How To Cover Large Windows

Curtains tin go very, very wrong. If you become overboard, you end upwardly with something heavy and expensive and claustrophobic, like i of those getups Emerge Field wore in Lincoln. On the other hand, don't ignore them until too late, after all the remodel money has been spent. Like I did. With my husband threatening to thumbtack a bed sheet over the beautiful new windows "to stop the spying," I faced a drastic state of affairs.

"Let's review," said my husband, who likes his privacy. "How exactly did nosotros end up adding merely ii new rooms but 21 new windows?"

Um, the architect likes "light?" At least that'south what he said when he showed me the plans. It looked like a good thought on newspaper, also. All that lite. Of course, now that nosotros've moved in we practically have to walk effectually in sunglasses. Then what'south the solution (and how much did I end up spending)?

Photographs by Mimi Giboin.

Strategy No. 1: Don't panic. Instead, walk from room to room and evaluate each window calmly. As Brooklyn-based architect Frederick Tang puts it, "What do yous need from each of your windows? Is this a room where y'all desire to sleep in utter pitch darkness? Or do you alive somewhere where the site has privacy and your astonishing views are the affair you are concerned nigh?"

Strategy No. ii: Hang simple solid-color curtain panels.

Why cull curtains (instead of blinds, say, or shades) for some windows? Says Tang, "It is a archetype play a trick on to use curtains to enlarge the visual consequence of window. Frequently people volition place them bunched up a pes or 2 off to the side of window, and so volition look equally if a window is bigger."

To become the almost visual impact, "defunction look nicest when they get from the flooring all the way to the ceiling, even if the window is non full height," says Tang.

Strategy No. 3: Stitch your own. In my both my living room and guest sleeping room (to a higher place), twin panels frame the casement windows. These were pretty much the easiest sewing project evers. My friend Stephanie, who is an fantabulous seamstress as well as being an interior designer, drew me a blueprint on the back of an envelope. All I had to do was cut long lengths of fabric, sew together lining onto them, press, and hem.

The bespeak of these defunction was to absorb sounds and to add a layer of texture to the rooms. In the living room privacy wasn't a concern even for my hubby–it'southward a living room, after all–so instead of using a zillion yards of fabric, I made 2 56-inch-broad panels. I never "shut" them, and if I did, they wouldn't entirely cover the windows. In all, I used half-dozen yards of Cream Linen Fabric ($fourteen.99 a thousand from Ballard Designs).

To add weight and torso to the curtains, I lined each console with cotton Roc-Lon White pall lining ($4.nineteen a g from Jo-ann Fabrics).

Cost of the living room curtains: $125.

In a higher place: No need to sew a rod pocket. I attached clips to the acme of each console.

Cost of the living room curtain hardware: i Cambria Oil Rubbed Bronze Curtain Rod ($49.99) and four packages of Cambria Oil Rubbed Bronze Defunction Rings (currently on sale for $4.99 per package) at Bed Bath and Beyond, $ninety.

Strategy No. 4: Apply the money you saved in other rooms to splurge on custom shades or blinds for the bedroom.

In the sleeping room you don't want to skimp. You spend at to the lowest degree one-third of your life in this room, then you want skillful coverage: for privacy and to block the sunlight on Sabbatum morning when your hubby takes the dogs out and lets you sleep in.

In my sleeping room (above) are custom Roman Shades from The Shade Shop. Yous tin can salvage money here by measuring your windows yourself and installing your own shades after they make it (they're shipped in long paper-thin boxes to your firm).

The large question is always whether to hang shades (and blinds) on the outside of the window jamb or to recess them. Says Tang: "If the window jamb is deep enough, it'south overnice to hang them inside because it gives more of a custom look. It'due south more tailored and looks a little more finished."

For the recessed option, you need to cut the blind or shade precisely– within a quarter of an inch of the width of the window.

Total cost of 7 lined bedroom shades: $two,826.

Strategy No. 5: Some windows may not need annihilation. At my house, I identified 10 windows–in the kitchen and adjoining family room–that could remain bare. The view was nice, there was no need for privacy, and it was a cleaner await.

The trick to leaving windows blank, says Tang, is to be uniform. In a room, if you leave one window uncovered, you also should leave all the other windows uncovered because "yous don't desire ane to look like an orphan."

Another fashion to achieve an uncovered look is to call back ahead–far, far ahead–and to include in the remodel blueprint recessed curtain tracks or pockets for shades. "You tin build a pocket on a window, where essentially the trim above the window falls a little lower to hide the shade that's behind it," says Tang. Here's an example of the finished look, from 1 of his projects with a former firm.

Total cost: $0. (I know that's cocky-evident, simply the figure fabricated me then happy I couldn't resist typing it.)

Strategy No. vi: Inexpensive cut-to-order wooden or bamboo shades. In my home office (to a higher place), belatedly afternoon sun is a problem. it causes a glare on the estimator screen. Photograph by Michelle Slatalla.

"Windows that are due south-facing need more attention than windows that are north-facing, considering of lord's day," says Tang. "For situations like that, I like very unproblematic shades. It'due south amazing how many customized options there are that give you lot a lot of bang for your cadet."

Tang, who lives in a pre-war building in Brooklyn, covered his own windows with custom cutting shades from Home Depot. "They have a valence; I live in a very traditional house where that sort of detail is appropriate to the architecture."

My inside mount bamboo shades (above) came from Payless Decor, which offers a wide selection at budget-friendly prices. Later on I measured the windows and placed the order online, the shades and hardware necessary for installation arrived on the doorstep almost iii weeks later. They were easy to hang and fit perfectly.

Total cost of six Payless Decor bamboo shades (22.5 inches wide past 53 inches loftier): $193.81.

K total: $3,500.

And the windows expect so much nicer than if they were covered with bed sheets.

For more of Michelle's amateur adventures in home blueprint, see The Death of the Shower Curtain and My Worst Design Decision E'er.

Due north.B.: This is an update of a post published February 18, 2013 during our Film Fest week.