Windows, they are so lovely aren’t they?  I especially love mine when they are clean!   Windows let in the warm sunshine, the gentle breeze and the mysterious night sky.  They protect us from the outside elements and allow us to pear out, even on the coldest of days, as if in a snow globe watching intently as the flakes come down.

Windows work so hard.  Why not choose to dress them in the manner that they deserve.  The process to dressing a window is so similar to the approach when creating a couture dress.  The measuring, designing and selecting of the “perfect” fabric. The thoughtfully placed hem.  The pleats, the drape and the interlining.  All essential elements that add to the glamour of the dressed window.   Just like that dress, your dressed window, will make you feel like a million bucks!

A window should be dressed towards the final stages of putting a room together.  After you have selected all of the furnishings, lighting and accessories.   

I created a short list to ponder when designing and dressing your windows.

  1. What role in the room do your window dressings need to play? Is there a practical purpose or are they purely “icing on the cake”? 
  2. Do you need complete privacy, semi-privacy, or do you have a private view that allows you to do sheers?
  3. Does your room get cold? Do you need to implement interlining for added insulation?  Window dressings act as an effective room insulator in cold and hot temperatures.  Personally, I love interlining no matter how warm a room may be.  I love the drape of the fabric when the panels are interlined.  Much like the couture skirt that cascades down to kiss the floor.
  4. Window dressings, when installed, should be brought as close to the ceiling as possible. This is a great way to bring the eye up creating an illusion of more height in the room.  
  5. Is there an echo in your room? Fabric absorbs sound. 
  6. Is your palette void of pattern? Needs a note of color?  Selecting a gorgeous pattern that you love for the windows is a great way to bring in a more of your own personal taste.
  7. Last but not least, dress your windows because it makes you happy! For that, there will never be regrets.

**Content gathered from my 25+ years as a residential interior designer through lectures, books, articles and my own personal experience.