You will often see wonderful window treatments on the pages of glossy interior design magazines. Designers use a combination of window valances, curtains and blinds in creative ways to put together these images. The problem is that the houses that they show are generally of the kind that most of us can only dream about owning (or even renting). This means that it can be difficult to translate the “look” to our own home. For a start, our windows are likely to be smaller, our ceilings lower and our view less inspiring (or even all three) and the designers of these room sets do not have to deal with 2.4 children and a dog either when making an artful display.
The main thing is to look for trends and possibilities within the pictures. Perhaps the exact same valance and window treatment would not look good in your home but perhaps the theme would, whether it is a monochromatic black and white color scheme, a super simple window treatment or a fresh look for spring. You can usually do a version that would look right for your home, room and windows.
If the windows are vastly different in size from those in the picture, then experiment with proportions and see if you can get a similar effect as the designer achieved. Of course, you can’t go buying various valances for your windows just to experiment but you can cut out shapes in old wallpaper and pin them up to mimic the shape of the valance and any other window treatments or you can drape swathes of lining material over a pole to try and replicate the effect.
If your, view is not so good as that in the magazines don’t despair as wonderful valance window treatments can take attention away from the view outside and compensate for you not having a meadow or river in your back yard.