Selecting the Right Window Coverings – Many Examples

Making the optimum selection for window coverings in your home is not really as difficult as it might seem. Having a good understanding of the various ways in which window coverings function, as well as an inherent sense of how to make them work aesthetically is really what it is all about.

There are two fundamental reasons that window coverings are used: to control light and for decorative enhancement. Sometimes one function is more essential than the other, which is when the expertise of an interior designer becomes extremely helpful.

It is important to note that not every type of window treatment will work in every interior. And in many cases, there is really only one appropriate treatment that will work at all.

For instance, if you have a set of French doors with a half-round glass transom above the doors, window treatment options — that fit today’s standards – are limited. You could use a half-round shaped gathered sheer. However, this would completely obscure the glass. For this reason, this type of treatment is constrictive, not to mention quite formal and outdated.

There is another way to cover this type of window, while enabling light to flow through the glass transom. This entails surrounding the negative space with a valance to conceal drapery hardware, with drapery panels stacking on each side of the window and/or door opening. This is a successful solution – allowing light in when desired — and much more functional and flexible than blocking the window with a sheer fabric or shutter that conceals the light at all times.

While the rage today is to strictly have either shutters, Roman shades, or simple drapery panels that hang from decorative metal or wooden rods with no valance, these single-pass treatments limit the function of a window covering. Shutters offer an “all or nothing” solution; Roman shades create a huge amount of stack at the top of a window and do not provide for filtered light; and drapery panels that hang from a rod also do not allow for the filtered light provided when sheers are used. (There are double-pass decorative
rods available, but their appearance looks forced, and there is limited inventory in this configuration).

Therefore, when you are using drapery panels that are either stationary or functional, and also wish to filter the light through sheers, or prefer to block out all of the light through black-outs, (or both) a drapery valance is the most effective way to hide the necessary hardware, and can also act as a decorative element.

Valances come in all forms, shapes and sizes, and can be traditional, contemporary or transitional. They can be soft, upholstered or hard, and are completely flexible in their appearance and size — allowing multi-layered treatments that include decorative, functional, see-thru and black-out window coverings.

There are many forms of window coverings, and determining which one best suits both the form and function of each room in your house is an important decision that should not be underestimated.

I will place my bet, that while traditional rod-and-ring window coverings may initially seem attractive because of their simplicity, you may end up re-thinking their limitations once you live with them.

Window coverings that contain more than one pass are more functional, and the valance infuses additional layers of depth and color to your room.

As I like to tell my clients, they are an artistic statement with function – and that’s a whole lot of bang for your buck!