Blinds / Curtains / Drapery

 

Blinds / Curtains / Drapery

Question:
Our problem is our bow window. I like to have drapes made to hang from a decorative rod but I cannot find a rod that can be curved to size. It is not a bay window which I have too; but a bow and curves 152" into 129" and I would like to use a strong 2" rod. Do you have any suggestions?
Answer:

The only poles that can be curved into a bow window is a Traverse Pole,I-Beam or passé pole. These can flex into place to follow the curve. You can put French pleat drapes or drapes with a passé pole heading. As for the decorative poles, they exist for bay windows. You can take most poles and use a flex corner for the curves, but you still have straight pieces in between. Using this option, the header styles are your choice.

Question:
Can you buy the vertical slats to replace old broken ones?
Answer:

Yes, Vertical slats can be bought one by one, or more if you wish. The best thing to do is to bring your broken slat with you to the store so you can match the style and color and proper height.

Question:
Do you recommend dry cleaning for 100% cotton drapery fabrics?
Answer:

Most people assume 100% cotton fabrics are washable. Unfortunately, if you wash them, 100% cotton draperies will shrink, fade, and lose their protective finish and smooth surface. Draperies are one case when you would NOT pre-wash the fabric. The best care is to vacuum your draperies with the hose/brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner. If you do this regularly, cleaning may not become necessary. If, for some reason you MUST clean your draperies, then have them dry cleaned--it's worth it!

Question:
For my son's bedroom I need drapes that completely block out all daylight. He wakes up too early and I hope he will sleep better when his room is darker. What would you advise?
Answer:

Here are a couple of options that might work. The first product is a blackout cellular shade. This shade has foil on the inside of the cells and light will not penetrate the shade. The second product would be a pair of drapes with a blackout liner. By adding a blackout liner to the drapery the light will not penetrate the drapes.

Question:
I have had the Silhouette sheer blinds (1) year. How do I clean these blinds?
Answer:

This may help. On-Site injection/extraction cleaning system. This type of cleaning injects a cleaning solution into the fabric and extracts the dirty solution in the same motion. It is a very effective way to deep clean your window treatments. The service is typically performed in the home so there is no need to remove the window treatments. One of the leading companies that provides this service is On-Site Cleaners. They have a national network of trained professionals that can clean any soft, fabric-based Hunter Douglas product including Luminette Privacy Sheers, Alouette LightLouvers, Silhouette, Nantucket and Vignette® shadings, Duette and Applause honeycomb shades†, Trio Convertible Shades and Vertical blinds. Dry method is recommended for certain fabrics.

Question:
I have a bay window in my living room that needs new window coverings. The problem is the middle and right side windows are the same size and the left window is half the size. I just don't know how to treat the different sizes. Privacy is not an issue and would rather not use blinds.
Answer:

A combination of panels on decorative rods or studio shades could be used or mixed with better styles of blinds.

Question:
I need to buy blinds for our new home. My dilemma is whether to buy woven wood blinds, faux wood blinds or real wood blinds. I want a dark color to match our cabinets but have been warned they can warp (they would be facing West). I like the look of woven wood blinds, but don't know if I like the fact that either they have to be up or down. We had faux wood blinds before and I liked being able to just turn them open without always having to pull them up. But they were quite heavy (and our new windows are even bigger) and I didn't like how they collected dust. My questions are: 1) What type of blind would be the best and still look good? 2) Depending on the type of blind we choose, what should be put on the patio doors? 3) Is a dark color smart to go with? Our hardwood floor is light (birch). One blind dealer suggested going with a color to match our floor and use dark tapes for embellishment. What do you think?
Answer:

The trouble with faux and real wood blinds is exactly as you say. They are very heavy and probably not recommended for such a large window. If you would like the look of wood however I would suggest either shutters which have no weight issues or a product called Romanelle which comes in both a Roman and a sliding door style. Further the floor color is of course one of the colors that you may match.

Question:
My house is an open concept. I have splashes of dark eggplant purple in the kitchen and dining room area and deep blood red accent pieces in the family room. When entering my house you see all 3 rooms and things seem to flow right now except the windows on the back wall in the kitchen. Along the back of the house are 3 BIG windows and a sliding patio door all around the same size (all located in the kitchen/nook area). I don't know what I could do or put there to tie the whole open concept of the house together that would look good on the windows and sliding doors. I'm not concerned about the light getting in as much as I am privacy in my home and the aesthetics.
Answer:

There are several blind options along with varying drapery styles that work. The most important thing in a blind style would be to be careful regarding the weight of the product as it opens. Here are some I would look at Shutters / Woven woods / Silhouettes / Luminettes / Honeycombs with Vertiglide on the door.

Question:
I have a number of the regular metal blinds. Outside of wiping each slat down and trying to clean it. Is there a quicker way that I could use to clean the whole thing at once?
Answer:

Soak oak blinds in tub with mild detergent. Rinse with hot water.

Question:
My sliding glass doors have verticals. One side is not even with the other. How can I fix this myself and very cheaply?
Answer:

We are not sure you can. Many times the verticals are placed so they clear as much of the glass as possible. Sometimes this only works when the head rail can stack/draw more to one side than the other. Is the head rail centered on the door? If not, that could be moved over so they are more even. The other option might be to restring the head rail, but that may be more complicated than what you want to tackle.