Some things to consider when selecting a window treatment are the overall feeling a room has and the look you want to convey. Is the room style formal or casual? Contemporary, traditional or somewhere in between? Another thing to think about is, at night the glass itself on the window looks "black" which can give a cold feeling to the room- check it out tonight. Also, if you have neighbors close by, chances are they can see right into your home when your interior lights are on. You might not be able to see them if it's dark out, but they can see you!
A window treatment has 2 parts: the part that gives you privacy and light control, and the decorative part. Let's first start by talking about privacy and light control.
It's totally up to you whether you think you need this part and if you do, to what degree. Furniture fading may not be an issue to you. You may be comfortable with the bare glass showing. Maybe you have great architectural details on the molding that you don't want to hide. Maybe you have a great view. Maybe you don't have any neighbors nearby. Maybe you don't mind the "black" glass at night. It's all up to you- you're the one living there!
Blinds and shades have come a long way so there are many options in this category. If you want some privacy, but you still want day light to come through the window, you could install a sheer or semi-sheer drapery or a honeycomb or pleated shade.
Sheers give you a diffused view of the outside- depending on the opacity of the fabric. With honeycomb or pleated shades, they are either up or down. If you want to see outside, you have to pull the shade up.
Some shades have a sheer material over them. They work like standard blinds in that you can close the vanes for privacy, but when they are in the open position, there is a sheer fabric in front. The advantage to this shade is that there will always be some type of covering on the window in the down and open position.
Relatively new are horizontal blinds made out of a fabric-like material. They open and close as wood or metal blinds do, but the material the vanes are made out of allows light to pass through in the closed position. The advantage to this type of shade is, when it's closed you get a soft diffused light coming through the material (as opposed to a more opaque look that a wood blind, shutter or horizontal blind would give you) and when it's open, you can see right outside eliminating the need to have to pull it up.
There are different levels of light control with each type of shade. Some offer room darkening as an option. Be careful though- room darkening is different from total blackout. With a room darkening shade, you will still see some light peeking through the vanes when they are closed. Wood blinds, metal blinds, shutters and others will do this.
Some window treatments combine both the privacy/ light control component and the decorative part. For example:
balloon shades, roman shades,
woven materials, draw draperies and more.
The shades can be pulled up and down to give you privacy and block the light when you need to. Draperies or vertical blinds can be pulled to one side, or open from the middle of the window. The decorative part is the shade itself, or the drapery itself- the fabrics and trims used are what make these treatments not only functional but beautiful.
A lot of clients have the concern that a decorative valance (top treatment) will block too much of their window, covering up the glass. That doesn't have to be the case. As long as the bottom of the valance hides the top rail of the shade or sheer curtain, you should be fine.
In other words, as long as you have enough room above the window to the ceiling, you could hang a valance 10" or more above the molding, blocking only a small amount of the window.
Shown below are just a few of the many styles of valances there are out there. They are: swags and jabots, a cornice with roman shade underneath, and a kingston valance over sheers.
Swags and jabots tend to be more formal and traditional- depending on the fabrics used. A cornice is a cleaner more contemporary look. A kingston valance can be casual or formal depending again on the fabrics.
I hope this was a helpful guide for you the next time you're in need of a window treatment!
