Curtain Call
Thank you so much for tuning in today. It’s that time again, when we dive into the world of interior design. As you go about your home, making updates, upgrades, and style choices - knowledge is power. And this podcast is a library of information for you to use at any point in your home upgrade process, whether you are just dreaming, knee deep in a renovation, or maybe even thinking about studying interior design on a more dedicated level. Each episode of this podcast is short, sweet, and nutrient dense, jam packed full of information - and you can listen leisurely or with an astute ear, and you can alway come back to an episode to revisit a topic when it becomes pertinent in your life.
The vast majority of interior design elements, as fun and decorative and stylized as they are today, originate from exceptionally functional, simple accommodations for basic human needs. In the case of today's topic, for example, many of us do not rise promptly with the sun in the morning, we love to take naps in the middle of the day (I said love to, not that we always have the opportunity to), and we need a little protection from those chilly winter winds. That’s why window coverings are so prevalent in home interiors today - they serve us on so many levels. Over the years, the selection and variety of window coverings has ballooned to a 30 billion dollar industry. So, there’s no shortage of styles or stores when you begin looking for the things that will keep the 4pm sun out of your face during your much deserved nap. Making an informed decision about the type of window covering you choose is critical, and it's important to go in armed with knowledge before you start the shopping process. Otherwise, you'll just get a schmoozy pitch for the sale item of the week at the store of your chose. In this episode we are going to cover the full lexicon of window covering speak, pro’s and con’s of every major style, and a little bit of history, just to keep things in perspective.
But first, let’s talk about the color of the week. There are so many details about the origin of Valentine's Day, but I love the idea that we associate the color red and red roses with the holiday because roses were the favorite flower of Venus, the goddess of love. That's why this weeks color of the week is Pantone 1797 a true, red rose hue. Red is notoriously tricky to work with in interior design, but I like to treat it the same way I would a bright red lipstick - let it be as loud as it wants to be, but use sparingly. A red area rug is surprisingly adaptable and can work in many rooms. Keep the rest of the color palette in the space warm and neutral - wood tones, whites and creams, and only attempt this in rooms with tons of natural light. Then, you can think about adding a twist of bright blue for some Memphis vibes. This look feels classic and edgy at the same time, it can work for families or roommates alike. I worked in a design office in San Francisco that had wall-to-wall red carpet all throughout the office. All of the desks were made out of a light maple toned wood and the walls and ceilings were bright white, flooded by huge loft style windows. The office felt so chic and open, but casual at the same time. Don't snooze on the red carpet.
It’s hard to imagine, but prior to the 13th century BC, glass had yet to be invented, and windows were actual holes in buildings - completely open and exposed to the elements. These were helpful in letting in sunlight and air flow, which was critical in warding off disease, but they created all kinds of challenges, as you can imagine. Anyone inside a building with a “window” was exposed to wind, rain, cold, hail, snow, critters, noisy neighbors, and nosy neighbors. The earliest creative solution was to hang animal hides across these openings, allowing for protection from some these nuisances.
As time went on, the earliest trend setters - castle-dwelling royalty - kicked it up a notch, as they do, and started hanging more lux textiles imported from far away lands across their stone-cold castle windows. This started to put the window covering fashion movement into motion, and it’s been barreling forward ever since.
Window coverings are sometimes referred to as window “treatments”. This blanket terminology encompasses a world of items, from loose fabric curtain panels to architectural shutters that have been in a home for hundreds of years. The terminologies are more or less interchangeable, but the word “coverings” refers to more pragmatic applications, and “treatments” elicits more a decorative approach. Consideration for aesthetics is critical, but keeping in mind function will help ground the decision process once you get into the granular elements. Or, to quote Louis Sullivan - “form follows function.”
Just as early peasants used window coverings to protect them from the elements, today we still incorporate these into our homes for a variety of reasons. As with any design problem, the path to a solution begins with defining a goal. The main pain points that window coverings help us with are:
Controlling Sunlight
Blocking Drafts
Visual Privacy
Acoustic Privacy
Aesthetic Softness
Take a look at your specific situation and rank these in priority from one to five. Then we embark on our journey through the types of windows covering you will encounter on websites, catalogues, and in stores.
Let’s start by shedding some light on the difference between two major categories - curtains and drapery. These two types of window coverings can have very similar appearances and often get lumped together because ultimately they give the affect of long, straight bolts of fabric hanging in front of a window, but there are technical differences that affect how they function and their abilities.
Curtains are single panels of a fabric, usually on a rod, that stretch across a window opening. They may be attached to the rod in a variety of ways, including grommets, hooks, or a sewn in casing that goes directly around the curtain rod. They can be doubled or tripled up to create more volume. The fabric may be sheer or opaque, but it’s never lined with another fabric, and the panels are never seamed together. The hardware is always very rudimentary. Curtains are ideal for renters and temporary situations because the hardware is easy enough to install and this one of the more affordable window covering options. It’s great for controlling sunlight(when an opaque fabric is used), providing visual privacy, and adding aesthetic softness to a room. Curtains will not do much in the way of acoustic privacy or insulation from drafts.
Drapery is a custom sewn construction, with segmented panels seamed together and often lined, on a sliding track system that requires some type of hardware or handle to open and close. This hardware may be manual like a simple wand or ball bearing chain - or it can be electric with a remote control system and pre-programmed settings. Rooms with ceiling heights over twelve feet function much better with drapery, as curtains this long are difficult to adjust. Drapery does it all - it gives great control to how much sunlight comes into the room, especially with multiple layers, it blocks drafts, gives extensive visual and acoustic privacy, and brings a major dose of softness into a space.
There are so many details, options, and accessories that come along with drapery design. One thing to remember that has a major affect on how both curtains and drapery appear is the idea of fullness. Fullness is the volume a panel of fabric has when it’s extended fully across the length of its track or rod. To determine fullness, start by getting this measurement, you need the exact length of the hardware system from which the window covering is being hung. Providing fabric that is twice the length of the hardware results in what is called 100% fullness. This allows the fabric to create ripples that make it appear rich and voluminous. If you were to use fabric that was exactly the length of the track, it would appear flat, and almost like a shade, so fullness is key to drapery. It’s common to see anywhere from 60% to 300% fullness depending on how traditional or soft the space wants to appear. The more volume, the more fabric, the more cost, so it’s definitely a balancing act. If you plan to keep your curtains or drapery open most of the time, this plays a factor as well. Opening the curtain will condense it, creating even more perceived fullness. It ultimately comes down to personal taste, but I tend to like 120% fullness for that deluxe, but not too fluffy vibe.
Fullness is also dependent on the way a drapery is pleated. Curtains will almost always be in a basic ripple fold which means that the fabric naturally doubles back on itself, think ramen noodles. But drapery can have structured pleats sewn into it - the same way pants can. Common drapery folds include the box pleat, the pinch pleat, and so many variations on these basics. Adding more structured pleats create a formal and traditional look to your windows.
If you look at old vintage interior design books there are usually whole pages dedicated to pleating techniques, valances shapes and tassel details. Words like Jabot and Swag may come to mind. Valances used to be an essential part of any window treatment, but you see them less and less these days. A valance is simply a structured box covered in fabric mounted in front of the drapery in order to hide the hardware. These have certainly fallen out of fashion as curtain and drapery hardware has become more concealable and smaller in size and nicer looking, removing the need for a box to cover it. I wouldn’t be surprised if these come back in a few years, because why not?
There is also the matter of fabric length. There are four basic curtain lengths - window sill, apron, floor length, and floor length with a puddle. Window sill curtains stop right at the bottom of the window, apron length extends about 4” past that, and floor length -surprise - goes to the floor. Adding 1-6” inches past floor length creates a “puddle” or a break that makes it look like you just had so much extra fabric to include in your fabulous drapery - it’s a very dramatic look that I love a lot.
With both curtains and drapery, consider the height of the rod or track. The right mounting height will vary greatly depending on the existing architecture in the room and the intricacy of the window casing. I say this all the time on this podcast but the goal is to hang your curtains as high as possible. If you're dealing with a recessed drapery track, this might mean hanging it on the ceiling. Of course you have to take into consideration whether or not you have a crown molding, the shape of the window, and the profile of the track. Short curtains make a room look short, so if long curtains or drapes don’t work for your space, consider a different style of window covering alltogether.
This brings us to the world of shades. In commercial interior designer, the roller shade is king. Roller shades are tubular window coverings that can be pulled down to fully cover the window or rolled up to let in maximum light. These shades can be fitted with a perforated fabric that let’s in light (aka a Solar shade) or with a completely opaque material (a blackout shade). The roll part of the shade can be not the cutest thing to look at, but it can be hidden away in a shade pocket in the ceiling, or of course in a valence. Roller shades are amazing for controlling sunlight and visual privacy, but they don't do much for adding any aesthetic softness, acoustic privacy, or blocking drafts. One of the reasons they're so popular in commercial design is because they are true work horses and they don’t add much to a space visually so they are fairly stealthy.
A softer option is the cellular shade - this is a fabric shade with a honeycomb structure. There’s a touch more softness to these and certainly more of an insulating affect. These are often sold with the feature known as top down/bottom up, meaning the shade can be contracted both from the bottom going upwards and from the top coming down. This is ideal if you need visual privacy but still want to let in lots of light from the top half of your window. Then on the far end of the spectrum is the Roman shade, which is highly decorative. This stepped fabric covering extends and contracts in sections, like a telescope, but looks graceful doing so. These are available in a wide variety of fabrics and have a distinctly traditional aesthetic. I can’t forget to mention the hyper fluffy Austrian shade, similar to the Roman, but with ballon like pleats running vertically every few inches along the shade. If you love victorian ball gowns, this is the shade for you.
If your main focus is to control sunshine and visual privacy, consider using blinds. Blinds provide a no-frills, easily adjustable solution, and come in many materials like metal, plastic, fabric, and wood (aka Venetian Blinds). The main down side to blinds they are dust collectors, but if you find stress relief in cleaning, they can be a very practical problem solver.
Another slatted option to consider is shutters. Operable shutters are less of an interior design solution, and more of an architectural feature that comes with historical style homes like Colonial and Cape Cod, originally protecting windows from heavy winds, but they serve as protection from sun and sight as well. Some of the older Brownstones here in Brooklyn have custom fit wood shutters on the inside, which is a huge value because that is one of the few window treatments that can be pasted from home owner to home owner. Plus, the charm factor is on high.
Lastly, we have the most minimal solution possible - window films. These are adhesive backed vinyl stickers that cling to the inside of a window. The look is very modern, they come in a variety of patterns, textures, and opacities. It's a quick and easy way to make the glass of your window look frosted or sandblasted, and many styles pull inspiration from Japanese Shoji screens. But a few things to keep in mind – these are a little tricky to install, if you're going to do it yourself make sure you watch some training videos before hand, do a practice run, and be ready to get your hands dirty. But, I have to recommend getting professional installers for these. Why? Wrinkles, bumps, and air pockets, oh my. The other thing to remember is that this is a semi permanent solution meaning you can't adjust how much light or privacy is coming in over the course of a day. It’s one and done deal.
That's the general overview of the most common types of window coverings, and one thing last thing I want to recommend, if it's possible in your space, is to consider layering multiple types of window coverings on top of each other for maximum options. Pairing a roller shade with sheer curtains, or Roman blinds with black out drapes offers you tons of combinations for light, privacy, sound, and insulation. I hope you are having an amazing day, keep up the awesome work, and I will talk to you next time.
