Design Dilemma,Windows & Walls | August 28, 20072 Comments

Design Tip Tuesday: Window Treatment

Today’s Design Tip concerns window treatments for a living room. Design Hole reader Jonis Pola doesn’t like a lot of colors and wants a formal look for this room. She was thinking of hanging some sheers with a brown fabric in front, but struggled to find a color or neutral that works with the wall color.

Okay, let’s examine what we’ve got here. First, this room has beautiful architectural features. The moldings are substantial, which you don’t often find these days. The furnishings are tasteful and I like the shag carpet. The mix of shag carpet with the velvet add some nice textural elements. Since taking the photo, Jonis added a couple of Mitchell Gold tables (left) on either end of the sofa, and a different Mitchell Gold table to sit between the chairs.

The one problem with the room is too much of one color in the same value. In other words, too much dark brown. The sofas and tables are all dark brown. Monochromatic color schemes are great so long as you vary the value throughout the room.

I think another problem is in trying to match things perfectly. A valuable rule in interior design is to choose the paint color last. You can match a paint color to anything, but not the other way around. So, the first thing we need to do is give up on the idea of finding a fabric that will perfectly match the wall color. It’s not necessary anyway. As long as we find a fabric that, in this case, has the same warm tones as the rest of room, it will look great even if it doesn’t match.

Jonis has a nice, contemporary room here. I recommend a contemporary feel to the window treatment, too. Here are two choices.

The first is a grommet panel, like this one from West Elm. A panel with either large or small grommets will give a clean, contemporary line.

Another style choice is this one from Restoration Hardware. It’s a flat panel, hung from rings. Again, a clean line with some fullness.

Now for the fabric. Jonis doesn’t like a lot of colors, but this room is screaming for it. I strongly suggest introducing a color other than brown. Jonis needs to decide what that color will be. I like the panel from Restoration Hardware. The blue goes with everything and it has the brown to tie the two together.

For a custom look Jonis will need to have the panels made. Here’s a fabric I’d recommend. Robert Allen has a new line designed by Larry Laslo. The palette is mostly neutral with a touch of color – perfect for someone like Jonis. The stripe here is from the Sunlit collection and it’s called Harmonize. The color is Citrine.

The fabric in this photo is railroaded, meaning it’s made with the stripe moving the other way. If Jonis doesn’t like this particular stripe or color then I’d suggest shopping for one she does like shop either through a designer (yes!), or at quality fabric shop.

Finally, I’d recommend taking the accent color and using it in other areas throughout the room such as accent pillows, a vase or lacquered box, etc. This will pull the look together and give it a finished look.

I hope this rather lengthy solution helps Jonis finish her living room. So many things go into choosing a window treatment. But I hope this makes the decision making a little easier. Don’t forget to send me a photo of the completed room! And if anyone has a fabric or style they’d like to suggest add a comment and let us know what it is.