How window treatments can give any room a revamp
In any home renovation project, most home owners tend to overlook just how much of a dramatic impact window dressings can make on the overall appearance, ambience and mood of the room.
Britain is fortunate enough to have a variety of different period homes and styles that offer up a wide range of ways to enhance the appeal of the finished look, whether to compliment the existing structure or to transform it into something completely fresh and new.
If you want to transform a space or give your home a completely different feel throughout, here’s some great ideas to consider to make your windows and glass the centre pieces of any room all year round:
Shutters
Sometimes, curtains can make a room feel dated and old fashioned. And venetian blinds can make a room feel a little clinical and cold, like an office or utility area. But have you tried venetian blind’s close cousin, the humble shutter?
Shutters give the room a more robust look and offer up various different styles and configurations. Shutters look incredible in houses with period features as well as modern homes and create genuine character, inside or out.
Good quality custom fitted internal shutters can really dress the windows incredibly well, and in rooms that are naturally flooded with light, can create stunning shadows and sun lines across adjoining walls. They also make a room versatile when privacy is needed but can make the room feel light and airy when fully opened.
Nowadays, shutters come in lots of different configurations from half height, to fully fitted, to solid or slatted – not to mention various finishes from natural woods to stunning colours.
You can even use shutters to dress doorways and spaces between rooms to give a completely cohesive feel throughout the house.
And for those with dust allergies, they make the ideal alternative to curtains and rarely do they go out of fashion.
Soft Drapes
If your room just feels too hard edged with no softness, window drapes can be a great alternative to heavy curtains or traditional cloth. Drapes have a lighter feel than curtains and tend to use more transparent, softer materials that are designed for purer tactile and fashionable appeal over function. Where curtains are fitted to create privacy and prevent light from entering the room, drapes create a mood and soften the overall look.
Try fitting drapes in doorways or windows that will be opened during the warmer months. As they sway in the breeze, they create a calm and serene ambience to the room and even compliment shutters and blinds if you have those fitted too.
Bold Curtains
If your room lacks punch and personality and really needs some colour to lift it, then sometimes only curtains will do.
Many modern room interiors tend to be decorated in neutral shades such as greys and taupes. If your room feels just a little flat, you need to accessories it with colour to lift it out of the doldrums. Find soft furnishings such as cushions, throws, table runners and of course window dressings that use a simple but uplifting colour palette that compliments each other.
Don’t be too clever by trying to introduce too much all at once. Find a signature colour that makes the room pop and compliment it with various shades and tones for all your accessories including the curtains. Suddenly, your room’s mood will lift to new heights. Rusty reds, ocean teals, cobalt blues and autumn greens all look great alongside a neutral colour and will each create a different feel to any room.
Decide which mood you want to create for that given space and then stick to the plan – shoehorning in too many colours will just make the room feel inconsistent and unattractive.
Roman Blinds
If curtains aren’t your thing, roman blinds are a great alternative that come in all sorts of colours and patterns. Roman blinds come with or without blackout lining and if you shop around, have some stunning patterns that can transform any room.
When rolled up, they are hardly noticeable, which allows the window frames to take centre stage yet when fully opened, becomes the centrepiece and truly make their mark on any rooms decoration. Roman blinds look great practically anywhere including bathrooms, hallways and reception rooms.
They come in both contemporary and traditional styles so the choices are endless.
Minimalist
Perhaps window dressings aren’t your thing or you have a room that is modern and contemporary? Sometimes window dressings are just unnecessary. But you still might want your privacy at times or wish to keep the sun from blasting the room with too much light.
If this is the case, there are now some incredible glass products on the market that at the flick of a switch, give you the privacy and sun restricting properties you need. Using integrated electrical currents, modern glass products can literally frost as the touch of a button and then return to normal when you like.
There’s also more cost effective options such as tinting and mirroring which creates one-way glass as and when you desire. So if you don’t want to dress your windows in the traditional way, there’s always an alternative.
