Pretty sure there is a heating vent that you don’t want to cover with longer drapes?

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Originally posted by jodi:
Pretty sure there is a heating vent that you don’t want to cover with longer drapes?

I took that vent into account. Sometimes, appearance beats practicality. As long as the drapes are pulled on the smaller window, the vent won't be blocked.

I’d keep the the blinds and I’d keep the drapes as they are.

If anyone asks, explain that the window treatments are commentary on the fine line between a tradition and a rut.

Matt, thanks for explaining the difference b/w curtains and drapes, that has never been clear to me.

As to the length, I think to-the-floor length only looks right when there's more to the total window treatment. As in, get rid of the blinds, add a sheer curtain or something similar that goes to the floor and that never gets opened, and then when the drapes are open, they frame that sheer curtain, all the way to the floor. That would probably look nice, but it would also be way too much window treatment for me, and for this room.

These drapes, with nothing else there, going all the way to the floor, would look funny to me. So while you might think it looks ill-planned as is, I would think it would look ill-planned to just have these drapes all the way to the floor, like, what, you didn't measure your window first?

Also, as to appearance beating practicality, definitely not in this room. I need those curtains closed when I'm playing the piano, that was the main motivation for getting them. (Especially because I decided that I wasn't going to add or replace any window treatments in the first year, just because it's so expensive and the house will be in flux until we live in it for longer). So I definitely don't want something on the window that can never be closed.

So, thanks for the dissent not like I'm defensive about it or anything! but I'm ok with the length, even if it breaks some arbitrary curtain/drape etiquette rule.

I'm with Matt on the curtains - except there is that heat/return register that might get blocked.

I really like the mini blinds that can be pulled up from the bottom or down from the top for privacy - yet still allowing for a clear view out to the trees. (We had shoji screens in one of our places and really grew to like the style)

ron, did you find mini blinds (narrow aluminum slats) that were top down/bottom up? I didn't think there were any available. Cellular shades (the honeycomb things), pleated shades (sharply pleated fabric), and (I think) Roman shades can be ordered with that feature but I've never found mini blinds that have it.

Oh, I think you are right! Our last place had pleated shades that had that option...

I like the curtains/drapes, and short is fine for this particular room. I’d keep the blinds for light control. You can put them all the way up when you don’t want to see them.

We have honeycomb top-down/bottom-up shades. I really like them, but you can’t see out through them. In some rooms we leave the top open, and in others, the bottom. I like them way better than the wooden half shutters that used to be in the living room! (We still have them in the back room. They came with the house. See the difference between my two piano room pictures.)

AdagioM, I like the shutters just fine, but the "after" version is so much lighter, and even though you can't see out, it makes the space seems more open and airy! Lovely choice!

As for alternatives to the current mini blinds here.... We will some day get rid of them I think. I like the functionality but not the look of them. The trouble will de deciding what we want, because there are sooo many options (some of which are incredibly expensive!) And there are mini blinds on almost every window in the whole house, so we're not going to do that project any time soon!

SK, the real reason the shutters had to go? They weren’t tall enough to protect the new grand piano!

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They weren’t tall enough to protect the new grand piano!

Ahhh, then they definitely had to go!!