10 Jul How to Dress Timber Windows in Period Homes
When you think of window dressing, you probably think of shop owners enhancing their shopfronts with everything from twinkling lights to eye-catching fabrics in order to entice potential customers inside. Liberty, the prestigious London department store, is renowned for what its website calls ‘innovative, all-encompassing’ window displays. But dressing the timber windows in your period home with window coverings and embellishments that complement your décor, offer privacy and help you to control the light level and temperature is also a hugely important – and enjoyable – activity.
After all, your windows are really the focal point in each room, and dressing them can be compared to framing pictures, especially if they look out over attractive scenery. You want to style them in a way that works in harmony with their appearance and surroundings. How you dress a window ‘shouldn’t be an afterthought but an important part of room design,’ emphasises Architectural Digest.
Reflecting Your Property’s Heritage
Finding the most suitable window treatments (curtains, blinds, pelmets, etc.) to dress your casement windows or sash windows with, say, helps you to ensure that every room looks as beautiful and stylish as possible and reflects the property’s heritage. Indeed, the desire to pay tribute to a building’s history and character means that styling windows in period homes often requires more thought than in non-period residences.
The following window dressing ideas for period homes are informed by our extensive experience of creating stunning sash windows and other timber products for historic Devon properties, large and small. JTP Joinery is passionate about enhancing our customers’ living space. Why not contact us to see how we can help you?
Choose Velvet Curtains for a Theatrical Flourish
‘Velvet is the material that designers have been choosing to dress windows [with] lately,’ remark the interior design experts from Livingetc magazine.
If your period home boasts spacious rooms with particularly high ceilings, you could style your timber windows with gorgeous velvet curtains in a deep, rich colour such as burgundy or navy blue. Thanks to the material’s weight, they’ll drape beautifully, block out unwanted light when required, and provide excellent thermal and sound insulation. Let the velvet cascade down the window frames and create ‘pools’ of fabric on the floor for a luxurious theatrical flourish!
Whereas statement curtains would overwhelm a modest home, they’re ideal for grander living spaces. Try them in your living room or master bedroom.
Enhance Blinds with Artisan Fabrics
Blinds are better suited to humid rooms such as bathrooms and kitchens than curtains (which would absorb too much moisture). Classic Roman blinds, which fold up neatly like a concertina, work well with sash windows. You can raise/lower them like the sashes themselves, so they won’t restrict your access to the windows or impede the sashes’ movement.
Give rooms a sense of grandeur by installing Roman blinds made from artisan fabrics. These materials are often handmade and intricately patterned, rather like the tapestries that lined the walls of aristocratic estates years ago.
Give Traditional Shutters a Vibrant Twist
Internal slatted shutters offer privacy and timeless style in equal measure, which is why they’re often used to dress tall casement windows in period properties overlooking busy streets.
By choosing shutters in a vibrant colour such as fresh green, you can give this traditional window treatment an exciting twist that enlivens period décor. Your home will surely look like it belongs in Period Living magazine!
Pay Attention to the Details
Georgian country houses, Victorian villas and Edwardian townhouses are just some of the period homes that feature elegant panelling, imposing fireplaces and ornate cornices. We love this attention to detail and proudly design, make and install Devon sash windows, etc. that replicate or complement our customers’ period architecture. The windows and doors we produced for a historic South Hams home are great examples.
Attention to detail is also important when choosing finishing touches for windows in period properties. Think ironmongery in classic styles with a polished brass finish, elaborate pelmets, beaded curtain swags (ideal for chic cottages) and tasselled tiebacks. Hang a wreath from the top of a window for extra style.
Custom-Made Timber Windows for Devon Homes
When you’re the proud owner of a period home, you naturally want stunning timber windows that are created with your property in mind and fully customisable, ready for you to dress in the way that most appeals to you.
At JTP Joinery in Newton Abbot, our skilled craftspeople work hard to give the owners of period and non-period properties the windows and other timber products of their dreams.
Call us today on 01803 666316 for a no-obligation quotation and advice.