Much Ado About Window Treatments

I promised to reveal my collection, and I will shortly. This has been bugging me all day though, so I decided to share while my search continues for ideas.

I'm stumped on the window treatments for my old bedroom. I've been searching for ideas, but so far it's been challenging :

1. The room is small. Just over 80 square feet to be exact. The windows are already the focal point, located directly opposite the door. Anything too extravagant will overpower the entire room.
2. The windows are tall, nearly reaching the ceiling and just over a foot off the floor.
3. My mother would like the solution to act as insulation against the cold in winter. They are in the 'snow belt' after all.

Here are a few ideas I'm pondering....

Roman blinds, or similar.

The window sill is huge, so these could be mounted close to the window without too much trouble. (I also really like this "living window" idea from The Nest).

Sheer Curtains.

The right curtains will pull a colour scheme together perfectly in a room. I like these sheer panels because they provide both an air of subtlety and colour to the room. Can sheer curtains help the heating bill is the next question. My instinct is no, but I may have to ask an expert on this one.



























Blinds + Curtains.

Jon & Sherry over at Young House Love (my all-time fav blog) love pairing blinds with curtains. I love you can use this look to create a 'perfect window', but I wonder if it would be as effective in my small room. Would too many treatments create a 'heavy' feeling?














Nothing at all.

It works here in this farmhouse at Country Living. It's worked in this room for 26 years. Perhaps it's also an option. As a guest room, however, the yard below is a busy spot during any season and even I would like more privacy than this provides.














Whatever solution I find, I plan to duplicate in my brother's old room. It's also a small room (only 10 1/2 ' x 8') with ambitions of being a guest room when it grows up. But, one project at a time, as my mom would say.

Progress so far:
- 2 coats of paint
- Tentative wallpaper picked out
- Bed linens purchased
- Ceiling collection down (mom wants me to paint the ceiling... ick that sounds, in no way, fun)

Days to go:
Officially - 2
Realistically - 1...  New Years Day will not be a productive day, I suspect!

Curtains Versus Blinds

So, I finally got around to putting curtains up in my bedroom. This was after weeks of knocking the curtain rod over and one year staring at vertical blinds that were as complete as a hockey player's smile.

I decided to put the curtains up for a variety of reasons. Well, really only two. The primary being safety. With wandering neighbourhood kids and two houses behind me, it was probably about time that I gave up my strategic dance to stay hidden from view by the (sparse) blinds.

The second reason was to try to keep some more heat in my house this winter. Imagine my (non) surprise to discover that the patio door wasn't installed straight, and there was almost literally a gap at the top! After jamming a piece of wood against the door to push it tight to the frame, and adding caulk around the outside, the curtains were my final step to prevent further heat loss (and higher gas bills)!

I am very happy with the change. Though it does have its drawbacks; I've slept in twice now because my room is dark in the morning and I don't get up. I also miss seeing the weather. Last night I opened the curtains so I could fall asleep with the soft glow of freshly fallen snow outside.

Lastly, I still have the vertical blinds. Until throwing them down the basement stairs (for lack of better options), I contemplating hanging them in my office. However, if vertical blinds were not tacky enough (these ones are), they are missing even more panels now than when they were in my room. Can you even get new panels for vertical blinds? Does anyone even buy vertical blinds anymore?