Major Blinds

The days are shorter, the nights longer — it’s time to stop looking through that bare, black hole of a window and get it ready for the upcoming winter and holiday season!

Raise Your Room Temperature!

As the temperature drops outside, adding color, texture and window treatments will dramatically change a room from cool to warm and cozy. Adding panels and a top treatment can be just the thing to warm up a room (lined treatments act as an insulator). It’s a perfect time to change out your existing window treatments with wood blinds or cellular shades — their insulating properties will keep rooms warmer all winter long (and cooler next summer!)

Soft Treatment Trends for the Winter Season

• French flip panels

• Unusual pleated headings on panels — inverted, goblets, cartridges, ruching

• Color-blocked columns of fabric

• Classic swags and cascades with dressmaker details

Holiday Decorating “Buzzwords”

You’ll be hearing a lot about these holiday decorating trends as the season approaches!

• Warmth

You’ll be seeing a lot of the warm side of the color spectrum — sumptuous reds, oranges, pinks, honeys and yellows. Create distinctive color schemes for the holidays with one or more of these colors. Pinks and reds are perfect for a nostalgic or Rococo-themed holiday.

• Retro/Pop
Op-art patterns, strong contrasts, graphic looks — the attitude that “The Future is Now!” Don’t discount the classic looks as produced by the great couture houses — Chanel (tweeds and boucles), Pucci, Courréges, Mary Quant. Think back to the 50’s and the flocked tree with pops of brilliant color for your inspiration. Retro/Pop looks work in traditional settings as a wonderful contrast that creates variety, making a room or window come to life.

• Shock
The colors aren’t new — clear, bright hues — but the interest is in the combination and schemes. Can’t find the right fabric for your holiday window decorating scheme? Create your own! Alternate panels in “shocking” combinations like fuchsia and berry, or coffee bean and citrine, on multiple windows.

• Applied
Layer design techniques and methods in the room and on the window. Layered, feminine, girly looks are window treatments hottest new trends!

It All Adds Up to Pretty Decorating!
Take a lesson from the fashion runway and consider tweeds, plaids and stripes mixed and matched in panels and top treatments.

Buy some of the fabulous new brooches and pin them on tab top panels or use as holdbacks — buy several and attach them all the way down the edge of stationary panels for a sparkling effect.

Add some of the wonderful, wired ribbons (found in the holiday decorating aisle) down the leading edge of your drape. Soften the edge with a ruffle in a fabulous silk or velvet. Just gather and finish the edge, then attach with double stick Velcro (so you can change it out at the end of the season).

Accessorize! Accessorize! Accessorize!

As you’d accessorize your outfit with shoes, bags and scarves, don’t forget to add accessories to your room — they’re a key ingredient to its design success.

• Complement your window treatments with pillows, runners, ottomans. Velvet throws with corded edges and tasseled corners in rich, dramatic colors are the perfect accessory for holiday. Think purple, berry, merlot, red.

• Dress up your existing draperies with swagged cording in an accent color or in one of the new metallics — silver, gold and copper — for holiday pizzazz. Change out your drapery rods in the same metals to reflect the romantic glow of candlelight at your dining table. A new pair of finials can change your room’s whole perspective — simply and easily.

• When you’re in the trim department, purchase an extra tassel or two for door knobs, to tie on a chair back, or wrap around a vase or candelabra. Remember to repeat an accent color or pattern at least three times for impact, and vary scale and size.

• Entertaining during the holidays? Buy some extra yardage when doing your windows and make 20″ napkins for those special occasions.

A Simple Idea

Still have a bare window — and no time to treat it? Shop for some wonderful handcrafted Christmas ornaments and sumptuous drapery rods and brackets. Hang the ornaments from the rod with fish line in front of the glass. Choose ornaments that sparkle and reflect light both day and night!

How to select the right window covering for your home

From comfort to convenience to aesthetics and durability, every aspect of what you expect from a window covering needs to be well-considered before you purFunctional Needs

• How will the space be used?

For working, relaxation, entertaining, formal or informal activities?

• Will there be children and/or pets in the room?
If so, be sure to consider cordless products for safety purposes.

• Do you need privacy?
How safe and secure you feel in your home may be directly related to your window treatments. We offer a complete range of products in a variety of privacy levels, from sheer to total privacy. Plus, some rooms may require more privacy than others, such as bedrooms and bathrooms.

• What is the window’s exposure?
If it has a southern or western exposure, the room could heat up more than you want, or the glare could fade furnishings and affect viewing of your TV or computer. We have many energy-efficient products designed to eliminate these concerns.

• How much light control do you need?
If light control is an issue, consider horizontal or vertical blinds — you can redirect the light or change the complexion of a room by rotating or tilting the slats or louvers.

• Do you want to maintain a view?
Consider the Bottom Up/Top Down option available on cellular, roman, pleated and natural shades. It allows you to lower the shade from the top to let in natural light while retaining the view and still providing necessary privacy.

• Do you open the window frequently, or want easy access for cleaning?
Always consider the function of the window as well as the design. If you are opening and closing the window often, wood blinds may be too heavy and while they are beautiful, you may wish to consider a lighter blind or shade.

• Are there interfering factors that may affect the window or architecture?
Consider window cranks, window air conditioners, baseboard heaters, light switches, wall sockets, crown moldings, beams, chair rails, etc.

Consider your decorative needs.

• What is the overall mood you wish to convey?

Casual, comfortable, elegant, sophisticated?

• Are the windows the focal point of the room, or are they a component of the background?

• What colors, textures and patterns do you prefer?

• What size is the room? How many windows in the room and are all the windows the same shape?
If you have a room with both windows and doors, consider using vertical blinds with coordinating 2″ horizontal blinds. Several of our products come with specialty shapes, such as arches and various geometric shapes, as well.chase your new blinds and shades.

Whether you’re working with a designer or selecting window coverings on your own, start by determining your functional needs, followed by your decorative needs.