Our designer Betsy McKinney offers custom window treatment tips and explains why it’s worth investing in treatments for your windows.
The thing about custom window treatments is that sometimes they’re forgotten, but they can make such a difference in a room—the kind of difference that an amazing floor or beautiful paint on a wall can make. When you have a great window treatment, it really makes a statement in a room. Read on for some helpful custom window treatment tips and advice.
Pre-made vs. custom window treatments
Let’s start by talking about the difference between having a beautiful custom window treatment versus something pre-made. Pre-made window treatments come in set sizes, but most people’s homes are not set sizes, so that’s usually where we can provide something you just can’t go out and buy.
The quality is better when it’s made custom, versus the inexpensive linings—or sometimes no linings at all—that are often used. Herman’s is known as a furniture store, but we do custom window treatments, and people often come in for furniture and then realize that we do windows too. We believe window treatments are part of complete design, and we really are solving problems with people’s windows. There are a lot of reasons people come to us.
Custom Window Treatment Tips – #1
PROVIDE PICTURES OF YOUR SPACE — Often people think, “Oh, it’s just drapes,” or “They’re just blinds.” When people come in, especially if they’ve never been to Herman’s Furniture and Design before and are coming specifically for window treatments, we ask them to provide pictures of their space.
Custom Window Treatment Tips – #2
WHAT PURPOSE DO YOU WANT THE WINDOW TREATMENT TO SERVE? — Often one of our designers will go to the home on a house call and scope out the room we’re going to talk about, because it’s part of a complete design. There’s usually a problem to solve: television glare from a sunny window, realizing in the summer that the light is an issue, wanting to cover up a view, wanting to enhance a great view, or even having a nosy neighbor.
“Typically, I’m looking for what’s bothering you about your space right now,” says Betsy. “Maybe it just doesn’t feel finished. In bedrooms especially, the space needs to feel warm and cozy. We do live in Northeast Ohio after all, and it’s not always summer. Adding fabric to a room can make it feel warmer—and it literally helps keep the room warmer too.”
Custom Window Treatment Tips – #3
LEAN ON & TRUST YOUR DESIGNER — Looking at fabrics can feel overwhelming because there are so many choices. When you walk into Herman’s Furniture and Design, you’ll see upholstery fabrics on the walls because those are used for sofas and chairs. What you don’t see are the roughly 20,000 drapery fabrics we have in the back room from about ten different companies.
Once we understand how to solve the problem, we go back and pull options for you—we don’t make you dig through everything yourself. When you come here and we understand your space, we only show you good options. You don’t have to wonder which one the designer likes best; we like them all, or we wouldn’t be showing them to you.
Custom Window Treatment Tips – #4
USE PINTEREST & SEARCH PHOTOS FOR INSPIRATION — Pinterest and vision boards can be great tools for people to get ideas, and it’s helpful for a designer to see what someone likes because there are so many different styles. Custom window treatments don’t just finish a room—they can also make a room appear larger depending on sizing and placement.
Custom Window Treatment Tips – #5
RETHINK HOW YOU HANG WINDOW TREATMENTS — A lot of people hang ready-made treatments too low. The trend now is to hang them higher and wider to create the appearance of more height and width, rather than covering the space up. That’s the benefit of working with designers—we look at the overall scale and the big picture. When you walk into a room designed by us, people often say, “Why is this so beautiful?”
Ready to talk about your window treatments?
If you’d like to learn more, just come shop around at Herman’s in Avon Lake or Sandusky, or book an appointment with us online.
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