Window Treatments

Sorry, it has taken me longer to post this than I was expecting. I sometimes toy around with posting things because I am afraid of offending someone. Please know that I NEVER want to offend anyone, so if you have in your house what I say not to do, please don't be upset with me or offended. If you love what is in your home, that really is all that matters.

I have posted a bunch of pictures to show you different window treatments and I will discuss certain things about each one. I can't really say that there are set rules with window treatments, but through the years I have seen what works and looks good and what doesn't. *Sorry if you don't like red, red is my favorite color so I use it alot.

DRAPES AND CURTAINS

These are the most basic and popular kind of window treatment and they happen to be my favorite. I think that a nice, quality panel can do so much for a room. There are so many different type of panels also, you have Tab Top (more casual), Rod Pocket (standard), Grommet (more modern), and my favorite Curtain Rings (more formal). In my home, I pretty much only use the curtain rings. I use them because they do tend to be a bit more formal, I think they hang much prettier, and they add length to the panel.

This first picture is of my bedroom. Like I have mentioned before, I am still in the process of getting my room together, but I just got these hung just a few days ago. I purchased these at JC Penney a few years ago for my last house for approximately $30 a panel. I want you to notice 2 things in this picture: 1-Notice how thick the curtain rod is and 2-Notice that it is touching the floor. Far to often, people hang their drapes to high and don't have them touching the floor. This is something that can draw negative attention that you wouldn't want in a room. Also, a thicker curtian rod tends to give a higher quality look and will make your entire window treatment look way more expensive. I will never use a skinny rod in my home ever again. I used one in my last bedroom and it looked so cheap and ruined the whole treatment I thought.

These next 2 pictures are of my family/dining area. Again, I have a thicker rod and they come onto the ground. I actually made these window treatments myself and I will tell you why. I would normally tell a client to find window treatments first and then pick a paint color off of them, but I did it backwards. I painted my burnt red walls in the room first and when it came to finding drapes that matched that color, there was none! I had to find some fabric and have it custom ordered in for me. I did end up spending around $250 for the 4 panels and cornice box but I have been VERY pleased with them and I think they were worth the money. A window treatment really is something that can ruin the whole look of a room. If you can, spend a little more money on draperies, it really is amazing how they can make your room look really expensive or really cheap.
These are completely lined on the inside. We don't like vertical blinds, so we opted for these panels to block the sun out with. Make sure that if they do get direct sunlight, that they are lined curtains so they don't fade.
This next picture is of my mom's bedroom. She asked me to create a window treatment for her bedroom and it had to work with her shutters. We went and bought like 20 something yards of fabric and I ruffled this to what it is. There was no sewing at all, actually, you would probably laugh if you saw how I put it together but it created the look we were going for.

Here are the panels we have up to the cabin. These are held up by the Rod Pocket Top and are a very heavy panel. This shows another way that you can display a panel, with a tie back or hook.

VALANCES AND CORNICE BOXES

I have been asked the question "What is a window treatment I can use in the kitchen that won't get gross above the sink." My answer is a valance or cornice box. I am personally not a huge fan of the valances that you buy at the store, so I have created my own for various locations.

This valance is one that I created to go on the inside of the window. It has such great molding that we didn't want to obstruct it. This is actually just some trim sewn onto some fabric and the fabric is wrapped around a 1"x2" board and screwed into the top. It was so simple to do and it didn't cost a son of money.

This is a cornice box that is made of wood, wrapped in batting and then finished off with the fabric and trim. These are also really quite simple to make. As you will see, I have made a lot of them (even others that I don't have pictures of) and they look great in a kitchen, children's room or over a roman shade.
This one is made the same, I just sewed the fabric how I wanted to wrap it and had my husband cut out the pattern in the wood.
Here is an alternative to a normal valance and it turned out darling. This is a balloon shade with ties. The thing that I love about this, it is fully functional. I can untie the ribbons and it blocks out the sun so that my daughter can sleep better during her naps. This was also really quite simple to make and really quite cost effective.
Here is the cornice box I have made to go on top of the balloon shade, but I haven't been able to get my husband to help me hang it yet.

There are other options out there that you can do in any room, these are just options that I had to show you. This really is one area that is worth spending a bit more money on. I can't emphasize enough how much this can make or break your room. One of the first things I notice when I walk into a room is the window treatments and whether or not they are a cheaper cotton type drape that doesn't hang very well and is completely see through or on a really flimsy rod or if it was done well and it makes the whole room look put together. If I can tell you to spend a bit more money somewhere in the room, it would be here on the window treatments.

If anyone wants to know how things are made, let me know, it is hard to explain on here without pictures.