Curtain/shades/blinds help for wide window!

[kellia]

Our living room window is 100 inches wide, about 4 feet tall. It is on the front of the house and we are on a corner in our subdivision where the whole world can see in once it gets dark. We are getting ready to paint the room and need new curtains and blinds. Any tips on where I can find something that will give us some privacy and not cost a fortune?

When we first moved in, I couldn't find anything in our budget, so used vertical blinds for a patio door and had curtains that went to the floor. Our curtain rods are 2 smaller ones that we hooked together in the middle and used a couple extra supports in the center. Didn't look great, but worked. Then, one of my sons broke off a couple of the ends off the slats on the blinds, so I used scissors and chopped the blinds all off so they hit the window sill. That looked better, except they are kind of uneven when they are closed! So, if anyone has any ideas to make this mess look better and be affordable, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[Karenj2]

You don't mention where you live, but I've got to put in a plug for the company I work for - Calico Corners. They sell blinds, shades, drapery & top treatments, so you can coordinate the whole look... You could do blinds/shades for the privacy, then just have a top treatment (swag or cornice board) to "finish" the look. (Or you could do draperies that function (pinch pleats on a decorative traverse rod) and forget about the blinds.

You'll want to keep in mind a few things while looking:
- what style do you want for the room? (formal, casual, modern, traditional, transitional?)
- what is the proportion of the window to the wall? do you want the window to look bigger/taller than it actually is? (then you'd want to place the top treatment a bit higher above the window...)
- When the window treatment is open, do you want to be able to see out the entire window? (you'll need to "stack" the treatment off the sides of the window)

(sorry - I don't even work in one of the stores, but I get excited about the possibilitites!!)

Another place you could try for just blinds is "Blinds to Go" - they're mostly on the east coast, though.

 

[Hoppy]

They now make verticals with slider shades instead of the vertical vanes. Here are some examples from JCP:

Another option would be to use the same type of track system as the verticals, more like what hospitals/doctors use in room. I think if you google "hospital curtain tracks" you'll find it.

Something I did for two weird sized windows (these were small windows) was to take burlap fabric, dip it in liquid starch, apply to the window, and remove excess starch. The remaining starch dries and holds the fabric in place. It allows light in but diffuses everything. You could try it with tissue paper too.

If you use fabric on your 100" window, I'd suggest you divide the window into three sections- possibly 25"; 50"; 25"--instead of dividing the window into two equal sections.

 

[n2mm]

JCP -- we have a similar window! You most likely will have to order online.

 

[dawson5]

have you ever looked at decoratetoday.com ? Back when I used to use wallpaper, they always had the best prices. While looking at the wallpaper, I saw they also offered blinds. I've played with getting blinds from them, but just haven't pulled that trigger yet. (I will eventually but our issue is what to do. Upstairs is stained wood and downstairs is all painted white. I think it wouldn't look right having two different color blinds.)

 

[Gigi22]

Some of the best advice I have I got from an interior decorator. Decide what you like. She suggested I look at 5-10 decorating magazines to pick out styles I found appealing. It allows you to really focus on what you want--then you figure out how you can achieve that look, or something close to it.

I have a large bay window flanked by two smaller windows in our living room, and we put white wooden horizontal blinds with a valance on them. We have a floral fabric valance that stretches over all 3 windows.

 

[dfchelbay]

This is what I would do:

Pick out a gorgeous fabric in a color and texture that you like. It will be purely decorative, so you wont have to do anything with it. Then, my second fabric would be a linen non see-through type for privacy. You will hang two rods. The higher, or outer rod (you choose) will be your beautiful fabric. Start at one side and wrap the fabric all along the rod to the other side of the rod, then let the remaining fabric flow to the floor. You can hem it to floor level, or let it pool...your choice. Then on the second rod (Either lower or inside/behind the first rod) hang your linen fabric. Think of this one like a linen shower rod look. This fabric/drape will move back and forth on its rod, so you can pull it over for privacy in the evenings. Then, just pull it over during the day, it will fit right behind your gorgeous fabric, and be unseen for the most part. You could probably even use the hardware you already have for one of your rods. That will help the budget out too

 

[mom2brina]

If you are near an IKEA, check out their KVARTAL system. It is amazing what you can do with it.

 

[Anne34]

I have a huge 69 x 69 picture window in the front. I put a huge wood blind there. I really like it but it is hard to turn -- I usually leave it 3/4 shut, so we still get light, but people cant see into the room.

Don't know if they make 100 wide, but go to different web sites and play around. I did that with american blinds & select blinds. Try their different styles, prices, etc and that will give you some ideas.

 

[Rania]

I usually order all of my window treatments from JC Penney or from Blinds to go. I also have huge windows in my living room and dining room and I found these to places to work well for us.

 

[holycow]

I wish I could show you what we did in our home. We have 2 extremely wide windows. I'd have to measure to see but anyway we needed blinds and didn't want to spend on shutters. Too heavy, so we had the blinds made in 4's.

We divided up the window and had blinds made into 4ths. They are lighter to pull up but look uniform when we open them all. You can't even tell they aren't one blind.

Good luck!