Jennie Knapp
  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • Magazine>
      • Professional Spotlight: Fashion Design to Show Biz
      • From Colonial to Contemporary
      • Why I Love Windows
      • Creative Coordination
      • Before & After
      • Allure (Advertorial)
      • Now That's Amoré
      • Stories of Success: 24/7 Cake
    • Catalog>
      • Product Copy
      • CometTail™ Activity Instructions
      • Pyramid to Plate™ Activity Instructions
    • Newspaper>
      • A Family of Hams
      • Sisterhood Develops Through Singing
    • Marketing Materials>
      • Come Sail With Us!
      • Taking a Step of Faith
      • Living the American Dream
    • Blog>
      • Now That's Living in Luxury: The Influence of Gold
      • Oddly Enough
      • Photo Tips: Do Your Pictures Do Your Designs Justice?
      • New Perspectives
  • Résumé
  • Recommendations
  • Contact

Creative Coordination

Picture
Combining Window Treatment Elements to Design the Complete Window Creation

While a single window treatment alone adds character and flavor to a room, the combination of various elements within the window-treatment category can effectively transform a regular window into a stunning masterpiece, effectively pulling together all elements to create a coordinated piece.

When it comes to fabrics and trimmings specifically, ADO Corporation is taking strides to offer more fabric-coordinating options to its customers. Recently, the company launched its ADOcoordinates line, an innovative color-coordinated fabric line consisting of drapery weight fabrics, printed fabrics, sheers, and trimmings that can be combined to create exquisite window-treatment solutions. The fabric line allows designers to begin with color palette groups of trimmings and from there reference easy-to-read charts to find matching fabric assortments for a complete window treatment.

“In 2008 we wanted to introduce an innovative and convenient all-in-one window treatment product line, while still maintaining the fabric quality we’re known for,” notes Walter Herr, executive vice president, ADO Corporation. “With the ADOcoordinates line, our customers will now have a variety of color-coordinated fabrics and trimmings to choose from that innately work together in a number of different combinations.”

Other companies are offering more variety in regards to coordinating fabrics and shades. Horizons™ Soft Treatments line offers fabric accents and complete fabric shades, a great new way to coordinate the look of natural woven shades and fabrics. Horizons also offers the Laminates Collection, a line of custom fabric roller shades that include a beautiful selection of drapery fabrics laminated to quality blackout roller shade lining. With over 480 fabric choices from their soft treatments collection, and the option to submit your own material, the choices are endless. In fact, the Laminates Collection also allows for top-treatment coordination to complete your treatment.

Louvolite considers itself to be one of the pioneers of fabric coordination when it comes to hard window coverings, as it actually designs and manufactures many of its own fabrics. With recent fabric developments, Louvolite has created fabric programs that allow the blind supplier or interior designer to use the same fabric across four different window shading systems, including vertical, roller, roman, and panel-glide options. A number of Louvolite’s jacquard fabrics are available in each of these shading systems, and even its woven-wood products are available to manufacture as roman, roll-up, and panel-glide blinds.

Offering the latest trends, textures, and colors in fabrics across all product lines, Comfortex’s newest product line, Envision™ Roller Shades, debuted in January this year and focuses on fabric with varying textures, weaves, prints, and screens. “Particularly exciting is the new EcoGreen™ collection, offering cutting-edge fabrics that are fully recyclable, PVC-free, and LEED certification-friendly,” explained Corina McRee, product manager, Comfortex Window Fashions. “Plus, all of Comfortex’s fabrics in its Ballet Drapery Sheer, Envision Roller Shade, and Serenade Roman Shade lines are available as finished shades and cut yardage for accent pieces, suitable for a wide variety of applications.”

Shades are not the only customization options available to designers today. Hunter Douglas is offering customization options when it comes to cornices with their new Country Woods® Exposé™ Wood Cornice Program, designed to perfectly match all Country Woods wood blind colors, as well as complement other Hunter Douglas window fashions or drapery treatments.

In addition to combinations of fabrics, soft and hard treatments, and shades, the ability to color coordinate all of these options is essential. Recently, Vertilux introduced its color coordinated bottomrails, with a wide range of colors to allow the consumer to easily combine it with any selected fabric, allowing a contemporary new look.

Sun protection and glare reduction are major components involved in choosing window treatments that suit your clients’ needs. With this in mind, the burnout Design Indra from Almedahls’ Daylight Control Solution Collection has become highly popular--available in panel, vertical, roller blind fabric, and pleated, and in five different color versions. The majority of Almedahl’s roller blind collection in plains and textures are also suitable for panels.

Other light-filtering window treatment options include Sun Glow’s newest collection, The Artisan, assembled with the designer in mind. “This line includes a selection of fabrics in today’s popular colors with both light filtering and room darkening properties to allow the color theme to flow throughout the space, while meeting the specific sun control needs of that particular room,” said Vivian Kanargelidis, president of Sun Glow Window Covering Products of Canada Ltd. Taking that a step further, Sun Glow also has added a variety of coordinating trims, pulls, and curtain tie backs, giving the designer the freedom to mix and match to create a custom-designed window display.

An innovative concept in the field of lighting comes from Radiant Blinds, the first blinds in the world to produce ambient light of their own. The interior facing side of each slat produces beautiful light, with the blinds appearing in standard colors of White and Alabaster until activated by the wireless remote. “Once activated,” explained Brad Froese, president, designer, and engineer of Radiant Blinds, “the blinds produce a light color of the designers choosing, making them extremely versatile for fabrics and soft good selections, adding ambience and artistic creativity to every living space.”

Back to Magazine Samples