Any successful window treatment should achieve both decorative and functional roles in your interior design. First, let’s talk about the decorative role.
1. Style. The style of the window treatment you choose will greatly affect the harmony of your house. Think of the architectural style of your house, the style of your furnishings, window sizes, ceiling heights, the view from your windows. All of these components should be unified with the style of the window treatments. Window treatments need to complete your interior design, like the icing on a cake (it is good without the icing, but only with the icing will you get a complete look and taste). Place an elaborate and luxurious window treatment in a minimal contemporary room and you will welcome inconsistency and confusion to your house. But in contrast a neutral color and crisp draperies will be welcomed in a lavish style house.
2. Color. The color of your window treatments is a wonderful way to complement and balance your interior design in full. It can also make your room appear lighter or darker. When you consider window treatments for different rooms remember to keep a good flow, especially if your house has an open floor plan. When choosing the color for your window treatments always try to consider how it looks with the adjacent colors of your furnishings. Another significant factor in selecting the right color is to keep in mind the orientation, or direction the windows face. Does it face North or South, East or West?
3. Fabric. With such a great selection of fabric available nowadays how do you choose the right one for your window treatments? When considering the type of fabric for your window treatments first think of the style of your window treatments. Will your window treatment need to be gracefully draped or have a flat surface? Does your window treatment have a purpose to diffuse the light or block the light? Now think about the pattern. Whether it is solid, geometrical, floral, large or small scale, the pattern of the fabric you choose for your window treatments needs to create a sense of unity with the rest of the furnishings. Another consideration is budget. For window treatments like Roman shades or valances you can invest in a more luxurious fabric, as you do not need to worry about paying for yards and yards of fabric. With fabric you can also add texture to your room, and make it look more interesting. A balance of textures in the interior is necessary to achieving harmony. But, remember that it is always refreshing to have a good variety of textures.
4. Completeness. It is no secret that window treatments give a finished and complete look to the windows and whole interior. Without doubt there are windows that represent a work of art with the most outstanding view that you certainly do not want to cover. Unfortunately, this does not happen very often. The majority of the windows are plain and boring looking with a very ordinary view. By adding draperies to the windows, even if you already have hard blinds, you will make the windows look softer, complete, and more pleasing. If the window is an odd shape or size, an experienced professional will know how to visually transform your window into a proportional, balanced, and beautiful window by designing certain window treatments.
Now that we have mentioned some characteristics of the decorative role let’s look at the functional role of window treatments. There are a few very significant functional aspects that have to be considered prior to designing any soft window treatments.
1. Privacy. Privacy gives us a psychological sense of security and comfort. Our bedrooms and bathrooms are the rooms with the highest demand for privacy. During the day time it could be easily achieved by covering windows with sheers or any lightweight fabric. However, translucent window treatments will not do the job at night. Lined draperies or soft shades will provide privacy as needed.
2. Light control. The ability to control light is a major factor in selecting window treatments. If you bedroom needs to be completely darkened, especially during early mornings, certain blackout linings will make the window treatments much more opaque, while adding fullness to your window treatments. When light is desirable, consider filtering the glare with translucent shades or sheer curtains.
3. Energy consciousness. Heat gain during the summer months of hot climates, just like heat loss in the winter months of cold climates can cost us a lot of money. By installing lined and interlined window treatments that could be drawn together to prevent heat loss/gain, you can significantly reduce the cost of your electric and gas bills.
4. Protection from sun damage. Rooms that face south or west are exposed to a lot of sun light that can, over time, cause deterioration and fading of our furnishings and flooring materials. Lined draperies will not only protect the expensive fabric of the window treatments, it will also protect costly furnishings, and flooring from sun damage.
5. Noise insulation. Do you live on a busy street, or do you have loud neighbors? Installing layered or interlined window treatments can be very effective in achieving outside noise reduction.
Whatever your personal style is, the main purpose of decorating your house is to make it comfortable, tranquil and beautiful for your whole family to enjoy living in and sharing special times together.
If you want to learn more detailed information about designing window treatments, or if you just want to discover some tips and tricks from the interior design trade, visit our website http://www.bestdesignersresources.com/
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