Tips

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & SOLUTIONS TO COMMON PROBLEMS

Choosing Natural or White
This is really a matter of personal preference, but here are a few things to consider. White is brighter, because it reflects more light, and will provide a sharper contrast with the rest of the colors in your room. It draws more attention to the window. Natural offers a warmer, softer look, and tends to more easily blend with or complement the other colors in your room.

For corner windows
Position the draw cords away from the corner. When the shades or blinds are open, the cords won’t become the focal point.

For a door in a high traffic area
Use hold down brackets to keep the blind in place and to prevent it from banging against the door.

For a bay or bow window
Consider individually inside mounted blinds or shades on each window.

To make a room feel larger
Choose neutral colored window treatments to blend with the walls.

To focus attention on the window
Use colors that contrast with the colors of the walls, rugs or other furnishings.

To make a room appear taller
Use a full length curtain over a blind or shade.

If heat retention or heat blockage is important
Consider a window treatment with insulating properties, such as a blackout shade or a single or double cell honeycomb shade.

If privacy is important
Choose a solid treatment such as a wood blind or an aluminum mini blind.

To reduce the noise level in a room
Use a fabric blind such as a pleated shade, a honeycomb shade, or a fabric roman shade – or use a fabric curtain panel or top treatment over a blind or shade.

Should You Tie Your Drapes Back?
When you tie back or hold back your curtains, you allow more light to come through your windows, and visually widen them. Where you tie them back is a matter of personal preference. Tied high, in the middle, or low – each offers a different look with different amounts of light. You may even want to change the height of your tiebacks from season to season, to change the whole feeling in your room.

Change The Look and Feel of Your Room, Seasonally, With Layering!
It’s simple! Use any of our top treatments alone in spring or summer, and then change to a layered look in fall or winter by adding a lace or sheer panel, or matching or coordinating curtains, underneath.

Solve the Drafty Window or Too Much Sunshine Problem!
Our insulated curtains and shades are a perfect solution – and they’re available in a variety of styles and colors. Or, try our insulated tailored lining. Keep the heat in in colder climates, and the heat out in warmer climates!

Why use lined curtains?
Lined curtains offer several benefits that justify the extra expense to some people. They tend to block out more light than unlined curtains when closed. Secondly,they offer a bit more insulating value. Finally, because the lining is usually Natural or White in color, the view from the street can be made consistent from window to window, even though inside, different rooms have different colors.

Selecting Colors For Your Window!
Use as much or as little color as you feel comfortable with. Solid colors or prints are refreshing and draw attention to your window. Soft, neutral colors can complement the colors in your carpeting, furniture,or wallpaper. If the window is interesting architecturally, you may want to emphasize that feature through color selection.
Don’t hesitate to experiment with mixing naturals and whites, or prints, stripes and solids. Warm shades of reds and yellows will add life to a room. Cool colors – blues or whites – or earth tones like greens and browns – are restful. Work toward harmony and complementarily in color selection.

For Help With Choosing a Color or a Fabric
Please call us or drop us a note. We’ll discuss your project with you, and we’ll send you some free fabric swatches. You might even want to order a half yard of material that appeals to you. Place it at your window, step back or even across the room – see how distance influences the appearance of the print, pattern or color – notice how the color and texture captures the mood in your room. Also, observe the mood and effect created by the fabric in the daylight, and how it changes at night illuminated by the lamps in your room. Choose the fabric or color that passes the “feels right” test under these different conditions