Tips on how to use lighting without sacrificing your privacy.
Choosing the right window covering
Your budget, tastes, needs and decorating style, together with the amount of brightness you wish to achieve in the room, will guide your decisions as you consider numerous possibilities. Here are some guidelines.
1 The kitchen. Wood blinds and faux-wood blinds are easier to maintain than pleated blinds or curtains. The more rigid the blinds, the easier they are to clean.
2 The bedroom. For a more restful sleep, an opaque blind is a good choice. It can be concealed behind a valance or dressed up with attractive curtains. Other options are rigid horizontal blinds or fabric blinds combined with some curtains for greater opacity.
3 The living room. If you’re intent on keeping prying eyes out, horizontal
blinds or louvered shutters are your best option, as louveres can be inclined based on your preference for shade or light without the interior being any more visible to passersby. If privacy is not an issue, anything goes! If you
choose drapes, err on the side of simplicity, keeping them in a shade similar
to that of the wall.
blinds or louvered shutters are your best option, as louveres can be inclined based on your preference for shade or light without the interior being any more visible to passersby. If privacy is not an issue, anything goes! If you
choose drapes, err on the side of simplicity, keeping them in a shade similar
to that of the wall.
4 The bathroom. Horizontal blinds are a sound choice here. However, select a waterproof material (faux wood, for example), particularly if the space is poorly ventilated or the blind is close to the shower stall.
5 French doors. Solar blinds (or perforated blinds) are perfectly suitable, as they reduce the glare and heat from the sun and protect furniture from UV rays. Also popular are light-filtering sunscreens (with Sheerweave) with their Japanese style and the lovely luminosity they confer on large windows.Fabric blinds are a good choice as well.
Windows above electric baseboard heaters
Rather than hemming your curtains so that they hang just above the heater, simply move them away from the heat source with a mounting bracket (available at most hardware stores), which attaches to the baseboard heater. The effect is more elegant. As for blinds, allow a clearance of at least 30 centimetres from the baseboard heater, and if possible, avoid vinyl or plastic-based materials.
Rather than hemming your curtains so that they hang just above the heater, simply move them away from the heat source with a mounting bracket (available at most hardware stores), which attaches to the baseboard heater. The effect is more elegant. As for blinds, allow a clearance of at least 30 centimetres from the baseboard heater, and if possible, avoid vinyl or plastic-based materials.
