Do your Drapes Need a Refresh? Here’s What’s Trending…
BWS Design • December 3, 2018
There is no better way to spruce up a room than changing the window treatments, especially the drapes. With so many eye-catching ideas, everyone will think you totally redecorated, especially if you move the furniture around. Look around your room for a new color or pattern idea.
It’s All About Light-Weight Layering
Going into the New Year, living rooms and bedrooms are being adorned with multi-colored layering. It is two, three and even four colors being layered together. Beautiful fringes, chords, and tassels are used to design dramatic scallops and angles to make every home unique.
Living Rooms that Entertain
Many people still enjoy having an elegant room for entertaining their guests. You can dress up your room with dramatic draperies.
- If your living room is painted in a white, beige or light color, deep colored drapes mixed with lightweight, sheer inserts is always a beautiful way to be bold, but allow light to come into a room. Using multi-colored panels can also be a way of pulling in different colors you want to highlight from your furnishings. It doesn’t have to be totally symmetrical with dramatic swoops and angles.
- If you have furniture that is mono-colored, you can pick up that color with your drapes and select a light-weighted and patterned insert. Dramatic toppers can add a bold look
- If you want the hardware part of the decor, there are beautiful bronze, gold, and wood rods, and ends that can a dramatic look. Adding elegant, chorded ropes and tassels of gold or bronze can make a rich look.
Family Room Where Everyone Hangs Out
- A lot of homes have grown accustomed to a white family room with built-in shelves and hearths. The walls and furniture are neutral tones. If you have a few throw pillows with a bright color, that would color the room and break up the neutral tones. Again, layering heavier-colored, outside panels with lighter sheers in the middle is a great way to allow a softer light into an already bright-white room.
- If your family room has the warmth of woods, lighter toned curtains would be best. Depending on your furniture, you can use light-colored patterns. If you have heavy, dark furniture, large stripes that run horizontally with soft-toned colors is a classic look.
Kitchen Windows Are for Gazing
Most people don’t like closing off their kitchen windows, especially when the windows are over the sink. It’s always relaxing to look out when we’re doing the dishes. Some people have beautiful bay windows that welcome in the morning light. Depending on how your kitchen faces the rising and setting sun, you may want to be able to dim some of that sunlight.
- For homes without the glare of the morning or afternoon sunlight, shear-type curtains are perfect in the kitchen.
- For kitchens that are soaked with the morning sun, sun-blocking materials are available. You can even use the cafe curtain idea with a bit of flair using a bold color panel on the outside of two sheer panels. You may like the bold color as the top panel.
- For a bay window dressed with plantation shutters, four solid or patterned panels placed at the outside and inside frames are all you need to accent your kitchen’s decor.
- For smaller windows, window blinds that you can pull all the way up are also a great idea for the kitchen, especially for those kitchens with blinding sunlight. There are plenty of different ideas and types of blinds that offer a pretty print or light colors to allow sunlight to filter through into the room. The cafe-style curtains are always great to add just a bit of decor in your kitchen. The cafe curtain comes in many different looks, so it doesn’t have to look outdated.
Bedrooms – Fancy or Plain
Many master bedrooms, especially those with a lanai and pool, have large slider doors. Along with blinds or shutters for privacy, drapes and curtains make a bedroom cozy and play a big part of the decor.
- For those big sliders, many people have a sliding blind of some type for privacy and to keep out the morning sun for those days when you actually get to sleep in. Again, layering would give you a way to add a couple of colors for a simple or dramatic look. There are many cornice board designs to hide the top of your sliders for a crisp and clean look. A simple and bold look is using those curtains with the big loops hanging on a beautiful rod.
- The smaller bedroom windows where you use a panel design on the sliders can be dressed with just a single color taken from the sliders.
- If your bedroom only has a couple of windows, you can make them appear bigger with cornice boards, long panels with sheer lace covering the window panes.
Just Blinds Can Help You Create A Refreshing New Look
With over 30 years of experience in the Central Alabama area, our creative team at Just Blinds, Inc. has been helping homeowners design and create exciting changes with window treatments whether through custom blinds, shades, plantation shutters and all types of window fashions. Our in-home consultations are free. We are always excited to see our customers love their homes all over again and again with a refreshing new look through the windows. Let us help you envision the new look.
Expert Advice by Just Blinds
Sunshine can fill any room with a warm glow. It provides natural light and can even lift your mood. But there may be some rooms where you want both privacy and sunshine at the same time. You shouldn't have to block out the light to enjoy private rooms in your home. For these moments, having the right blinds or drapes can make all the difference. The answer is in sheer privacy, sheer and semi-sheer materials that let in the light without allowing others to see through your windows. This is your guide to private sunshine: how to enjoy your privacy and warm natural light in any room. Why Sheer Privacy Matters There are many situations where sheer privacy is ideal. Bedrooms are warm and welcoming when filled with natural light, but privacy is paramount. Sheer window treatments can also bring sunshine into your living room without broadcasting family activities to the neighborhood. And if natural light helps you stay focused in your office, you can maintain professional security without worries by hanging sheer blinds and drapes so your computer screen is never visible through the window. How can you achieve this perfect balance of sunshine and privacy? There are several types of blinds and drapes that can meet your needs. Woven and Fabric Blinds The right fabric or woven blinds can provide the perfect balance between light and privacy. Woven and fabric blinds are rarely completely opaque. Depending on your choice of material and weave, you can determine both how much light shines through and the level of visibility in your sheer material. Fabric blinds use woven fabric to block visual access through your window while also acting as a diffuser for the sunlight. Woven blinds are made of grass or reeds and provide a similar effect. This can be used to cast gentle glowing light into your room at slightly dimmer-than-normal levels while showing silhouettes or less. Slatted Blinds and Plantation Shutters The most traditional answer is slatted blinds and plantation shutters. These methods use opaque angled slats that open to allow in some light without creating an easy line-of-sight from anywhere that a person outside might reasonably be standing. Slats pointed up or down welcome sunshine from various angles during the day but cannot be seen through until the slats are nearly horizontal. Slatted blinds hang from the top, and the angle of the slats is controlled with a cord system. Today, pull cords and hanging loops are no longer used. Instead, a control wand or motorization is used to enhance home safety and convenience. Plantation shutters are wood structures that are permanently installed or fold out over your windows. The slats are structured and controlled by pushing a ridge bar on the back of the shutter slats themselves. Honeycomb Blinds Honeycomb blinds are a type of fabric blinds that use honeycomb cells to provide greater insulation. Honeycomb blinds are not just energy-efficient, they also provide greater privacy by implementing layered fabric to create the honeycomb air pockets. At the same time, the fabric used can bring in sunshine and act as a diffuser to spread gentle sunshine through your room. The honeycombs themselves also diffuse any silhouettes or shadows that might be seen through the fabric of the blind for greater privacy inside your rooms. Semi-Sheer Drapery If you prefer drapes, you can also select a sheer fabric as the innermost layer for your draperies. The fabric and the folds of the drapes combine to provide both a diffuser for sunshine and privacy. Drapery is the most likely to reveal shadows and silhouettes, but a style with more folds when the sheer layer is closed can obscure shapes and activities within to provide the privacy you need. Private Sundrenched Rooms with Just Blinds If you are looking to enjoy diffused sunshine and keep your rooms private at the same time, Just Blinds can help. Contact us today to explore your options for sheer privacy design with custom window treatments.
Every year, the leading paint and decorator brands release their Color of the Year. Each organization theorizes which colors will be at the peak of interior design trends for the next 12 months, and the 2025 Colors of the Year have been released. If you want your interior decor to match the mood of the year with the latest magazine-spread designs and eye-catching arrangements, now is your chance. 2025: A Year of Bold and Somber Tones 2025 rings in a year of regally subdued tones. They are at once both bold and somber, creating relaxed yet elevated living spaces through strong colors and muted hues. This is a marked contrast from the light and airy palette created by the colors of the year from 2024 featuring soft pinks, warm honeys, and renewing blues. This year, the leading tones are dark red, deep purple, and dusty neutrals that make a space feel at once both cozy and formal. Stately Reds If you love dark reds from brick to mohogany, then this is your year. Both Behr and C2 have named dark yet natural-tone reds as their colors of the year. They are perfect to make a room feel luxe and stately without the overwhelming quality, making these reds the perfect base color for walls and a great accent in an elegant room. Rumors by Behr - A dusty red that is both light and dark at the same time. This muted town is a smooth, creamy rendition of faded brick that looks perfect with warm colors and red-hued wood furniture. Raku by C2 - A bold, dark mahogany red that looks great for interiors and exteriors inspired by the ancient Japanese tea ceremony. Regal Purples Purple is back in bold refrain for 2025 interior design. Between Violet by Minwax and Purple Basil by Glidden, you have an incredible palette to create the most regal of interiors, from primary colors to accents that pop. We love these rich tones that make any room stand out from the typical warm tones and neutrals that have ruled the roost for a decade. Violet by Minwax - Violet by Minwax is not your typical violet. It is a deep, rich aubergine, the color of royal robes and the most luxurious paint. This majestic color will stand out no matter how you use it. Purple Basil by Glidden - Purple Basil is a dusty reddish lavender that shares tones with charcoal and plum. It is somehow both somber and cheerful, warm yet subdued. Purple basil is a wonderful color for both primary walls and bold trim without overwhelming the space. Relaxed Blues Last year, blues were bright and full of energy with an aqua-green undercurrent. This year's blues are more relaxed, blending well with neutrals whether you're looking for a chill space or a summer tone. Quietude by HGTV / Sherwin Williams - Quietude is the eggshell of blues. It is soft and faintly blue in hue while still giving the light neutral feel of a nearly-white painted room. It has the faint hues of a lightly cloudy sky. Encore 8002 by Valspar - Encore 8002 is a bold, rich blue on the cheerful side of royal blue. It's deep but not dark, embracing what makes blue such a great color for decor. Mapped Blue by Dutch Paint Boys - Mapped Blue reflects green-blue theme of last year but with this year's dusty trend. It's soft and comforting but with a touch of surprise that's not your everyday medium blue. Subdued Neutrals While red, purple, and blue may be our boldest tones, it's neutrals that rule the 2025 Color of the Year list. From deep yet soft Truffle to warm almost-pink cinnamon, you will find a surprisingly gorgeous palette of neutrals to work with as primary, accent, and rich detail tones in any room design. These colors can fall into the background or make your room pop. Truffle by Stainmaster - Truffle is the darkest of the 2025 neutrals, blending honey with charcoal for a warm bold tone that looks amazing in boho or minimalist styles. Mochi by Little Greene - Mochi is a warm medium neutral that naturally supports wooden furniture of all hues. It has undertones of milkey coffee but reflects light in a way that still brightens a room. Caramelized by Dunn-Edwards - Caramelized is a tone that approaches boldly from the cheerful side, reminding us of dessert landscapes and faintly orange sunset skies. Cinnamon Slate by Benjamin - Cinnamon Slate is a soft neutral that is just this side of dusty pink. It's described as a dreamy, velvety purple and brown that can add subtle richness to any space. Mocha Mousse by Pantone - Mocha Mousee is a sophisticated neutral that reminds us of soft earth and smooth wood. Using the Colors of the Year to Inspire Your 2025 Interior Design These colors aren't just for paint, they can be used to enhance every element of your space. One of the best ways to introduce diversity and annual color trends into your home is through blinds and drapes. Choosing the perfect blinds can update your style to magazine-worthy arrangements for every year and season. Find the latest colors and styles at Just Blinds today.