Window Treatments First Thoughts

When we renovated our home, I decided to work on the interior design myself and in particular I was excited about doing the window treatments.  However, it did not take me long to realize that just because I thought I had a good eye for what looks great together and what I like, I  had no clue the number and variety of options available with so many items.  Window treatments were no exception and I quickly became overwhelmed at whether to do mini-blinds, wood blinds, curtains, drapes, whatever!  So, I made the wisest decision in the whole process.  I hired an interior designer!

Maintaining Window Treatments

I have to admit that one of my initial thoughts about window treatments is to make selections that were easily maintained and cleaned.  I'm not a fan of small blinds for the very reason that they seem to attract dust...at least mine do.  I do like the large plantation shutters, but I also think they're bulky and cumbersome in a room where you want to open things up and bring in more light on occasion than just tilting open the shutters.  With this in mind and because of privacy concerns with a front of the house room, the window treatments we landed on for the girls rooms were a combination of mini-blinds, sheers, and curtains.

For the boys rooms, which overlooked the fenced backyard, we put in plantation shutters for window treatments.  They worked great as long as I reminded them that they were not designed to be used to swing on.

Window Treatments or NO?

I guess I grew up thinking every window in every room needed a covering for privacy of some sort.  Window treatments in my mind were an absolute necessity --- always!  When the decorator said that we were not going to use any window treatments whatsoever in our formal dining room, I was really taken aback.  I had purchased beautiful floor to ceiling Pella windows and french doors that opened onto a private and protected side yard with a patio and pergola.  We put a silk fabric on the walls.  Just about anything would have been too much.  The decorator was right.

We opted for heavy floor to ceiling drapes for the less-formal family room as our window treatments of choice.  I had them put in black-out fabric because of the big-screen television in this room.  We did not use sheers because I didn't want to block the pool view of these huge 12 foot windows.  And most of the time we kept these massive drapes open and/or pulled back.  But every now and then I'm sure glad we had them to darken the room when my husband wanted to catch a weekend sporting event on the television and the sun was shining brightly.

How to measure for curtains and window treatments

Let me encourage you not to be shy about getting help in this area.  Based upon the finished product, I'm thrilled I did for our window treatments!