How to Choose Curtains Styles According to Window Architecture

How to Choose Curtains Styles According to Window Architecture

The window architecture itself has much to do in determining treatment. Your window may be an important decorative asset, if it is a picture window, a whole window wall, a bay window, or a corner window; you will want to make the most of it, and yet at the same time not have it stand out so vividly in the room that it is a disquieting factor. The windows must seem a natural part of the room's architecture.

On the other hand you may have two or three windows that by themselves do not seem important architecturally, but that will seem much more important and make your room smoother if you pull them together by your window treatment (that is with a cornice for the group, or a swag or valance tying them together, and by hanging your over draperies as though you were dealing with one window, with a panel at each end).

But also you may have problem windows where, for example, heights vary, or framing styles differ, giving your room an uneven appearance. Or in an older house the architect may have used a definite style, such as a Palladian window, which would give your room a perhaps unwanted classical atmosphere. In such cases it is quite possible to disguise the architecture, and with rods and fabric to transform the dimensions of the window.

The single two-sash window is today, and has always been, the most common type. The sash window may be long and high and narrow, and this may seem to give your room a smaller appearance as it will make the walls seem higher. In this case you will want to make the window seem wider by extending the top frame with blocks of wood and then hanging your draperies and curtains from rods that extend the full width of the extended frame. A deep valance or swag will also cut down the apparent height of your window.

If, on the contrary, the window is wide and low, and seems to make your room too large for its low walls, heighten the frame with a board which you can top with a valance board, and hang your draperies as though they began at this point. Still another way to increase height is to hang your valance board just below ceiling height. A short festoon draped over a pole, combined with filmy, deep-pleated glass curtains, will also give an illusion of height.

In addition to the sash windows are bay windows, which are two or more windows placed at angles to each other. Perhaps the most pleasing and uniformly successful way of treating this window style is to drape it as a single unit and have a continuous valance extend all the way across it. When there is too much wall space between the windows which form the bay, treat each window as a separate unit; but be careful not to have too mucli fabric in this space. Rods can be purchased which curve to conform to the curve of the bay. Another bay-window treatment is to have double sash curtains at each window with a continuous valance of the same material over them all.

Dormer windows, rising from a gable in a slanting roof, may be found in many extension attic-type G.I. houses, and may be treated quite informally. Simple ruffled window curtains of muslin, organdie or some other sheer material are always appropriate. Sash window curtains help a bedroom window under a sloping room to seem larger, particularly if used as glass curtains with ruffled tie-back draperies.

Double-sash windows give one a better chance to exercise imagination and ingenuity. Consider them as one unit, with valances or cornices helping to increase the illusion. The glass curtains may be caught together in an hour-glass shape with a bow at the center, although this treatment is apt to be more distracting and over-elaborate than it is pretty. Or the over draperies can be looped back over Venetian blinds, Japanese blinds, or a wide painted shade. Any number of decorative treatments come to mind.

How to Choose Curtains Styles According to Window Architecture

Corner windows may seem to offer problems, but actually they make very attractive window treatments possible, and give a great feeling of space to the room. Again, they are most successful when no drapery is hung in the corner and they are treated as a single unit (which they actually may be in modern homes and apartments). Blinds with lightweight curtains hung over them to soften the light with draperies at the side are always effective. Another way to tie such windows together is to obtain the feeling of a continuous drapery with festoon valances and long side panels. Or you can outline the entire window with a frame of double ruffles. Corner windows lend themselves to draw draperies.

Casement windows are those windows which swing on hinges at the sides, opening out like doors. They can be single or double, and open in or out It is customary to curtain them with casement cloth, shirred on rods at top and bottom, but you may also wish to provide them with a pair of traverse curtains. A French window, or a door hung as a casement but extending to the floor, may be treated in the same way. Cranes or swinging rods are practical for casement draperies, as are traverse curtains.

It is only since the 1930's that architects have placed great emphasis on using natural ventilation (or heat from the sun's rays ) . Architects then turned the rooms in the house that were most frequently used to the south, and the south wall was in effect one huge window. This idea has become increasingly popular, and today most new homes feature at least one large "picture" window, while windows throughout are larger. In the most advanced modern homes whole sides of the house are virtual sheets o glass.

Actually, a true picture window is a large window with an uninterrupted frame of glass, with no muntins (or crossbars that break the window up into small panes). This is preferable because a view improves when seen through an uninterrupted expanse in which the frame of the window frames the view just as it would a picture. But the term has come to mean any very large window. In both window walls and picture windows the glass may be fixed so that the window never opens, and ventilation comes from slats beneath the window.

Most popular draperies for large windows are the traverse or draw types. These range from fine-count marquisette (44 x 30 threads per square inch) and shimmering glass-fiber yarns to stately floral-print failles and finely-textured satins. Drapery materials should not be too heavy or bulky, so that they may be drawn back and forth easily. Sturdy traverse rods help make these draperies practical. Draw draperies are particularly suited to bedrooms because ventilation, light and privacy are very important in these rooms. In bedrooms it is more necessary that the draperies rather than the glass curtains be of the traverse type.

It stands to reason that if you have a large window you have a good view, and you will not want to obscure it with curtain fabric hung over any portion of the glass. Have your draperies hung at the sides, like portions of the frame, ready to be drawn when you choose. One way of treating a picture window with east or west exposure (where glare is not so great a problem) is to frame the window with a rodless valance on all four sides that is, with shirred and ruffled material attached to parallel rods or one rod, or with a backing of pleated heavier material such as mattress ticking tacked to the frame.

Exposure is important, as glare and light vary, depending on the way the window faces. A southern exposure, which affords heat and maximum light, is favored in modern homes, and glass curtains are important with this exposure as an aid to cutting glare. If your materials are not sun fast, it is wise to line draperies hung at this exposure, as the lining may be renewed thus adding years of service to the fabric. Soft mellow tones may be selected, as the sunlight itself adds brilliancy. For northern exposures warm tones of yellow, orange, and brown are the best choice, especially in bleak northern parts of the country. Light filtering through warm-toned glass curtains may cheer the darkest corners. East light is colder than west light, and warm colors should predominate.