The papers are signed and the keys are in your hand. The hardest part of buying a new house is, officially, behind you. This is when the fun begins. Now, you get to actually build that picture-perfect home you’ve been dreaming of since childhood. Whether you need to renovate every room or just update a few spaces, the most important décor decision you’ll make is choosing window treatments.
The problem is, the visual you’ve had for so long may have never zeroed in on window coverings. There’s something covering those windows, but you aren’t sure what type of window treatments work best until you physically find the house of your dreams and can assess the lay of the land. Luckily, you’ve come to the right place. These tips and tricks will make choosing window treatments a piece of cake compared to picking out paint chips.
Questions to Ask Before Choosing Window Treatments for a New Home
What’s your home’s overall design theme?
Before you do anything, make sure you’re choosing window treatments based on your home’s design style. Window treatments are a major design element in any room. Along with your flooring and color palette, these panels of fabric will set the tone.
If you’re trying to summon the shores of Cape Cod, consider a casual-style window treatment. Relaxed Roman shades in a soothing neutral fabric will strike the perfect balance between coastal and Americana. Meanwhile, pure traditional spaces might prefer full-length drapery for the weight and drama these treatments add to the design.
Regardless of style, though, your window treatments should be timeless. Quality fabric and custom sizing will ensure you invest only once in your window coverings. In other words, they should last a lifetime, even if your design preferences evolve.
Is your window better suited for shades or drapes?
The shape and size of a window helps dictate the type of window treatment that will look best.
Generally speaking, shades look best when they’re custom-fit for the following:
- Small windows
- Windows that sit high off the floor
- Multi-sectional windows
For comparison, drapes make the most impact when they’re hanging over:
- Wide and tall windows
- Multi-sectional windows
Of course, these guidelines are not the end all, be all. You can mix and match to suit your home’s style and function. You may even like the idea of using both shades and drapes. Layering window treatments is an effective design technique that adds dimension, privacy and sophistication.
Which mounting style will fit best: inside or outside mount?
Choosing shades requires deciding how they will be mounted. There are specific reasons you might choose inside-mount window shades or outside mount. This is largely determined by the trim around the window. If you have a wide, decorative trim that you want to show off, stick with an inside mount.
On the other hand, narrow or plain wood molding might be easy to cover up. With outside mounting, your shades start above the trim on the wall and allow the window pane to be fully exposed when the shades are open. Does your window not have any trim at all? Inside mounting works well for these situations.
Keep in mind, you need at least one inch of depth to inside-mount your shades. When you’re customizing your Everhem window treatments, you walk you through how and where to measure your windows, so you can make the right decision.
How much privacy do you need?
The amount of privacy you need will vary throughout the house. Your bedrooms and bathrooms, for instance, deserve maximum privacy; we’re talking turn off the lights and pull down the shades, so no one can see inside. Whereas, a high-trafficked kitchen would be better served with open air and lots of natural light.
Certain window treatments naturally provide more privacy than others. This means you might hang drapes in the bedroom to create a barrier from the outside world, but you’ll use light-filtering woven woods by the eat-in kitchen table.
Another option is to use the same type of window treatments and simply add a lining. Everhem offers lining options for all our window treatments except sheers. Privacy linings let in a little bit of light, while blackout linings offer almost complete darkness. For our woven woods we also offer unlined as an option.
Expert Styling Tips for Your New Home’s Window Coverings
Think big picture
I’m not talking about large window coverings for your big picture window…though they might be something to consider. The big picture, here, is your whole house. While you’re decorating room-by-room and making sure each space has its own personality, keep in mind the overall look and feel of your home. Do the window treatments in each room complement – and contribute – to the primary design style?
Keep in mind, your window coverings should never overpower a room. In other words, you don’t need a bold pattern, heavy fabric or shiny metal hardware to make a significant design impact. More often than not, lots of small, subtle touches add up to – you guessed it – the big picture.
Be consistent
To achieve that big-picture design style, you need some cohesion. This doesn’t mean you have to have the same fabric in every room. You can maintain consistency by choosing similar color palettes. At Everhem, we offer a variety of neutral tones that all work well together.
Pleat style is also important. This is not a feature you want to fluctuate throughout the house. You could risk making each panel look like it’s from a different store or different designer. If you like a box pleat for your living room drapes, make sure you pick that same pleat for your bedroom, dining room and beyond.
Be consistent with your hardware choices, as well. You might be tempted to get creative and use a matte black finish in your master suite, but then add an antique brass in your kitchen. These two finishes speak two different languages, though. The matte black is soft and even a little rugged, while the brass is vibrantly warm and lends a touch of modern glam. By choosing the same hardware style and finish for every drapery you hang, the symphony will stay in harmony.
Consider curb appeal
Choosing window treatments can impact the outside of your house, too. Take a minute to walk around the front and back yards. When you’re looking at the front of your house, do the windows on the right-hand side match the windows on the left-hand side?
Ideally, the window treatment type would be the same in these front-facing rooms. For example, drapery on all your windows in the front of your house would be much more pleasing to the eye than having a roman shade on one and drapery on the other. However, at the end of the day all Everhem products work seamlessly with each other so whatever you choose there are no wrong choices.
Settle In
You spent months – maybe years – trying to find the right home for you and your family. Now that you’ve moved into it, the tough decisions should be over with and done. That’s why Everhem wants to make decorating decisions, like choosing window treatments, as easy as possible. By following these expert design tips and shopping our selection of custom window treatments, you’ll breeze right through it. Of course, if you have additional questions or need a neutral party to settle a design dispute, we’re always here to help. Reach out anytime at hello@everhem.com, and don’t forget to browse our Inspiration Journal for more design ideas.
