What sort of room is it?
How you treat your living room window depends to a large extent on what sort of living room you have.
A place of calm and quiet, perhaps. Somewhere anyone can go and put their feet up, relax, read a book, or simply fall asleep.
Or is it a family room, with constant comings and goings, with family members doing different things.
Perhaps it's a more formal and elegant room, not used every day, a room for entertaining guests.
Now you can decide on your living room window treatment
Once you realize the sort of room it is, choosing your window treatment is easier.
A simple effect - a sheer fabric has been draped over poles. This way of treating your window is inexpensive, very practical (no curtains to pull open and shut) and only need cleaning occasionally.
For example: If it's a formal room, then a more traditional set of curtains and drapes may be just what you need. If it's more of a family room, then casual curtains hung from a pole would be more appropriate.
Or you may decide you want to keep it plain and simple. If you have attractive shutters, for example, it's often best not to have anything else to detract from them.
Perhaps your living room window is quite small, and other features in the room are more obvious. In this case, blend the window into the surroundings by using plain fabrics or shades which are close to the wall or ceiling colors.
Just because you may have a contemporary room doesn't mean you can't have drapes. These ones are hung from poles and are in keeping with the look and style of the room.
Out of interest, note the orange/brown trim just below the poles. If you cover this up, you'll see that the room looks quite different. Because the wall are high, putting this floor color up at this height provides a counter balance to the importance of the wood floor.
Here are some other ideas to consider
- What does your living room window suggest to you? Would it look better without any drapes, and are you just forcing fabric onto the windows because 'you've always done it that way'?
- Do you get a lot of sunlight which will fade any fabrics you use? Would the room benefit from some sheer fabric in the windows to diffuse the sunlight? Or what about shades?
- Is it a very practical room, or you want to make it just a little bit special? If it's practical, then use a practical solution for your window treatment, such as a roman shade or simple curtains which are left in position all the time. If you want the room to look elegant and a touch formal, then use more formal curtains, with valance or cornice box, or an attractive pole.
If you've decided you'd like to have curtains, then go here for more information on living room curtains.
Here a set of vertical shades or louvres provide privacy and protection from the sunlight. These shades are very practical, allowing almost full daylight into the room, but stopping all sunlight. They are often ignored in homes because they are associated with offices. But there are many attractive shade fabrics on the market today, so don't dismiss them out of hand.
