Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Recessionista Style - Window Treatments

The Christmas decorations are all cleared away (and they really should be by now). If you're like me, this is the time of year you start obsessing about your interiors.

Who wouldn't want to lounge all day in this dreamy Jamie Drake room? Elegant swags convey classic style while a practical roman shade offers function.


Window treatments make an impactful statement in any room. Done correctly, they can tie the whole room together like the ribbon on a gift box. But you don't have to spend a fortune to get the look. Here are a few recssionista tricks for doing window treatments right.

Always try to hang panels as high on the wall as you can to add height and drama. You don't need the most expensive panels either, but do try to coordinate the style of your fabric to your pole. In other words, don't use a skinny pole with heavy, traditional drapes.


Add embelishments to plain, inexpensive panels. There are so many great retail resources for linen, cotton and silk-look pieces. Adding an interesting patterned ribbon (make it wide enough, please) or bit of trim can make those off the shelf curtains look high-end.



Consider using burlap. It's incredibly cheap, comes in black, white and several shades of tan and hangs beautifully. At Honeysuckle Home we added a quick applique of black over white to create these fab panles for our opening (right).





Have an off-centered or oddly-placed window in a room? Solve it with window treatments! Just because a window falls at a certain place on the wall doesn't mean you have to place panels immediately on either side. Hang full-length panles across a whole wall for drama and interest, or stack panels just one side to disguise assymetry.

This bedroom has a window where the client wanted the bed - and it's off center on the wall. The solution? Create a "headboard" of fabric centered where the bed should go and ignore the window.


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