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Wow Windows
These Treatments Are a Real Treat! By Kelly Burgess
A table runner as a valance? A couple of Styrofoam balls as finials? Short sheers behind long drapery panels? What's going on here? What's going on is thinking outside the box, something Anna Politi, a freelance decorator from Gibsonia, Pa., says is the key to beautiful window treatments that fit your style and add a fabulous finish to a room.
Usually, window coverings consist of several layers, perhaps, for example, a shade covered by a set of drapes or curtains; or a blind as the inner layer, sheer panels as an outer layer and an attractive valance at the top. What you choose depends not only upon the room's d袯r but also your personal style and the amount of privacy and light control you desire.
"Custom window treatments have been a growing trend in window coverings over the past six to eight years," says Barrett. "Prior to that, people were just putting up blinds when they moved in. Then a year or two down the road they'd add a valance. What we've seen is a move toward the softer side of home furnishings, and along with that has come a lot more interest in doing more intricate things on the windows."
Barrett says that in hard lines, interior shutters are becoming increasingly popular partly because they can be built into a mortgage. Roman shades and roller shades are two other big growth categories because they have a softer look and come in more colors and styles than in the past.
Politi also likes to think about the aesthetics of the exterior visuals when planning window coverings. Rather than a hodgepodge of colors at each window, she tries to achieve uniformity of color either by lining curtains and drapes or by using the same color on the window side of all the windows on a particular side of a house.
