7 Great Tips-- for a smooth move
Whether your new home is a blank canvas or reflects the tastes of previous owners, you can give it your personal decorating touch with Hunter Douglas. Window coverings make an enormous difference in the enjoyment of your home. They add beauty, enhance light quality and provide privacy. They can even reduce utility bills. Blinds, shades, sheers and shutters are classic treatments that bring style into a room without overpowering it. They'll last and be valued as long as you own your home!
Perhaps you're a home's first owner, but maybe you're the fifteenth. In any case, moving into a home that's new for you provides excitement, change and many decisions. You can get a jump start at your new place, before moving day.
1. Start a notebook for the new house. Jot down items to purchase or activities to handle. Include eye-catching fabric and color samples, favorite window product brochures and quotes from movers. Carry your notebook with you to have data handy when you need it.
2. Sketch a floor plan of your new home when you don't have blueprints. Record measurements of rooms, windows, closets and doors in your notebook. Include distance of window moldings from corners, floor and ceiling. Use measurements or blueprints to make a "to scale" floor plan and determine your furniture placement for moving day. Your movers will love your organization!
3. Donate furniture, clothing and accessories that no longer suit you. Why pack and move such baggage when you're starting life in a new place?
4. Paint rooms, closets and ceilings before the move if existing colors don't suit you. It's easier when there are no heavy furnishings to move and the window treatments of your dreams aren't yet in place.
5. Clean and paper the inside of kitchen cupboards and drawers, even closet shelves.
6. Replace floor coverings or clean carpets before furnishings arrive if a house was previously occupied. Your home will be fresh and new for your family!
7. Watch a room's light. Which window coverings will make the room most usable and comfortable?
Getting started with window treatments-- You want to decorate your windows for style, comfort and practicality. How you dress a window is one of the most important decorating decisions you'll make. Go from room to room and ask yourself:
1. How will we use the room? Plan on diffused light for dining, hard working window treatments and ventilation in the kitchen, and light control to prevent glare on computer and television screens. Think safety in kids' rooms, privacy for the master suite and humidity-tolerance in baths.
2. How important are privacy, security and sound absorption? Is there a nearby neighbor or a busy street? Are windows easily accessible? Is traffic or public space a factor?
3. Are there natural and ultraviolet (UV) light issues to address? Window treatments can protect fabrics, furnishings and woods from fading and deterioration.
4. Is energy efficiency a consideration? Walls of uncovered windows can bring the beautiful outdoors in, but also impact your energy bills and comfort.
Your answers will help you make appropriate decisions as you consider stylish products.
Window Treatments are Included....
You've heard these satisfying words when purchasing a previously owned home. Thanks to Hunter Douglas and participating builders, they can be music to your ears when building a new home too! Just ask your builder about rolling the cost of window treatments into your construction expense.
When building a home, you select flooring to be installed, pick paint colors for every room, and choose wall tiles and designes Simply add the selection of window coverings to your list of decisions using affordable products from Hunter Douglas. Your family will enjoy beauty, privacy and energy efficiency from day one.
Homeowners can chose from the complete Hunter Douglas product line, and avoid out-of-pocket expenses for window coverings at move-in time. Let the benefits of decorative and practical window fashions from Hunter Douglas begin the day you arrive.
Five Elements of Decorating--
As your develop your overall decorating scheme, consider the following:
1. Space determines what you have to work with in each room. To visually expand, keep the color contrast between wall and window low. To make a room feel cozier, create a high contrast. Natural light and light diffusion through window coverings create dramatic visual effects in a space.
2. Lines impact the overall feel of a room. Vertical linesa add height and dignity. Horizontal lines suggest relaxation and informality. Round windows, fabric folds and soft objects lessen the harshness of a room's lines.
3. Form is the shape or combinations of shapes of the elements in a room. If you have square windows, window treatments can lenghthen them and give them a taller, more rectangular look.
4. Color determines the mood in a room. It intensifies as you increase the area of coverage. As a guide, allow your main color to occupy 75 percent of a room (including floor and wall space), with 15 to 20 percent for your secondary color and 10 percent for an accent color. Use neutral-toned window treatments in rooms where you'll spend a lot of time or when you want other furnishings to make bold statments. But when you want window treatments to be the special accent or coordinating feature that pulls a room together, Hunter Douglas offers an abundance of colors, textures, sheens, and treatments to provide privacy and light control and meet your decorating needs.
5. Texture adds interest to a room. Window treatments in metal, wood, and a vast palette of fabric colors, patterns and finishes offer many textural options to explore. Dramatic contrasts are in.
Think-It-Through Decorating Tips
-Utilize the same floor covering throughout to make all the rooms feel bigger.
-Avoid clutter by displaying only a few large and wonderful objects you love.
-Use a few large pieces of furniture to make a small space appear larger.
-Group related items on a wall to create a strong focal point and pull a room together.
-Make comfort and convenience your top decorating priority when arranging furniture.
-Focus next on composition (color, balance and scale) to create visual interest and add your personal style.
-Present a consisten exterior image with white backing on all window treatments.