Top 5 Custom Window Treatments Revealed!

Every year our clients ask for Custom Window Treatments and it seems like we go through phases when people ask for the same styles. What they ask for is usually predicated by what they have seen in the magazines and in retail stores. Most of the time it is something very simple and boring…something that is quite frankly, an afterthought! It has no style, no color, and it is usually looks like warm glass of milk!!! Does this describe something you have in your home???

What we do at Fine Designs & Interiors are not designs that you see everyday. Thank goodness we can put some creativity in our work or boy o boy would we get bored! When I have a client call me for a custom window treatment I have several questions that I ask in order to assess exactly what my client has in mind. We ask about colors, styles of furnishings in the home currently and if they have seen anything that they already like. When I arrive at the clients’ home I analyze the size and shape of the window, how it functions in the room and how much of a focal point it is in the room. A lot of time people have NO idea what they want and that is good news to me! I love to create one of a kind designs for my clients! I usually use their ideas about what kind of fabric style they like and tailor what I’m thinking to their taste. As far as style goes, I look around the room and take cues from other furnishings, or architectural accents in the room to emulate the underlying design style of the room. If there is nothing to work with, well, then I start pulling ideas from my head, a window treatment style book or we look at my Pinterest page or any other online photo to start getting the creative juices going.  Over 25 years I have really seen a lot of unique designs and they are somewhere in my brain. Occasionally these ideas pop out and as the client talks about what they think they want at the window these ideas start flooding my brain. I am not a great artist but I am good enough to be dangerous!! I will start sketching designs for the client on my notepad to give them ideas. To convey the details I will go to Pinterest and pull up different photos to show the client what that part of the design will look like. The fabrics are chosen based on the scope of the design and the trim and hardware is added after the design and the fabrics are selected. If you have a window that is complicated in size, shape, or the overall design is unique I will go back to the office and draw up the window to scale in my design program to work out the scale and proportions.

I am a big proponent of making the window treatment unique in one way or another. I will try to add trim, banding, a unique hemline, try different hardware or just mix a few different fabrics together in the design to add that one of a kind look. I think that is what my clients love about my designs….no one has has it! You may think this can get pricey but compared to a lot of drapery workrooms I am not the most expensive one on the market! I believe everyone should have unique window coverings and I like to encourage it. A lot of interior designers are intimidated by window coverings due to all the technical and mechanical data you have to think about. I love that part! I am mechanically inclined and due to my 25 years of designing AND installing all of my designs I have expertise in how to get the job done!

Each year I seem to get asked to do things by clients that have similar designs. In 2016 I found 5 designs that were popular. I have to admit, I love window treatments and I get very agitated with shelter magazines that show nothing at the windows or just plain draperies on plain rods at windows. I find myself thinking…how boring! When I get called out to a home for draperies I will try very hard to get my client out of the “box” and design something unique and creative but if they insist on plain draperies on plain rods then that is what I give them. However, I will make sure that the quality of those plain draperies are second to none!

At Fine Designs we hand sew all of our side hems and sometimes the bottom hems depending on the type of fabric.  I am also going to line the draperies with a very good quality lining and sometimes even an innerlining to provide body to the fabric so it doesn’t look flat and thin hanging at the window. We also may line the draperies with colored lining, blackout lining, bump lining, or a combination of innerlining and blackout lining in one.  The selection of the lining is almost as important as the outer fabric! It will protect the fabric and keep it from getting sun rot!

So, are you ready to see the 5 most popular styles of last year?? Ok…well lets go!

 

#5- Ripplefold Draperies-

 This year we were asked about draperies for whole walls and for walls around interesting windows. We treated these windows with a ripplefold panel which consists of a flat panel with a snap tape sewn on to the top of the panel. This panels is then snapped on to a rod that has a snap on it. This creates a ripple of fabric. Check out these two rooms.

These draperies are lined in a taupe lining to match the trim on the outside of the house. They are mounted on a very modern ripplefold rod on the ceiling. Although to design is simple the fabric is colorful which makes this room very cozy.

This fabric is super unique! It is from Germany and is ribbon which is attached to a sheer fabric. Each window has its own separate rod that will open the sheers in the middle of each window. These rods are also attached to the ceiling.

#4 SWAGS

Swags are starting to make a comeback! I am absolutely thrilled about this! You can tell these are 2 completely different applications. One is a contemporary design and the other is a traditional design. Swags work in both design styles extremely well! They are both made with embroidered polyester fabric and both involve beautiful drapery hardware!

This is a criss cross swag with jabots on a decorative short rod. The door is treated with a flat roman shade made with cordless controls. The window has a Hunter Douglas Silhouette shade to provide privacy.

This is a swag and jabot valance with a center pelmet mounted on decorative posts. We also used 2 fabrics in this design

3. Valances on Posts

This style is for the person who wants something simple, clean and stylish at their windows. The clients who choose this style want a little something at the window and they don’t want fussy! You can see it can look modern or even a little bit country!

We used a paisley fabric and it was a perfect match in the room and the posts were the same finish as the iron base on the pedestal sink! See how I tie all of that together?! The blind is a Silhouette, cordless 3″ vane shade from Hunter Douglas.

This valance was actually mounted on hooks that were attached to the ceiling! There was a lot of space above the window and we decided to mount the valance as high as possible to allow all the light we could get in the room There is a lot of detailed work in this valance with the green banding on the top and bottom of this valance.

2.  Cordless Roman Shades-

We have perfected the cordless roman shade at Fine Designs! These shades have been very popular over the last several years but with the child safety laws we have had all of our request for these shades to be with the cordless controls. Flat Roman shades look really nice on doors and windows where you want to see totally out the window and when you want to get total privacy you pull them down. They have several layers of lining so the room will get dark! These shades look really nice in a patterned fabric and work best on a single window or door!

This window treatment has a cordless Roman Shade tucked up under the cornice so the client can have light  during the day and privacy when she goes to sleep

In this home the flat roman shades on the doors are the focal point as soon as you walk into the front door. The beautiful Thibaut fabric that we carry was used on the shades offer a gorgeous vase and welcome anyone into the house. At night when the sun goes down, so do these shades!

 

1. Cornices-

These upholstered boards with fabric and trim and the hottest style going right now! It seems that it fits the clean look that people ask for and can fit in several different design styles quite easily. We have used cornices in bathrooms, bedrooms, media rooms, bedrooms and even kids rooms. We can also make these in any size. Whether you have a large set of windows or a smaller one a cornice can top the windows and will be just enough for any tailored style.

These cornices have been custom shaped to the fabric pattern and sized to fit perfectly on these windows. The drapery on the sides do not pull across the windows but they offer a balance of color on the sides to offset the weight of the cornices on top. The wood blinds at the window do provide the client with the privacy and light control that she needs.

This cornice design is a play of color, trimmings and design. She wanted a design for her Dining Room that had some life to it! It is a very complicated design which has a ton of detail in the design. Each of the pelmets has banding along the bottom and the cornice itself does too! The client was thrilled with the final result. Quite a bit better than anything simple and beige don’t you agree?

So there it is! I know you had to read a lot in this post but I felt it necessary to give a lot of details! People just don’t realize all the thought that needs to go into a great window treatment! I say that custom window treatments are the icing on the cake. They truly finish off the room. Why anyone would skip this step is a sign of being too scared to try! If you are too scared to try just give me a call! I have the expertise to take this complicated task and make it look EASY!! Just give me a try… I would love to create your own personal piece of art that you can enjoy every day!

For more information please call me at 740-852-6226 or email me at melinda@finedesignsandinteriors.com