Window treatments not only offer functional properties for your home, they also provide a beautiful frame for the view outside your window. Choosing which layered window treatment ideas you’d like for your Jacksonville home does not have to be a difficult task. Layering your window treatments can help you meld functionality with beauty.
Table of Contents
What Are Window Treatments
Window treatments are coverings or modifications to a window which serve several functions, such as privacy, heat or light reduction, and even to minimize the presence of exterior sounds. They are also meant to enhance the aesthetics of a room.
Window treatments come in different types, including hard and soft window treatments.
Hard Window Treatments
Hard window treatments are mainly functional in purpose and include:
Cellular or honeycomb shades
Single layer fabric shades
Wood blinds
Mini blinds (metal or vinyl)
Vertical blinds
Vertical pleated shades
Silhouettes and luminettes
Roman shades
Hard window treatments offer a variety of functionality for your Jacksonville home. Window treatments are used for deflecting the light so it’s easier to see the TV or darkening a room entirely so you can sleep. Hard treatments are also used for retaining the heat or the cool air that is already in your home. They can make good insulators, meaning that they can help reduce your heating or air conditioning bill, which reflects on your carbon footprint.
Yet hard window treatments also offer a decorative element to your home with stylish choices available in every hard window treatment option.
Soft Window Treatments
Soft window treatments are those that are purely decorative in nature. The one exception is draperies, which can be opened or closed to block out light and provide privacy. In general, soft window treatments provide a finishing touch to any room, adding warmth, color, texture, and style to any room.
Examples of soft window treatments include:
Sheer curtains
Valances
Swags
Cascades
Cornices
Soft window treatments are made to frame a window and its view, drawing attention to the scenery outside the window, rather than creating a focal point inside the room. Most soft window treatments do not cover the glass or obstruct the view in any way.
What Type of Window Treatments Should I Choose for My Jacksonville Home?
Now that you understand the different types of window treatments, you may be wondering what type of window treatments you should choose for your Jacksonville home. Should you utilize hard or soft window treatments? The answer very likely may be “both.”
Jacksonville is known for its warm weather, with summer temperatures soaring in the 90s. We love the beach and the clear blue skies, but we don’t want inside our homes to be as hot and humid as it is outside. In Jacksonville, hard window treatments make sense for their insulation abilities alone. However, we still want the pretty aesthetic of soft window treatments as well. So a beautifully balanced mix of the two window treatments is the perfect choice for your Jacksonville home.
Window Treatment Ideas for A Jacksonville Home
There are many reasons to layer window coverings using both hard and soft window treatments. Below, you’ll find different window treatment ideas for a Jacksonville home, each with a different reason to layer your window coverings.
Idea One: Aesthetics
Layering treatments can add visual appeal and dimension to any room. Blinds alone may be all you need functionally, but adding draperies can create a soft feel. Including a valance along the top of the window adds a splash of color that cannot be achieved by a single hard window treatment alone.
Additionally, it’s important to note that some aesthetic features can only be achieved using specific window treatments. For instance, extending drapes beyond the edge of your window can give the appearance of wider windows, while Roman shades can make a window look taller. Layered together, you can create the appearance of a substantial window as the main focal point in your room.
Idea Two: Light Control
Controlling the amount of sunlight that enters a room is an important functionality of hard window treatments. Different treatments provide varying levels of control, and layering your window treatments adds another dimension to that functionality. Sometimes you want to just filter the sun’s glare in a room, and other times, you may want to shut the light out completely in the same room. A sheer woven wood shade combined with functioning draperies can provide both light filtering and room darkening abilities, allowing you to achieve both options using layered window treatments.
Idea Three: Blackout
Sometimes you just want complete darkness in a room, whether it’s for your bedroom or your home theater. There are many choices for blackout functionality using window treatments, including numerous layered options. Lined drapes combined with honeycomb shades offer ideal blackout conditions so you can sleep like a baby. In some cases, you may want to add a blackout-lined cornice to cover the headrails and prevent light from seeping into the room in addition to adding another element of style to your window.
Idea Four: Energy Efficiency
A home’s heating and cooling can escape through its windows, leading to higher energy costs, a harder working air conditioner and heater, and a greater carbon footprint. But window treatments can help lessen the effects of these issues. Many hard window treatments work to improve the energy efficiency of your home. When you layer treatments, you get more light control, better privacy, and a home that stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Honeycomb shades are known for their ability to insulate windows. When combined with thick, stylish draperies, you have an added layer of insulation for your windows.
Idea Five: Hide Headrails
Many modern window treatments have slim or decorative headrails which look great in a room; however, in some cases, you may prefer to hide the mechanics of your shades or blinds. Adding a valance can cover not only the headrail, but also the curtain rod, if yours is simply too plain. A cornice is another soft window treatment that hides the headrails, while adding a unique aesthetic to any window.
Conclusion
When you layer hard and soft window treatments, you get the best of both worlds. Your home will have the benefit of functionality from your window treatments, including light control, privacy, and energy efficiency, in addition to the advantage of decorative and stylish features. If you feel unsure about which treatments to use for your specific situation, contact a design professional who can help you select the best options for your Jacksonville home in addition to properly installing your layered window treatments. Finding the right combination is key to achieving the most benefits from your windows and window treatments.
