Window Decorating Book Paperback – November 18, 2009

We bought our house 15 years ago and before I could turn around, my husband had raced around removing ALL drapes and curtains. Granted, I didn't like the fringed butterfly curtains in the kitchen...but still. He installed blinds everywhere because his belief is that you want to admire the nice wood casing. Um...no you don't. I finally got him to let a professional in to design bottom up/top down matchstick blinds (didn't know what these were called before!) and simple lined and pleated draperies in the huge picture windows in the living and dining rooms. I got this book to get ideas how to jazz up my newly renovated craft room but now I have a multitude of ideas for every window in the house!! These are the chapters:What Works BestQuestion Yourself (expense, the look you want, etc.)Hiring a Designer (ID or Interior Decorator)Motorization and SoftwareShuttersCurtains & DraperiesBlindsShadesCombinationsTop TreatmentsDecorative Hardware & TrimsAlternativesFor each of the basic topics, the chapters begin with "History in the Making" such as blinds being first referred to in the mid-1700's and the first U.S. patent being granted to John Hampson in 1841; he invented adjusting the slats in Venetian blinds. Then you launch into modern uses and are presented a table which lays out Advantages, Disadvantages, Cost, Lifespan, Most Appropriate Locations, and Care & Cleaning. It hadn't occurred to me that the average unlined drapes are expected to last maybe 4 years and lined, 6. (By gum, our large drapes are starting to sag!) Every possible contingency for measuring and calculating are evident. There are also subsections called Good to Know like every type of textile that is applicable for a particular treatment. The Appendices are wonderful because they take the type of covering in each chapter and display front-facing line drawings of every alternative. For example, Appendix 2 shows 34 different Fabric Shades. There is a good Glossary, Index and even a Source Guide indicating the maker/manufacturer of every single window treatment. That goes the extra mile because now you can zero in on that exact item you particularly want.Certainly the more abstract use of this book is to view myriad color combinations, not just of the window treatments but of entire rooms. And it wouldn't have been obvious to me to show lighting from the outside ranging from completely dark to indirect and direct sunlight and with the treatments open, closed and partially closed to determine the amount of light--and level of privacy--you want. Our closed blinds are fine to shut out the world but goldarnit--the sun creeping around the sides in the morning wakes me up! (That's a big reason you supplement blinds with curtains. Duh.)As you can tell, I think this book is swell. With my craft room being a rich mulberry on the walls, I'm going to have lined curtains made of pure white linen with blue toile de jouy and replace the horizontal ecru blinds with vertical white blinds to obscure the west facing sun and north facing neighbor's house. I'm not sure about a top treatment yet...haven't tackled that chapter yet. See? This book is extremely practical.

Unlike some other window decorating books on Amazon.com that focus only on draperies, this book includes sections on shutters, blinds, woven-woods, verticals and combinations using these important elements. Many of these treatments also combine top treatments (valances, swags, etc.) and draperies.Room settings with photos from top designers helped me decide what style and treatment looks best for my windows. There are so many books out there with crazy, overly elaborate, and outdated styles, and those books just didn't do anything for me. I prefer modern, simple lines and contemporary styles, and I found many treatments in this book to give me inspiration. (However, there are also many images of styles that are tastefully elaborate featured in the book, for those whose tastes lean that way.)The exhaustive section on yardage calculations helped me to decide if a treatment required a lot of fabric or just a few yards. Surprisingly, many of the most elegant treatments (swags & cascades for example) only take few yards of fabric. This afforded me the option of obtaining more expensive fabrics than I thought my budget would allow.I highly recommend this book.

I bought this book because I needed lots of information/ideas for window treatments. We just finished building a home so lots of windows to decorate upstairs and downstairs. This book covers everything--from type of fabric to ways to hang draperies/curtains/shutters. Each chapter covers a different topic. It discusses "Hiring a Designer", "Motorization", and "Software". I felt the book was more technical than what I needed but gives lots of information that is useful. If you have lots of windows to cover and want some ideas, this book will give them to you. I also felt the book had more formal ideas than what I was looking for, but overall really gives useful information.

Profile: Interior DesignerPros: Contains approx. 322 pgs. of great quality colored photographs of diff. treatments, illustrations of treatments, illustrated appendix for types of treatments, parts of treatments, and beddings. Glossary, information on calculating yardage for curtains, drapery terms and calculation charts, brief info on fabrics for treatments, and a source guide.Cons: Although the book is copyrighted in 2009, most of the spaces in the photographs look outdated.Overall: I am very pleased with the book. It is very informative.

I was quite impressed with this book. The photos are amazing and very current to what is in style now. I have been making windows treatments for years along with my sister but wanted some new and interesting ideas as I will be making window treatments for my daughter's windows in her new home. I showed her the book and has already made some selections ~ I can't wait to get started! I would highly recommend this book as they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words" and that is true in this case because of all the wonderful photos of actual rooms it gives you many different ideas no matter what style you like.

If you're looking for a good overview of window treatments, buy this book. It's a wonderful reference with beautiful pictures and clear explanations of the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of window treatments and combinations. The ideas are up to date and fresh. In two weeks I have already tabbed at least 10 treatments that I love and plan to make up or change out for the windows in my home. It would be a great first book for anyone who wants to learn more about creating their own window treatments or wants a better understanding of window treatments in order to talk to a decorator or work room.

We relocated from Florida to Texas and this book gave me some great ideas on how to decorate windows. The pictures were detailed and while it did not have directions for how to do it yourself, I was able to visualize window treatments that were just more than hanging ready made drapes or curtains.

I love this book! The pictures are very nice and show the drapery styles well. This part of the book is more a good decorating book than just a hot to make draperies or choose something suitable.What I really love is the schematics and the measurement/yardage charts. I sew and have made draperies and blinds for more years than I'll admit to. After a couple of decades, it's hard to be original, esp when most decorating books and magazines show nothing but plainish side panels.The choices in this book range from simple with a twist to elaborate enough for a restored Victorian house (without the over the top tackiness that sometimes comes with faux vintage styles.)Usually if I have a line drawing, I can make whatever it is. This book has line drawings for every style of drapery. There are lots of ideas for toppers, not one of which looked too frou frou or the kind of fusty leftover granny style. Detailed, elaborate (or not), and still not fussy equals perfect to me.Now, if I could just get another Edwardian house with long windows to take full advantage of the most elaborate of styles, wouldn't that be great?If you're doing mid-century modern, I don't think you need this book if you're just going to do that era's textured plain panels, sometimes with sheers. But, there are cloth blinds, and very tailored toppers and valances, too.If you're doing modern, there are a lot of pages showing different styles and configurations of blinds to buy in everything from wood through the newish cellular fabric ones.If I were making draperies or dressing windows for a living, I'd have to have this book, if for nothing else than to show to customers who don't know what they want. (BTW, no affiliation, just admiration for the thoroughness with which the subject has been covered.)