Despite their bad image, Home Window coverings have the power to completely transform a space. Draperies, shades, and blinds can draw the eye across a room, give the impression of a taller ceiling, finish off a space, or frame a stunning view.
If custom Home Window treatments are ever out of budget, I choose prefab and customize them to fit a space, states Lavonne Walker. Although personalized window curtains are typically the nicest, non-custom ones can be hacked by a skilled tailor.
For some of the most inspiring window treatment ideas, we looked back at the ELLE DECOR archive. Gorgeous rollers, charming café, and all-over florals are among the ideas we found. Whatever appeals to you, these samples all offer a room with a fantastic view.
A room with twin side chairs, a bust on a plinth, and a Japanese-style screen is reached through a hallway with a dark wood floor, a side table with a marble top, a chair with a steel base, a curtained window, and numerous framed artworks.
Floor-Length Curtains with Trim:
Exuberant curtains are an excellent way to add grandeur to a space, but they run the risk of becoming gaudy when combined with too many pricey design components. Never be afraid: Check out the Milan home of hospitality designer Eric Egan. In order to create the illusion of airiness, he employed floor-skimming drapes here, along with a chrome chair, black floors, and a white-painted ceiling, all in a golden vintage Etro fabric with matching trim, we might add.
Home Window Shades of Blue Linen:
Huge artwork, a round cocktail table, wood chairs with cushion seats, a fluted lamp, a footstool, an ocher rug, and a sofa with flowery seat and pattern back cushions and pillows set into a bay Home Window with roman shadesKenjar Haris.
Look at the artwork in your room if you’re having trouble deciding what color curtains to buy but know you want to go beyond plain white sheers. The color of the Lee Jofa linen window curtains was inspired by the tones of a painting by Tiffany Alfonseca (right) by designer Ashley Lavonne Walker. “I like to consider how tonality can support the desired outcome of a space when thinking about color.” The designer asks us, “For instance, should blue roman shades be bright and youthful, dark and serious, light and airy, or muted and lowkey?” In this case, “since the room was meant to be a multigenerational and versatile space, I actually decided to touch on all of those.”
Blinds made of bamboo:
Japanese-style living area including built-in wood storage, a cushioned Home Window seat, vertical window slats, a sofa, a cocktail table, a chair made from a tree stump, bamboo-shaded windows, and bonsai treesLaird, William Jess.
Silvia Furmanovich, a jewelry designer, may live above São Paulo, Brazil, but her style is distinctly Japanese. She worked with architect Ana Terra Capobianco to select low-slung furniture and a neutral color scheme in order to bring in comparable notions. Here, the locally made bamboo blinds, which were imported straight from Kyoto, Japan, let light in and complemented the rest of the wood design. Furmanovich tells us, “It’s a place where I can be with myself.”
Shades That Match Furnishings:
It’s important to make sure Home Window treatments complement the rest of your design when choosing them. The roman blinds in Jenna Chused’s dramatic area actually coordinate with the rest of the design. The custom sofa and window curtains are both made of the same Christopher Farr fabric, which is featured in a design named Lost and Found. We refer to that as twinning and winning!
Old brick flooring, a dutch door open at the top, pots hanging from top to bottom on a pegboard covering one wall, a wooden table with wooden chairs and fabric seat cushions, and a light yellow half curtain covering the windowRoger Dale.
Adorable Café Curtains:
Although Home Window treatments are usually most popular in living rooms and bedrooms, don’t overlook your kitchen curtains! In this stunning illustration, designers Eric Hughes and Nathan Turner used transclucent café drapes to accentuate the home’s historic charm in a ranch-style setting in California. In any light, the room is made to feel sunny by the lemon-yellow hue.
White Webb Woodstock HouseGo through McKendree:
Although curtains are meant to block off light, they may also, ironically, bring attention to it throughout the day. Consider this bright bedroom in a White Webb-designed home in Woodstock, New York, where the dip-dyed alpaca linen drapes from Rosemary Hallgarten frame the vistas outside.
A bronze chandelier, silk drapes and shade, a bed with caned head and footboards and a multicolored zigzag spread, and a faux marble nightstand with a glass base light are all present in an ochre guest bedroom.
Exquisite Gold Valence:
For a bit of historical drama, consider a gorgeously draped valance and matching Roman shade, as shown in this Midas-inspired bedroom located in an ancient Italian tower.
An illustration of a living room corner including French doors on both sides, a flowery-patterned sofa with flounces, and a small niche with a wooden shelf behind it Laurel Joliet.
Height-Adjusting:
This decor could have easily gone over-the-top cottagecore in this Tudor-style home that ELLE DECOR A-List designer Frances Merrill gently redesigned. But in addition to bringing the design down to earth, oddball silhouettes and bland, floor-grazing draperies placed high above the windows showcase those gorgeous timber ceilings.
This bedroom features a vaulted ceiling, eaves, and blue pattern stamping on the walls and ceiling. It also has an upholstered headboard and a green coverlet with gray shapes on it.
Harmonious Designs:
If your Home Window are small, use drapes to make them appear larger. Here, in a painterly Paris apartment from the 16th century, designer Eric Allart used a longer curtain in a Simrane flower—the same fabric that covers the mattress and headboard—to draw the eye around the maximalist interior.
A hexagonal side table, an oval wood table, an upholstered banquette set against a sage-colored wall, floral draperies, and pochoir artworks are all present in the eating area.
Both Floral and Conventional:
Designer Veere Grenney shows that a full-blown valance style doesn’t have to be stuffy in this light-filled London residence. Although the ruffles and antique furniture have a timeless feel, a 1960s Gaetano Sciolari jewelry and a Daniel Jacomet abstract painting make things modern and stylish.
simple white bedroom with a white bed with a wide windows with celadon curtains and a dark eggplant colored bedspread over it and relatively high above the bed is a white window with ornamental protective barsSerena Eller.
Curtains in Mint Green:
Caterina Fabrizio, a textile specialist and the second-generation co-owner of her family’s textile company, Dedar, is the perfect person to advise on where to hang draperies. The mint green tones in the main bedroom serve to bring the green of the garden inside thanks to the vibrant black-and-white striped backdrop. One more piece of advice? Change your materials according to the seasons, just like you could change your wardrobe. According to Fabrizio, “the carpets and fabrics change, but the furniture stays.”
Roman Shades with Stripes:
In a recently constructed Houston home created by Elizabeth Young, these striped Roman blinds provide an otherwise all-white area a striking pop of color. If you rent or aren’t comfortable with patterned wallpaper, do as I say and zhuzh up with quirky furniture and accessories!
Bright Floor-Grazing Drapes:
If there is a lot of natural light in your house, take advantage of it! Inspired by the Southern sunshine that spilled into novelist Walter Isaacson’s New Orleans home, design team Brockschmidt & Coleman chose sweeping curtains and painted the dining room walls in Farrow & Ball’s Hound Lemon.
Drapes that are loose and flowy:
If you’d rather paint a room a rich color, go lighter with airier-than-air curtains. Here, gauzy, crinkled curtains contrast with eggplant-colored walls in a Brooklyn apartment designed by Danielle Fennoy. Elliott the cat is in agreement!
Differentiated Valence:
This Madrid apartment was originally owned by Ava Gardner. Designer Isabel López-Quesada made sure the space retained the “earthiness” that drew the Hollywood beauty to the Spanish capital, but with a good helping of sophistication.
In this bedroom, López-Quesada used white as the base color and paired it with a Brunschwig & Fils fabric for the valance and curtain to give it some flair.
The Sonoma Estate of Ken FulkFriedman, Douglas:
With its timber paneling, star-patterned terra-cotta floor tiles, and flowery Pierre Frey window treatments, this little family room in a Ken Fulk-designed Sonoma, California residence is exuding the ideal amount of coziness typical of the Arts and Crafts movement.
A fruitwood daybed with elaborate pillows and twisted urn finials sits in a curtained Home Window nook, surrounded by two ancient Chinese side tables, each with a bronze lamp, and framed landscape paintings hang on the walls on either side.
Sage and Striped:
Everything will be covered with sage dust, even the drapes! This exquisite French Directoire daybed is topped by two striped sage panels designed in a Virginia Victorian style by landscape architect Thomas Woltz.bedroom, bed, property, furniture, living room, interior design, bed sheet, couch, and curtain Douglas Friedman.
