From the Floors Up

Six Signs It Is Time Replace Your Window Treatments

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When was the last time that you really took a close look at your window coverings? You will find that after some years, blinds, shades, and other types of window treatments start to become worn. Many homeowners switch out their window treatment after 7-10 years. If you cannot even remember the last time that you have upgraded your window solutions, you should inspect them for wear and tear. When window treatment becomes damage, they do not perform their primary function. Here are some signs that it is time to replace your window treatments:

Difficult to Operate

Are you finding that it is becoming increasingly difficult to raise or close your blinds? Over time the lifting mechanisms on blinds become damaged when the blinds stretch out and get too wide for the mechanism to support. When it becomes nearly impossible to operate your blinds, you can expect them to fall off of the window eventually. It is best to replace them as soon as possible.

Bent Slats

Exposure to heat and humidity over a prolonged period of time can cause the slats to warp and bend. It may even cause the slats to take on a wavy form. When your slats start to take on such an appearance, you should replace them as soon as possible because it sticks out like a sore thumb and will decrease the aesthetic value of your home.

Broken Slats

If you live in a home with children and pets, you can also expect your blinds to get bent out of shape eventually or even broken. In high traffic areas, your curtains and shades may even experience rips or tears. If this is in the case, you want to consider more durable window solutions.

Discolored Slats

So the slats are not looking as pearly white as they once did. If you have noticed that your blinds have a yellowish tint that it is impossible to get all the way clean, then it is definitely time for some new ones.

Not Meeting Your Needs

If your window coverings are no longer blocking out the sunlight or giving you the privacy you need, that means it is time to upgrade to something more functional.

Kid-Friendly

Blinds with long cords are a safety hazard for small children. If your window treatments are not safe for the children in your home, then you will have to upgrade to updated coverings with safety features.

We hope you found these tips helpful! Be sure to subscribe for more design tips and tricks.

Shutters Create Soft Mood

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Shutters

Window coverings can be one of the most challenging design choices in a home. Balancing light access, privacy, cost and design benefits can be complex. In the meantime, you may be living with sheets tacked to the walls with painter’s tape.

This space shows some of the advantages of shutters. The look is clean and inviting, and light is completely under your control. A simple adjustment of the louvers allows you to let in plenty of daylight without compromising privacy. And the light provided is soft and appealing.

This corner feels like a perfect place to settle on a summer Saturday morning. The white-on-white style is well suited to the filtered sunlight, and yellow-green accents keep the space feeling cool and clean. You can curl up and read a book – the light is just right – or talk with the person sitting in the matching chair on the other side of you.

Notice that there are just a couple of features in other colors. The dull silver of the labels is a good foil to the green, and the little turquoise-colored box on the top shelf pops gently in comparison to the other hues. Someone spent some time planning this corner, and the shutters provide just the right background for this design.

If you’re planning your window coverings, why not consider shutters? They can be custom-made to suit any size or shape of window, and provide a wealth of options in terms of color and materials. They make a great companion to almost any design, and can be a major contributor to the overall look and feel of a space, as this corner shows.

Choosing the Right Window Treatment

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18055454_SWhether you have just moved into a new home or are redecorating a room in your house, choosing the right window treatment can make or break your decorating scheme. There are so many options when it comes to treatments so you’ll need to do your homework to decide if you want blinds, shades or draperies.

Keep in mind the style of the house, your budget, the room the windows are in, and, of course, the windows themselves. Large draperies will look overpowering on small windows, while blinds on large windows may be overwhelming. Think about your color scheme when selecting the treatments.

You also want to think about how easy your window coverings will be to keep clean. Options for blinds include plastic, faux wood or aluminum. With regular dusting and an occasional wipe down with a damp cloth, blinds are fairly easy to maintain. If you pick heavy draperies they will need to be washed or dry-cleaned a couple of times a year.

Do you want your window treatments to provide privacy and block the light or do you want them purely for aesthetic reasons?

To get ideas look through home magazines, go through model homes, surf the web and look at what your friends have done. You definitely want a foundation of what you love before you start looking in stores.

Most importantly, measure, measure, measure! You don’t want to purchase a window covering, get ready to install it and then find out that it doesn’t fit or isn’t long enough.

Before You Order Window Coverings – 101

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$%#@! I measured and it still doesn’t fit! Sound familiar? Why is it that something so seemingly simple as hanging a window covering can be so dang complicated? Here is a quick list of tips to consider as you measure – BEFORE you purchase or order your window coverings. Yep, guesstimating isn’t going to work most of the time.

Keep in mind that each window covering is going to require different measurements.

Each window covering has its own installation process. If you don’t measure exactly, your covering may not function properly.

Each and every window must be measured. Don’t take shortcuts!

This seems like a no brainer but here it is anyway: An inside mounted window-covering houses the window covering inside the window casing.  An outside mounted window-covering fits around or outside the window casing.

Window sheers can be installed with an inside or outside mount depending on the window molding and sill construction. It’s the depth of a window casing that determines whether or not a window covering can be installed with an inside mount. It’s important to know if your window casings are level. If not this can be corrected by installing shims – thin wedge shaped pieces of material.

Normally sheers are mounted inside the window casing. Curtains are mounted outside and the last part to be installed over the curtains is the valance.

Then of course there are variations such as an inside/outside mount. In this case the mounting bracket and head rail are installed inside the window casing, but they are not fully recessed, meaning a portion of the head rail will not be completely flush with the face of the window.

So get out your tape measure and be as exact as possible!

2011 Design Trend: Metallic Surfaces

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Hunter Douglas resident design experts, Jen & Sally, give their top ten insights for what’s going to be hot on the interior design scene in 2011. One of the trends they called and we are already seeing a lot of is a throwback to past eras of when the theatrical and dramatic glamour of metallic surfaces was all the rage. “Alluring and theatrical, metallic surfaces are back in style. You’ll see them as primary and secondary design elements throughout the home, from stainless steel furniture to gold leaf accessories.”

The trend hasn’t been lost on Hunter Douglas product designers either. You’ll find metallic finishes on hardware, blinds and many other products. Their blinds in particular are expertly made and give off the glamorous glint of precious metals. The following collections offer the widest variety of metallics:

Alustra Modern Precious Metals—available in ten metallic finishes such as aluminum, brushed aluminum, champagne pearl, twilight pearl and bright gold, Their  2” slat surface reflects the light beautifully when open and gives a good amount of privacy control at night. Use in any room and add a few metallic accents such as mirrored furniture or window side panels hung on metal hardware in bright metallic finishes.
http://www.hunterdouglas.com/imagine_wrapper.jsp?sessionid=AB694CC8641E5CF1CF0BBD9749B600CD&ref=http://www.hunterdouglas.com/design-trends.jsp%3Fso%3Dtn

Somner Custom Vertical Blinds—available in six metallic finishes such as bright aluminum, antique gold, bronze and golden honey. The 3 ½ vane size allows for a lovely glow for daytime and a privacy control of 5. Be sure to visit the link above to see all of the swatches. These are also great for any room especially the bedroom and living area.
http://www.hunterdouglas.com/imagine_wrapper.jsp?sessionid=AB694CC8641E5CF1CF0BBD9749B600CD&ref=http://www.hunterdouglas.com/design-trends.jsp%3Fso%3Dtn

From the Floors Up

From the Floors Up blog was created with the goal of providing a destination for consumers, designers and those interested in the flooring, design, and kitchen and bath industries. Here you’ll find, current, accurate and informative information that is always just a click away!

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