Dressed for Success – Home & Design Magazine

SOFT TOUCH

A living room combines Luminette Sheers on the left and Silhouette Window Shades on the right. Luminette features rotating fabric vanes and sheer vertical panels; Silhouette offers adjustable vanes that appear to float between sheer panels. Both Hunter Douglas products are available at Rockville Interiors.

How do you determine what type of window treatment to use in a space?
Our designers ask key questions to whittle down all the options. Are clients interested in making the treatment motorized? Do they want the design to be subtle and disappear, or do they want it to be a focal point in the room? We then show photos and videos of the best options and bring out fabric samples of each.

The elements in a room will help dictate whether to use shades or drapes.
—Tom Fulop and Ilan Fulop, Rockville Interiors

HANDS FREE

French doors are dressed in roller shades sporting a playful geometric pattern, part of Jonathan Adler’s collection for The Shade Store.

What are the latest trends in shades and how do you successfully layer them with draperies?
We have seen increased interest in motorized and automated treatments, especially those that integrate with smart-home systems. Automation by Lutron is one of our most popular products. Motorized shades can be minimal and modern, soft and traditional or anywhere in between. Layering motorized shades with motorized drapery is a great way to bring added depth and warmth to windows, as well as functionality and ease of use.

Extending your window treatment above and beyond the window boundary adds height and drama.
—Adam Skalman, The Shade Store

SIMPLE + SERENE

Custom drapery panels and an outside-mount Roman shade frame tranquil views in an Oxford, Maryland, bedroom. Everett Design, Inc., crafted these treatments using fabrics by Marika Meyer Textiles. The shades are lined with several all-cotton layers, which create a supple, rich look. When the panels are drawn together, the leading edges of the fabric flow in a continuous pattern. Architecture: Purple Cherry Architects. Interior Design: Marika Meyer Interiors. Photo: Angie Seckinger.

What are the advantages of custom window treatments?
Custom window treatments are complementary additions that are tailored to the proportions of a space. We thoughtfully look at a fabric and its pattern and incorporate couture touches, such as deep hems and pattern matching, that off-the-rack solutions do not provide.

Custom window treatments provide softness and balance while offering functional solutions.
—Gretchen Everett, Everett Design, Inc.

COTTAGE STYLE

In a traditional home, Shenandoah Shutters created custom plantation shutters to fit the bedroom’s porthole-style windows (left), painting them white to complement the coffered ceiling and trim. Shutters are a good option for specialty windows that may look awkward dressed in fabric. Interior Design: Heidi Brooks Interior Design. Photo: Darren Setlow Photography.

How do you help clients determine the shutter style that’s right for them?
Louvre size plays into the overall style of a plantation shutter. Two-and-a-half-inch louvres can provide a traditional, cottage feel. Larger, 3.5-inch louvres allow more of a view and an open feeling, while 4.5-inch louvres feel more modern and almost disappear. Unlike windows with blinds and shades, most homeowners feel no need to add a fabric treatment to their shutters.

Plantation shutters allow for privacy and sunlight at the same time.
—Marcia Biggers, Shenandoah Shutters