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Window Dressing Cover up or pare down, but either way get ready for the window of your room’s dreams  A Room With A View: Blinds aren't your only option for window decor. Spice up a room with heavy drapes or a stained-glass window. Image courtesy Pella Windows When preparing your home for sale, it’s best to avoid voluminous, complicated or expensive window treatments that only work with your furniture. Window coverings generally get sold with the house, as they are “attached,” so potential buyers take them into consideration when house hunting. When you’re selling your home, think simple and neutral: Stick to wood blinds, tab-topped curtains, Roman shades, shutters or honeycomb shades in a color which harmonizes with the wall color or the wood trim. But, if you are not planning to sell your house, or have just moved into your new home, here are some ideas to help you cover your windows inexpensively. Effective window coverings: • Enhance the room's design by echoing its color scheme and style. • Are an integral part of the overall design and not the focal point. • Serve a practical purpose---to insulate, conserve privacy, darken a room or protect it from the burning rays of the sun. Getting Started The first step in window decoration is to understand your color scheme and your style. Stand in the room needing window treatment and make note of its predominant colors. Then determine your unique style: Ask yourself what three or four words describe this room. Descriptors can be feelings, a historical period or a human quality. Is the room light, friendly, garden-like, pastoral, formal, country, whimsical, Victorian? Once you know your colors and your style, you're ready to begin brainstorming possibilities. No Window Treatment If privacy is not an issue, consider leaving the window naked. A peaceful garden view or a spectacular vista of the valley may be all that you need to dress the window. Other possibilities: • Paint or stencil a design above or encircling the window. A room with a floral motif could have ivy tendrils framing the upper corners of the window. A child's room might have long-armed monkeys dangling from the window corners. • Paint the window frame in one of the room's colors (in contrast to the paint used on the rest of the walls). • Dangle a stained-glass window in the middle of the window. • Place a lightweight shoji or other type of folding screen on the floor in front of the window. • If the sill is wide enough, line it with vases, plants, cobalt blue bottles or candlestick holders. A Simple Valance If the window looks bare without some sort of covering, all it might need is a valance to tie it in with the rest of the room. A few possibilities: • Hammer in a series of nails, or install a Shaker-type pegboard over the window and hang bundles of dried herbs, hats, ribbons, scarves or anything else you may have hidden away in your drawers. • Make a simple and unusual curtain rod out of a dowel, yardstick, PVC or copper tubing, or a tree branch. • Glue on an interesting finial: match boxcars, shells, starfish, oversized marbles, horseshoes, old drawer pulls or alphabet blocks. • Once you've found the perfect rod, wrap, drape, tack, glue, tie or suspend an unusual material such as an antique table cloth, a piano shawl, a flag, an apron, a Mexican blanket, ribbons, cheese cloth, a sheet, shower curtain or a sarong. • Make a Harlequin or saw-toothed valance by folding handkerchiefs, dishtowels, doilies, bandannas or scarves over the curtain rod. Embellish the “triangles” with buttons, pins or single earrings from your jewelry box (the ones you keep thinking you'll find the match for). Or, sew on tassels, crystals or ribbons from the point of the “tooth.” Partially Covered Windows A café-type treatment, which covers the lower half of your window, may be another simple option. • Make your own tab curtains from dishtowels or lace panels, which you have sewn together, or use a Simplicity pattern • Install shutters painted in a crisp white, or in one of the room's colors. • Try reverse accordion shades, which cover the opening from bottom to top. • Use roll-up shades in a bold color. Or, paint on or adhere a design to a neutral-colored shade. Fully Covered Windows If your window is large or you prefer it to be fully covered in a more traditional way, you have many options: plantation shutters or wood blinds, vertical blinds, mini blinds, tab curtains, ready-made drapes, etc. To visualize the possibilities and to save money, use mail-order catalogs offering ready-made coverings. If you want the full service of a professional you can get free estimates from companies listed under “Window Coverings” in the yellow pages.
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Kit Davey, an interior designer based in Redwood City, Calif., helps clients redecorate their homes through the creative use of their existing furnishings. E-mail Kit your questions: 
