  Slip covers, love.  Ruffles, love.  French Laundry, envy.  Pom Pom at Home moves me.  You get the point.

However, my background is window coverings. Sometimes I still find myself stuck in burnout mode even though I haven't sold them for years.  But I'm an expert so this entry is devoted to window coverings.  Because ... they are important!

With window coverings, I'm a pretty basic girl. I sold them every day for over 5 years straight and cringed every time I had to put up a cellular/honeycomb shade or hang a vertical.

Window coverings are functional and help with insulation, it is true. But they are also a huge design element.  One that when considered to the overall design of the home can add a lot of character.

On the other hand, when not considered, can serve to be a major distraction and design boo-boo.  Here are some of my favorites and a bit of advice.


Advice #1:  Don't be afraid to mount them outside the window frame. 

Especially when the product you are selecting has a large stack and even more so, when the shade raised creates an attractive design element.  Examples of these products would be roman shades and woven woods.

In the picture above, had the roman shades been mounted inside the window frame, you would have lost a lot of natural light with the large stack of the shades.  Mounting the shades on the wall preserved the light in the kitchen, and also took up what may have been wasted wall space anyway.

Advice #2:  Do consider stacking heights when inside mounting and preserving a view and/or amount of light.

One way to get around the stacking issue and preserve light while controlling privacy is to get the top down/bottom up feature added to your shades (see below).

Advice #3:  Keep it simple.  Try to avoid using colors you may love, but that could easily date or over-personalize your house.  Go with neutrals which coordinate with your wall color and home elements (such as wood) rather than using window coverings as an excuse to introduce a color you are using to decorate with such as greens and blues and heaven forbid, mauve.

Keep them neutral.  Paint is cheaper than blinds.

Add decorative tapes to your wood blinds for something a little out of the ordinary.

But again, resist over-personalizing.  Instead, opt for neutral colors in your tapes and select wood tones already used in your home.

If you want to introduce color, do that in your draperies or your wall color.  Draperies can oftentimes be taken down and transferred to other rooms as you decide to re-decorate your home.  Blinds usually can't.

 Window coverings are an investment and act as a strong design element.  So, keep it classy.