Viva Las Vegas

I recently returned from the International Window Coverings Expo in Las Vegas. I found some great new vendors with products to help make your home more comfortable. For example sun can be a real problem. It fades fabric, furniture and floors, puts a glare on the tv and heats up your room. I found a great source for motorized solar shades that have a much longer battery life. The shades can also operate manually if you misplace(!) the remote and you can do two shades together so you can have a solar shade to protect against the sun and another shade for night time privacy.

It's all in the details

I found a great new button detail to add to draperies or valances. It's a little something extra that adds interest to the treatment without adding a lot to the cost.

Keep the cold at bay

Did you know that window treatments can be great insulators? If your windows are feeling a little drafty a shade or drapery can help keep the cold out. Not only will they make your home feel more comfortable but it will also lower kyour energy bills.

My first blog!

Since taking by business to the next level I am enjoying finding great new products and ideas to personalize our homes. I found a great line of mirrors with lots of choices and I have a great place to get rugs. Now I'm on to finding the best furniture lines. And of course I still love looking at all the beautiful fabrics for window treatments and bedding.

If you're looking for holiday ideas there is a neat craft show this weekend at Cline's Plant Farm, 9820 Long Road in Ostrander. There will be lots of demonstations going on as well as great crafts for sale. My daughter-in-law will be personalizing adorable ornaments that she has hand painted. She is quite the artist!

Making a Room Appear Larger

Everyone wants their home to feel warm and inviting but we also want the room to appear larger. As a rule, we recommend mounting window treatments several inches above the window. For example, say you have an 8' ceiling height and you mount your window treatment under your crown molding or just below the ceiling, not only will the room appear larger but the ceiling height will appear taller as well.Another mistake a homeowner might make would be to add a cornice with a straight bottom and then mount that cornice at the top of the window. Below I have created a rendering with our "Minutes Matter Studio" graphic design software to illustrate the different look achieved when the cornice is mounted near the crown molding or ceiling opposed to mounting at the top of the window. See how much taller the ceiling height appears and how much larger the room looks.

Here is another design tip when trying to make a ceiling look higher. Add a shape to the bottom of the cornice. By adding movement to the bottom of the cornice it can trick the eye into moving up and down so the eye does not stop at the longest point of the cornice.

You could also accomplish extra height with drapery panels and a decorative rod. Notice the difference when you mount the drapery rod at the top of the window or when you mount the rod under the crown molding or near the ceiling.

We recommend giving every room that extra lift! Would you like to see how new window treatments could change your room? As part of our service we create renderings to help our clients visualize how new window treatments will look on their windows.