Match Window Shades to your Room’s Design

When you want your home interior to be warm, welcoming to guests, and functional, it needs an overall design scheme that matches your personality as well as the purpose of each room. A bedroom in which a married couple sleep and a dining room that sometimes hosts business contacts and sometimes extended family have different needs and – we hope – different designs. If you can match window shades to your existing design, your scheme will make a much stronger impression on your family and guests.

Most people, when choosing the color of a window shade, will look at the colors of the wall coverings. However, the floor is at least as important. A carpet or rug is often the single unifying item in a room, and the dominant colors of the rug should influence those of the shades. If there is artwork on the walls, that can also influence color choice. Ideally, one chooses a color that will emphasize the art and make it stand out.

Transparency and opacity are also important. If there are times when light must be completely excluded, a blackout quality to the shades will be essential. The same will be true if there is harsh lighting immediately outside, or in a media room designed for watching movies. There will be rooms, though, where what is outside complements what is inside. In such cases, the shades will either be designed to let light in or, in some admittedly unusual cases, never to be fully closed at all.

Shades vs. Blinds

You may be wondering: “What’s the difference between shades and blinds?” For some people there is no difference at all, but we would define blinds as something made of a solid material, whereas shades are generally softer. When blinds are made of rattan, bamboo or some similar material, this distinction may not be so easy to make. The choice of fabric plays a large part in deciding what sort of shade you want to hang in your windows. An alternative defining factor is that slats and vanes are found in blinds but not in shades.

Size, Shape, and Location

How big are your windows? And what shape? The size, shape, and location of your windows will play a large role in determining which shades and colors are most appropriate for making the statement you want. Generally speaking, the larger the window, the more opportunity you have to make a bold statement.

Identify Your Themes

Design begins with choices. Formal or fun? Contemporary, traditional or archaic? Loud, or understated? Cozy or vibrant? A place for peaceful meditation, or for voices raised in discussion? Shades can meet all of those conditions, just as easily as people can.

Some factors you might want to bear in mind: Pleated shades lend themselves to traditional ”classic” room themes. Cellular shades, on the other hand, are coming up fast in popularity perhaps because of their energy efficiency. By trapping air in the little pockets between back and front panels, they keep household running costs down, preventing heat loss through the windows in winter and keeping the rooms cool in summer.

Then there are Roman shades; think of them as curtains (as they are usually made from the same sort of fabric), but opening and closing vertically instead of horizontally. You can have them flat or pleated to reflect the overall scheme of the room. And, if the room they’re in has a contemporary, outré sort of feel, you can have them open from the top down instead of from the bottom up.

Speaking of outré, something you might want to consider for special rooms in special circumstances (and these will generally not be the kind of room in which you will entertain business colleagues or Great Aunt Mabel) is a theme that marks the particular interest of the person who inhabits it. A room, let’s say, with a mahogany bar, brass fittings and an old ship’s compass may be ideal for the person who’d really rather be on his or her yacht right now. Make sure that nautical theme carries through to the image on the shades – which, ideally, should be covering a window that resembles one found on an ocean vessel.

Children’s rooms are ideally suited to the kind of room theme we’ve just suggested. Whatever theme you have and however the matching shades are going to be selected, you will benefit immensely from a design expert. The right window shade vendor will not charge you for a consultation, and will provide extensive, valuable input.

(Aero Shade has 50 years of experience to contribute to your search for the perfect room, and the design experts needed to manifest your vision. Call us today to make an appointment to visit your Los Angeles area home.)