Category Archives: drapes

How Can I Choose the Best Drapes for My Home?

38, blinds, drapes, shades

As we continually hear in the news, our planet is getting closer and closer to the breaking point and it will all come down to our ability to change our current ways of living to be more environmentally friendly. There will be some struggles involved, but it is also a great opportunity to look at the little things that we can do to make a big change. Some of those little things can be done in your own home. The first that comes to mind is around energy savings.

hunter douglas shadesEveryone has seen the CFL bulbs that are shaped a little differently than many of the incandescent bulbs we are used to. Those bulbs actually make a huge difference and can save about one hundred dollars over the course of their lifetime. That may not seem like a lot when you think about a single light lasting for about ten years, but when you add that to all of the bulbs in your house, about thirty of them possibly, there is a good chance that you could be saving yourself some serious money in the short and long term if you just start to replace those bulbs now. The other thing to keep in mind when we are talking about energy efficiency is that a lot of heat is let in during the summer and out during the winter through windows. Not all windows are perfect, even the double paned ones, so it is important to have a strategy with how to utilize your blinds and shades. What I try to do during the winter is keep the shades open during the day, so the sun can get in and warm the place up, but close them at night. This keeps the room warmer because the residual heat actually makes a big difference. One thing that you could also do is add some drapes for really cold days. Drapes are an excellent way of keeping all of the cold from the windows out. You can actually feel a huge difference if you have the drapes in place or not.

A final thing to consider is the type of blinds that you purchase. Hunter Douglas makes some great blinds that are coated to keep them more energy efficient than some of their immediate competitors. Utilizing those blinds are a great idea to make sure that all of your heat stays centralized in one place. It allows for minimal heat transfer between the outside and your room and that is critical to making sure that your house is energy efficient. Some other things that you can do around the house are turn off lights when you are not using them, plant trees on the east, south, and west sides of the house to provide shade in the summer and sun in the winter, and finally minimize your water usage by taking shorter showers. There are a number of things that you can look up online, but for right now these are some great tips to get going on.

Choosing Which Drapes to Use

38, drapes, shades, window treatments

Curtains or drapes are very common type of window treatments. If not all, but everyone is using them mostly on homes to add some color and style. It transforms a plain colored living room or place to an elegant and cozy one depending on its style. It can be made by different kind of fabrics and styles that matches the interior of your home and window. Commonly they are used to block the shade of the sun from coming in but because you put your own style to it, it can be used as a very good decorating tool to your place. You can change it as much as you can depending on what you want to achieve as a theme or style for your home.

window treatments

window coverings

Various types of cloth can be used with this and it can easily go along with any occasions. Printed ones are the best way to go for any type of occasion. Red and green for Christmas for example setting up the yuletide season for your home and pastel colors may go well during summer. Darker toned fabrics if you want a dimmer effect so it can block most of the sunlight that is coming in your room or a lighter one just enough to light the room naturally. You can also choose pastel colors for a lighter touch for your room or try on metallic colors achieving an elegant look for your room. Here are a very few samples of drapes that give the shades you want for your home:

Sheer Drapes

These types of drapes are see-through enough letting light to come in the room. They are usually made from nylon or polyester and very convenient for cleaning because you can use washing machine for it. Since they are made of light materials, the usual colors for sheer drapes are white and pastel colors though you can still get them in darker ones too.

Silk drapes

This type of drape is usually considered as a high-end fabric. Most silk drapes are handmade and comes in a very elegant designs. A good example of this is velvet. It gives your home an instant elegant touch. The downside of silk drapes is that, they are naturally expensive and you just can’t put them in a washing machine. Either you really have to hand-wash them in cleaning or you have to dry-clean them to maintain its quality.

Blackout drapes

These types of drapes from its name are usually used to block out sunlight from coming in. They are very good in use for sleeping and privacy. Since they black out most of the light that may come in, this gives your room a better control of the heat of the sun.

The best thing about drapes is that you don’t need to overhaul your home to achieve a certain look or style. You just have to let your imagination work well for the style you want, a good quality cloth, and a sewer that can perfectly execute and sew the drapes just the way you want it to be. With it you can give your home an instant make over all the time.