quote:

Originally posted by well-tempered gardener:
I like the way box valences look, but they can cut down the amount of light in the room pretty drastically, especially in north-facing windows.

One way around that is to hang the valance higher than the top of the window so that the valance over hangs just a fraction of it's height.

SK, I like the shutters. For window treatments, remember that most are not permanent and you change them throughout the year. I am partial to solid white semi translucent sheers simply hanging on each side with no valance. When I need a change I simply take them down.

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For window treatments, remember that most are not permanent and you change them throughout the year.

You do?? I don't!

I mean... I guess maybe a summer weight, winter weight curtain swap out makes sense. Although the winter here is wimpy enough to make that seem less relevant.

So, how common is this seasonal changing of window treatments? Thinking back, my mother, grandparents etc. never did this, is it a thing?

Hadn't considered that about box valences, Bernard. Very good suggestion.

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Naked windows

Funny how different we all are. For me there is something uncomfortable about having the lights on inside at night and having everything visible; many of us have neighbors behind us.

Even in Door County where we are in the middle of the woods and neighbors are pretty far away, I always close the blinds at night. Old Lithuanian saying: "The night has big eyes."

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For me there is something uncomfortable about having the lights on inside at night and having everything visible

I agree! Even in the backyard, if someone goes back there, they could see in.

So I want to be able to open curtains completely to enjoy the outside, but also be able to close them completely when needed, including at night.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

quote:

For window treatments, remember that most are not permanent and you change them throughout the year.

You do?? I don't!

I mean... I guess maybe a summer weight, winter weight curtain swap out makes sense. Although the winter here is wimpy enough to make that seem less relevant.

So, how common is this seasonal changing of window treatments? Thinking back, my mother, grandparents etc. never did this, is it a thing?

Aha! I meant to write "... you can change them..." not "you change them"; bit of a difference.

I really like my dining room window curtains so I haven't touched them in some time. But I've changed the living room and music room maybe a couple times a year. Different color curtains, sometimes just a fabric valance, sometimes a solid valance, sometimes lace. Right now I have the purple curtains that used to be in the music room in the living room and the music room's are currently white. Before I had these purple curtains in the living room, they were bare, before that there was a valance, before that there were white curtains... yeah, I like to change it up!

Bernard I read your original post as "what the h*ll's wrong with you, everybody changes their curtain several times a year."
Yeah, adding "can" makes a big difference. I'm probably too lazy to change much once we get it decided and installed, so that's a relief!

I plan to eventually have more art work and decorative pieces on the walls, so I probably will keep the window treatments to a minimum. I would also love to get rid of the generic blinds (I guess they're mini blinds?) that are on the rest of the windows, only because they're so... generic. It would be nice to replace them with more fabric-y treatments. But they for now they really do their job, and there are probably 20 windows, so that's not anything I'll be wanting to spend money on anytime soon!

Re alternatives to blinds, in our rental house, some of the window treatments left behind by either the previous tenants or the owner are (I think) a kind of roman shade, fabric, raise-able, very, very cool looking. I'll take a photo when I get home, I would like something like that in our dining room maybe.

Alternately, the thing I like best abut the plantation shutters I installed in the bedroom in 1989 is that they still look like the day they were installed and I haven't had to do a single thing to maintain them other than dust.

They are a great look in the right place.

These photos don't looks so great b/c of the lighting, but these are the roman shades that are in the kitchen and door out to the back porch at our rental house. I *really* like these, partly because the fabric is really nice. I wonder if these particular ones were special ordered. I have no experience with anything other than cheap curtains and blinds, so I probably need to do more homework before deciding.

Have a look at the American Blind website. I've bought from them before.

They have a lot to choose from.

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American Blind

Oooh, I wonder if these are from there. I just spent a few minutes on the site and there are very nice options there! Thanks!

The dining room has a patio door leading out to the deck on one wall, on the opposite wall is a door that goes outside with a half window. And then there is this double window. I kind of forgot about that in thinking about the shutters, but maybe I could get some fabric-y things where the treatments for each spot would be the same fabric even if not the same treatment... hmmmm

SK, I think you might enjoy this article:

Bedroom color scheme ideas

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Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

quote:

For me there is something uncomfortable about having the lights on inside at night and having everything visible

I agree! Even in the backyard, if someone goes back there, they could see in.

So I want to be able to open curtains completely to enjoy the outside, but also be able to close them completely when needed, including at night.

I took down the heavy insulated drapes in what was the Master bedroom (now my office) because at this northern latitude, you want as much sun as possible in the house, and drapes partially cover the windows, always. The windows are double-paned, but that room is the coldest in the house anyway, mostly because the door is always closed, so I need to get some quilted shades on a track to retain heat at night so the Master bath pipes don't freeze. I have an electric fireplace in there to take the chill off in the morning, and a space heater in the bathroom.

In our bedroom I'm going to replace the hideous blue Roman shades with blackout shades, which is for the purpose of sleep, as the windows look out to the barn, where I have a light on all night so I can see if anyone is in trouble.

If it weren't for the piano getting hit by the hot western sun, I wouldn't have the insulated drapes in the living room. The only reason for window treatments in my world is to keep the house warm in winter, cool in summer. I like the insulated cellular shades that drop down from the top.

For a window that looks out on a leafy back yard, and is in a public room of the house, I would not worry about people seeing in. So what if they do?

Steve, thanks for the link, those pics (and the color charts) are helpful to look at for ideas about how to add one "pop" of color.

Also, seeing those pictures confirms for me that we need to not order curtains until we get our furniture in and have at least some idea of what art will be on the walls etc.

Pique, I agree with you, sometimes drapes can be too heavy, esp if there's a treatment at the top as well.

In our dining room in the rental house, there are mini blinds (which are much appreciated when that rooms gets direct sun in the middle of the summer, the blinds definitely cut down on the AC bill) and then we added some curtains that are quite wispy, the window is a double window, and we have the curtains tied open all the time, so it just ends up being a frame on each side in the middle (where to two windows meet) that (to my eye, anyway) does just enough to keep the window from looking naked without covering up the view at all.