Changing your window coverings can be an effective way to update your home with a modern, contemporary style. Think you can just ‘wing it’ and put some new shades up? This can lead to window covering mistakes you’re bound to regret later. Careful attention to detail, the right fabrics and styles, and knowing the top features are ways you can avoid common mishaps. Let us help you work past some potential challenges to achieve the overall design of your dreams.
Know Your Home
Those beautifully styled homes in magazine and on social media offer window designs that are tempting to look at, but they don’t tell the full story for YOUR home. The most successful interiors express distinct narratives tailored to the people who live there and their own voice. Inspiration is a great guide, but sometimes guides get us a bit lost on the way. To avoid feeling lost and going down the path of window covering mistakes, it helps to select the right combination of textures, materials, and features to pull it all together in a way that makes sense for you. Whether it’s blackout fabrics for intense light control, or energy efficient shades for comfort, window covering specialists can help you avoid missing the balance of style and function.
How to Style a Space with Function in Mind
Every room has its own personality. While you may want to take inspiration from other homes, look at your own rooms. What’s most important when it comes to the window coverings? Here’s a guide to help you get started:
- Bedrooms: Room-darkening shades or light-blocking control
- Dining Room: Glare-reducing and light-filtering for comfort
- Living Room: Filtered light with options to block view in for privacy
- Bathroom: Hands-free adjustments, natural lighting, privacy control
- Home Office: Filtered light, reduced glare, with options for privacy
- Kitchen: Filtered light, reduced glare, easy to clean
Taking Measurements
Getting window measurements right is a matter of precision and patience. Inaccuracies can lead to window covering mistakes later when it comes to the right fit on the windows. Many homeowners don’t realize how many measurements you have to take. Windows are not always square, which means you have to measure the width in three different places, as well as the height in three different places. Start with the top, middle, and bottom of the frame to get a good idea of width. Then, for height, measure right, middle and left from top to bottom. While taking measurements, it’s common for homeowners to miss challenges in mounting, or hardware that can get in the way. Note what might impede the shades from moving freely or being placed correctly.
Swatches Matter
A vision for new windows sounds exciting, but don’t get tempted away from the goal. Finding the right color and fabric can make a big difference to your home’s windows, but it is also a challenge to do it yourself. Start with how the color shifts in and out of your space every day. Hold fabric against the walls, floors, and existing windows to see how texture and depth play out. Explore the various options from opacity levels to layered treatments and the nature of each window placement. Higher up windows may provide lighting at odd times of day straight into the space and need different coverage than east or west-facing windows. The color can look different with lots of light or more low light (think far corner rooms, bedrooms with fewer windows, etc), so keep that in mind when looking at your swatches.
New Window Tech
Implementing window covering technology is one of the fun parts of designing your home. Not knowing what’s out there can lead to window covering mistakes with new technology. For instance, your space calls for cordless operation of blinds in higher-up windows just to keep light at bay and make life easy. A DIY on this project can be frustrating and costly, especially if you opt for motorized operations and they don’t function as you hoped. A consultation with professionals will help avoid common issues with installation and make sure they are optimized for your space. Some shades work in one spot but not in the other. If it costs more money later to fix, it may be better to let pros handle this rather than rush to get it installed.
Motorized Options
- Motorized Blinds: Adjust with remote, app, or smart home device. Schedule the movement of shades, or adjust in an instant. Iddeal for large windows, oddly placed windows, or hard-to-reach spaces.
- Motorized Wand: Control at the individual window, adjusted with a simple nudge. Easy to control with features in rooms with high foot traffic, or ever-changing circumstances and frequent adjustments.
Practice Patience
One of the biggest window covering mistakes out there is to rush through the process, only to be disappointed in the results. Window coverings are an investment in the comfort and beauty of your home. They affect your daily lives. The choices you make should be well-informed and full of confidence. Working with a window covering specialist, we have a process that will ensure your satisfaction. Take time to stop by a showroom–try everything out in person, take home swatches. Book an in-home consultation so we can take professional measurements–don’t let one little mis-step ruin your purchase. Let us tell you about today’s best features–and how they can create the best environments across your family’s home. Our professional installers will deliver your product and install everything with ease and expertise.
Ready for a Change?
Now is a great time to consider making some changes to your window treatments. Simple, efficient ones can be a great addition to your home, along with new tech features to create the perfect atmosphere where you entertain or want great privacy control. Whatever you need, we are here to listen and get you started. Contact us to schedule your free consultation, avoiding window covering mistakes and enjoying newly designed windows!
