With a little luck it won`t be too long now before nature starts closing out dreary gray days and gets in a new supply of sunny ones. Then we`ll be opening shades to let the sunshine in and even, eventually, closing them to keep hot rays out.
The choices for taking care of these tasks continue to grow, with window blinds now available with vertical slats as well as with horizontal ones. There are even blinds for odd-shaped windows. A wide array of new fabrics awash in canyon colors from the Southwest palette adds to the possible ways of covering any window.
Blinds and shades today not only protect your privacy and keep the energy bills under control but keep pace with new styles in home furnishings. ”The trends in window coverings are moving toward softer looks, more fashion looks and a new traditionalism,” says Marvin Hopkins, president of the Window Fashions division of Hunter Douglas Inc. Defining the new traditionalism in home furnishings, Hopkins says, ”It`s a slight revision of the traditional direction which has been strong for many years, but there`s a greater sophistication, a more eclectic approach and a higher taste level.”
To meet the consumer demand for more elegant window furnishings, Jan Birch, senior designer at Graber Industries, says, ”We see a lot of up-scaling in general with better quality fabrics in vertical and pleated blinds and a great deal of interest in top treatments which are sometimes very elaborate.” She adds, ”We also see drapery treatments used in places other than windows, such as for bed canopies.”
New colors, too, have been added to the old standards. Says Hopkins,
”Although the strongest colors in window coverings are, and probably will remain, the neutrals-the whites, off-whites, beiges and almonds-we`ve recently introduced updated pastels for the `90s which include a lot of the terra cotta colors, which are very popular.”
Because some of the products mentioned below were only recently introduced to the trade, they may not yet be available in stores. Unless otherwise specified, manufacturers do not sell directly to the public but may be contacted for names of local retailers.
The Duette line of double-pleated fabric shades from Hunter Douglas Window Fashions fits into the trend toward a softer look in home furnishings. Pleats are created by a honeycomb design, and the fabric diffuses the harsh outside light to create a soft glow indoors. Duette shades have permanent pleats that will not sag, and they provide high energy efficiency. Duette Eclipse, a room-darkening shade recently introduced for use in bedrooms, won a Roscoe Award for design excellence in home furnishings. Colors include rose clay, desert pink, peach sand and pebble. Suggested retail price for the three-eighths-inch style for an average 20-foot-square window: $275 for Duette, $350 for Duette Eclipse. Hunter Douglas Inc., Window Fashions Division, 601 Alter St., Broomfield. Colo. 80020 (phone: 800-4-DUETTE).
Nanik calls its Optix blinds Sunglasses for Windows. Slats of the blinds are transparent so the view outside is visible, but they protect home furnishings by filtering out the damaging ultraviolet rays of the sunlight coming into the room. Optix blinds come in 1- and 2-inch horizontal blinds, 3 1/2-inch verticals and eight colors, including mocha, navy blue, canyon brown and desert rose. Privacy Optix blinds add the option of blocking light out completely. They come in charcoal, smoke, indigo and amber-bronze. Suggested retail price: $11-$18 per square foot for Optix Blinds, $15-$19 per square foot for Privacy Optix. Nanik, Box 1766, Wausau, Wis. 54401 (phone:
800-422-4544).
M & B has added a 3-inch wood blind to its original line of real basswood blinds, which included 1- and 2-inch styles. The wider blinds create a
”plantation shutter” look and come in 10 colors, including bleached white and bleached gray. Suggested retail prices start at $98. M & B also offers custom-made blinds to fit unusually shaped windows. More than 30 shapes include blinds for arched and oval-shaped windows as well as circles, triangles, hexagons and octagons. Specialty shapes come in many colors and materials including aluminum, wood and fabric. Because these blinds are custom-made, prices vary according to size, shape and material. M & B, 1818 S. Oak St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90015 (phone: 800-421-8818).
Levelor Lorentzen has more than 250 styles to choose from in its new collection of vertical and pleated shades. Among the fabrics for vertical shades is Phoenix, an open-weave fabric in earth tones. In keeping with the trend for more elegant looks is an antique satin fabric called Heirloom in the pleated shade collection. Chamois, a new nonwoven fabric in pastel shades, provides a soft look. Suggested retail price: $70-$400, depending on size and fabric. Levelor Lorentzen Inc., 1 Upper Pond Rd., Parsippany, N.J. 07054
(phone: 800-526-6323).
Current window fashions can be adapted to the bed with Bed Canopy Kits from Graber Industries. The kits contain hardware that allows you to drape fabric over the head of the bed to create a canopy effect. Fabric is not included, but the kit contains a sewing guide as well as all the rods, brackets and specialty hardware necessary. There are several styles of canopies to choose from, including the simple Cinderella and the Crown Royale, which has a bowed headpiece over crisscrossed drapes. Suggested retail price: $39-$59, depending on style and size of bed. Graber Industries Inc., 800 Roosevelt Rd., Suite B106, Glen Ellyn, Ill. 60137 (phone: 790-3800).
Elegant, customized top treatments for windows can be created with specialty curtain rods from Kirsch. The Mesa I rod is arched, and straight-hem panels slipped over the rods follow the curve. The rods are adjustable;
brackets and supports are also adjustable so the valance can leave room for an undertreatment. Suggested retail price: about $15. The 4 1/2-inch-wide Continental I rod creates the look of a valance when a simple pocket heading is shirred over it. For smaller windows, the Continental II is 2 1/2 inches wide. Suggested retail price: about $15 for Continental I and $13 for Continental II. Kirsch, P.O. Box 0370, Sturgis, Mich. 49091 (phone:
800-528-1407).
One of the more frustrating and tedious jobs of housekeeping is cleaning aluminum and vinyl blinds. Blind-Brite`s cleaning products make the chore more manageable. The wool rollers on the cleaning tool clamp down on five louvers at a time at the squeeze of a trigger. The Blind-Brite spray is designed not only to clean the blinds but to remove static charge so dust and dirt won`t begin to cling to them again immediately. Suggested retail price: $4.99 for pack with tool and spray, $2.99 for spray alone. Blind-Brite Corp., 1375 Gladys Ave., Long Beach, Calif. 90804 (phone: 800-634-4778).
