Window Treatments

Work/Craft Room

Hi Guys,

Window treatments run the gamut from inexpensive roll up shades to formal curtains with swags and jabots. What you choose to put on your windows depends on what you need or want for that particular room.

If you need light control or privacy, choose a blind (cellular for a bathroom or bedroom, wooden if you want a more formal look, vertical for very large windows like sliders, and you can even get fabric covered vertical or horizontal blinds if you want a very formal look). You can add a valence to the blind for a more formal or finished look.

If you do not need to control the light or privacy, you can buy curtain panels or valences that reflect the use of the room. If it is a family room or kitchen, choose something that is fun and rather informal. If your room is contemporary, choose a contemporary print that goes with the colors in the room. If you have a formal  room, like a living room, choose silk or velvet panels with a decorative valence and perhaps sheers underneath.

Kitchen Window

Bare Kitchen Window

Family Room Blinds

If you like the look of bare windows, then don't use any window treatments at all. We have a large window in our kitchen which has nothing on it and I love it. The other window in the kitchen has a blind with a valence made out of the kick board which goes under the cabinets. I chose vertical blinds for the sliders, which open out to the deck, because the afternoon sun comes streaming in those windows.

Master Bedroom Window

Guest Bathroom

You will want privacy in your bedroom and bathroom. We used wooden blinds in our bedrooms. I hung curtain panels in the master bedroom and used valences in the guest room. I purchased contemporary curtain panels for my work/craft room.


We also chose a wooden blind for our guest bathroom. I bought some fabric and made a valence which ties in with the shower curtain. The master bathroom has a top down, bottom up cellular blind. I keep the top down a bit to let light in. I purchased the valence that matches our bedspread to hang above the blind.

I have sheers in the living room and dining room. I hung scarf valences on the two windows in the living room and left the sheers in the dining room plain.

When you begin thinking about window treatments, look through catalogs and magazines to see what you like. Keep in mind the needs of the room. You can go on line to find draperies as well as looking through catalogs like Country Curtains, Crate & Barrel, and JC Penney, or stores like Bed Bath & Beyond. Blinds are readily available at Home Depot, Blinds to Go, and Lowes.

You won't feel overwhelmed if you do your homework and take it one room at a time. If you have a problem, you can always ask me.

Living Room Sheers

That's my tip for today.

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