Blog Post

Kitchen Window Treatments for Specific Challenges

  • By Admin
  • 22 May, 2020
Beautiful Neat Kitchen — Salt Lake County, UT — House Of Drapery & Blinds

Today's kitchens offer a dizzying range of design and décor options, from sleek sophistication to homespun rustic charm. Your choice of kitchen window treatment will play a part in the room's aesthetics. At the same time, however, the right choice in kitchen window treatment can solve specific practical challenges as well.

If you find yourself struggling with a window-related issue that makes your kitchen's functionality less than ideal for your needs, you may need to try a new window covering strategy. Check out these solutions to common kitchen frustrations.

Need More Light? Choose Cafe-Style Curtains

Even a beautifully decorated kitchen can convey an impression of grim utility if it lacks a cheery supply of sunlight. Artificial light in the form of overhead lamps and stove lights may only bounce reflections off of knives and other metal implements, making the place seem more like an operating theater than a welcoming residence.

Insufficient light can also make food preparation or reading cookbooks unnecessarily difficult, resulting in everything from eye strain and cooking errors to injuries. An increased use of plentiful natural light can usually correct this problem more easily than the installation of additional lighting fixtures.

If you want to enliven your kitchen ambience by boosting light levels, swap out thicker or darker curtains for cafe-style curtains featuring light-colored natural (and therefore less flammable) fabrics. Cotton, linen, and lace allow plenty of sunlight to pass through them during daylight hours while still giving you some privacy.

Sweating Over a Hot Stove? Try Thermal Insulation

The normal process of cooking and handling hot meals can warm any kitchen to uncomfortable levels. Additional heat pouring in through your kitchen window only makes occupants' discomfort worse. By contrast, cold winter mornings can seem even colder in a kitchen that lets warm air escape to the outside.

If you can't achieve the comfort levels you want in your kitchen despite the use of double-paned windows, investigate the world of thermal window treatments. Thermal drapes have a decorative layer that faces the interior of the room, an insulating layer of foam, and a vapor barrier that prevents the buildup of condensation.

These products prevent heat from escaping through glass during cold weather. They also block incoming thermal radiation on hot days. The resulting energy efficiency can reduce your utility bills while making those summertime and wintertime kitchen hours more bearable.

Worried About UV? Block It With Blackout Curtains

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation poses a threat to kitchens and occupants alike. These rays occur as part of sunlight, but outside of the visible spectrum. The same window treatment that blocks light and heat energy may do little to keep UV rays from entering your kitchen.

UV rays can cause various kinds of harm. Both UV-A and UV-B rays can cause fabrics and dyes to fade, making walls or furnishings look drab and washed out. UV radiation can also cause skin cancer, cataracts, and other health problems.

The glass in windows doesn't block all UV rays from entering your kitchen unless you add some kind of window treatment. If you don’t feel like installing a tinted film on the glass, you can still solve your dilemma by purchasing blackout curtains for your kitchen windows.

Blackout curtains resemble thermal drapes in some ways. Both kinds of window coverings feature multi-layered construction with insulating properties. However, manufacturers optimize the blackout curtains to block both visible light and UV rays, while thermal blind designs emphasize the prevention of heat transmission.

Want Precise Light Control? Draw the Blinds

Curtains have certain limitations regarding how precisely they can block sunlight or prying eyes. As the sun's position in the sky changes, you may want to block glare from one direction without necessarily shutting off your access to sunlight. You may also want to see out of your windows without having others see into them.

Kitchen window blinds can give you the fine control you seek. You can easily adjust the blinds to block light from certain angles while still enjoying a degree of visibility and light transmission.

House of Drapery & Blinds has the perfect kitchen window treatment for your needs. Contact us today.

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When you're about to become a new parent, the décor of your nursery often becomes a big focus. Many new parents choose themes, such as circus or nature, while others employ a color scheme. As with any other room in the home, the window treatments help finish the look. However, you also need certain functionality in the nursery.

Keep reading for tips to help you choose window treatments for your baby's nursery.

Keep Safety in Mind

Your first priority when choosing anything for the nursery is safety. Granted, newborns don't interact much with their surroundings, but you'll probably keep your nursery décor even once your baby reaches the crawling stage. With that in mind, you want to choose window treatments that are safe for your baby.

For one, avoid drapes that reach to the floor — you don't want your baby to become entangled in them or to pull them down. For the same reason, consider cordless blinds. You can even choose motorized blinds, which operate with a switch or an app. Finally, avoid any trim or accessories small enough to become a choking hazard.

Look for Ease of Operation

Your next focus should be window treatments that are easy to operate. Once you become a parent, ease of operation will become paramount. You will often have a baby cradled in one arm, so you want items that are easy to operate with the other hand.

So, when looking at window treatments, avoid any that require both hands to operate, such as corded shades or heavy drapes. Pay attention to the overall function, too. For instance, if you choose shutters, make sure they operate smoothly.

Look Into Blackout Blinds

Another practical focus is the level of light control. In many rooms, you may favor a filtered light. Design-wise, you may like this level of light for your nursery, too. However, keep in mind you'll eventually be putting your baby down while it's still light out — you don't want the sunlight to keep your baby awake.

To that end, look into blackout blinds. They affix to the window frame snugly, and they completely block the sunlight from coming in. If you want the option of the filtered light, look into layered window treatments. You could hang semi-transparent curtain panels for when your baby is awake.

Opt for a Neutral Background

You may want window treatments that provide a neutral backdrop. So, you might start with the blackout shades as your base layer and add sheer curtains in a neutral color. White is popular, but you could also opt for a beige or greige neutral.

This approach works for a couple different situations. For one, a current trend is to move toward natural materials and décor. So, you may choose a lot of neutral colors and soft materials anyway. The approach also works in the opposite circumstance. If you already have a lot of bold colors in your décor, you may not want to add to it with your window treatments.

Stick to Your Décor Vision

Your décor vision will help you make most of the design choices. For example, you may choose the material based on a theme or general target ambiance. If you like the idea of an all-natural nursery, you may look into bamboo shades or linen curtains. If you want structure in your treatments, you might look into wood blinds or even shutters.

A décor theme will definitely drive your choice in nursery window treatments. Besides thematic curtain panels, Roman shades are one of the easiest ways to inject pattern into your window treatments. You can also find roller shades with designs on them.

The other design driving force is your color palette. Many parents adhere to the traditional gender-based palettes, but many opt for bright, gender-neutral palettes. Either way, window treatments in your target color palette can serve as the centering force of your entire nursery décor. You could even start with a pattern in your draperies and carry the palette through the rest of the room.

Try some of the above tips to help you choose window treatments for your nursery. When you're ready to explore your options, consult with House of Drapery & Blinds.
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