Hello,

I have panels on my eat-in-kitchen sliding doors, and I have a roman on my sink window. I love romans!

Elaine

I have a set of french doors by the eating area of my kitchen, and a small window above my sink. I have a set of linen drapes hanging above the french doors on a traverse rod. I also have a balloon shade over the sink, in the same linen fabric to tie the rooms together.

Here is a link that might be useful: Linen drapes

I love the look of woven romans. Do you really want to go without some type of fabric valance on top? I think fabric can really helps to personalize a space as well as add some color. How big is your kitchen window? What if you did just the romans on your bumped out window and a fabric and roman on the kitchen one?

Until I came here I never gave one thought about all the windows of a house matching from the outside. That one, surprisingly, still doesn't bother me.

I have linen panels and linen soft roman shades. I love the texture they bring to my white cabinets and soapstone. I hung them on an angle to give the boxy space more interest. Btw, I got them at a sale at Country Curtains they were very inexpensive, but excellent quality.
Here is the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Willow's Linen curtains

Thank you ladies for the pics and the link.

Shee, I'm still undecided. I'm tired of valances LOL. I've always had fabric. I'm thinking that I have enough in the room to carry it off without valances. I'm also considering slips or at least a skirted slip for the chairs in there in the breakfast area, so that would add fabric. I do have color in the room. I have a hoosier cabinet at one end (breakfast area) and have items displayed there. The cabinet is painted/distressed a whitish color and my walls are a yellowish/gold, although we're going to repaint with a bit lighter, less yellow shade. I also have blue/white transferware displayed and some artwork. Hmmm, maybe what I'm feeling the need for is a bit less color, not neutral, but calmer. Make sense? The bumped out window is pretty large and then there is a smaller one.

Although our blinds are open a good bit (pulled up) during the day, I still like the uniformity of all wood blinds on the front of the house. I may be old fashioned there. LOL

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm still in the thinking stage. I'll let you know what I do.

tina

Can you post a picture to give us an idea of your decorating style?

I have those old-fahioned roller shades with scalloped edges trimmed in lace.

For a long time I was thinking about buying curtains for the kitchen and dining room area, along with the back door window which also has the blinds, but lately I've seen pictures in mags and online where these are coming back in style for "country" decorating and they're not using anything, not a valance or curtain.

We've really grown fond of the simplicity of the shades. They're a cream color and they kind of stand out on their own.

Tina, I forgot to add (and please don't anyone take this as a criticism, lol), but I'm also tired of valances even though I don't have any.

I like a valance with curtains but not as a stand alone piece of material on top of the blinds. They all start to look the same to me.

I consider this to be a new "fad" and I'm one of those who likes old fashioned cafe curtains in kitchens and breakfast areas. Heck, I miss ALL curtains! That's the only downside of having wood shutters.

Why did we all move away from curtains anyway? Dust?

Thank you Willow. I remember your panels, but hadn't noticed the shades. I'll take a look at those.

I love shades, london shades, roman shades, etc. I don't care at all for valances with panels. I do have panels in most of our rooms. Just ordered black toile for the office - making a few little changes in that room also.

tina

I put nothing on the windows! I don't have any one around to look in them though other than the woods and the critters that live in them. Are you looking to cover for privacy or for decoration??

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Sasafras - I suppose I am looking for both. I'm in the south and in the summer, these windows need covering for part of the afternoon.

I currently have wood blinds, but I do not like them just on their own. So, in that respect, I guess I am thinking of decoration.

These windows are on the back of the house, which is very private.

Thanks!

tina

Tina:
I know what you're saying about paring down. I find myself these days just wanting more air around my visual space. I have woven wood blinds in my eat-in area and really love them. They pull up far enough they don't block much light from the window. I've never been one to have fabric in the kitchen. I always worry about cooking smells and grease clinging to the fabric, and, to be frank, I'm not crazy about taking down curtains for laundering.
Dee

We are talking window treatments here, not cheap shoes made in China.

In my last kitchen I had blinds mounted to the inside of the window, and panels outside with sheers on hidden tension rods. They required frequent laundering and I was replacing the blinds every 2 years or so (cheaper/easier to replace than try and clean all the little cords and stuff) until we got rid of our OTR microwave and put in a bona fide exhaust. No problems after that.

In our next kitchen (moving this week yay!) the only window directly in the cooking area is a small casement window that looks onto a covered deck, so I won't have the direct light issues I had before that required blinds. I will probably go with two short panels, no blinds. The eat-in kitchen area is the next window, and it's about 14 feet from the cooktop. I'm actually planning on velvet drapes there, since it has a twin window about 8 feet away in the great room.

What are your cooking habits? Do you have a vented range hood, or recirculating? And is its capture area sufficient? I think that, more than anything, will determine the maintenance/cleaning required for your window treatments. At least it did IME.

We have east and south facing kitchen windows and they are stark naked. Zero zip no window treatments. And we love the light! No problems with excess summer heat and we love the extra winter warm ups.

We also wave to our neighbors through said south facing window! And it's one less thing to clean.

tina, That makes sense, sorry I didn't think of the area and reducing the light, heat, etc. If I had to cover a window, I'd choose something very simple that didn't need much attention. Like a roman shade that could be lifted to disappear until needed. Like you I don't care for valance decoration. And I prefer low maintenance =)

I'm having that same issue Tina. I took down my kitchen valance trying to give it an updated look but now it just seems too plain to me. I may try a clock as in the picture shown above to give it a little something more. Elaine, your kitchen looks great!

It took me 3 years to get something on the kitchen & keeping room windows. Chose cordless woven woods. They help with sun control ... that's what I was after.

Natal:
Your over the sink window picture looks like it's from a magazing! (I saved it for inspiration)
Dee

natal,

do you like the cordless wovens on the more narrow windows?? i am considering them for bedroom windows(with panels) and was wondering if the narrower size negatively affected the raising and lowering...because of less wt??
thanks!

Dee, what a sweet thing to say. I love having fresh flowers on the windowsill.

Busybee, not sure what you consider narrow. The width on the kitchen window is 38" and the keeping room's are 30" each. To be perfectly honest, the shades don't raise and lower with the same ease as my corded shades. I don't adjust them every day so it's not an issue for me. I do like not having the cords.

I love the woven woods by themselves. I did have a valance over them at one time, but it just stood out in a way I didn't care for! However, I like the bold panels I have on the french doors. I only close the panels when it's really hot or really cold, it seems to make a little difference. The shades are unlined, but they do keep some glare off the TV if we need that, but that is seldom, too. We don't need privacy.
{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Natal and Sallymo - that is what I had in mind! Leaning towards that. Sally - the panels are pretty - but I don't have french doors in my kitchen (have them in another room). (Love your wood cabinets - I have stayed with stained wood also.)

Thanks for the help!

tina

Natal -- What a beautiful area for a Prince/Princess kitty cat and close to the kitchen if he/she get hungry!

thanks natal...i didn't realize the kitchen window was only 38"...i thought that one was much wider than the keeping rm's windows!
i was wondering if the ease of opening/closing was more difficult than the cords--sounds like it is. i have 3 ~36' windows and one 64" window that i want to get wovens for in bedroom...anticipate that we'll be raising/lowering them fairly often...will probably save the extra$ and just get corded.