Q: I am buying a new 2-story house. I am concerned about the front of the house and the cohesiveness or lack of…. What do you think about the overall look from the front… is ok to have mix of shutters and drapes even if each is its own style?
A: This is such a good question. I know there are decorators out there who will disagree with me, but hold on to your hats: the windows do NOT all have to be the same. There should be some sense of order, however.
A house like the one at right is perfect for mixing and matching styles because it’s not symmetrical. But limit yourself to 2 or 3 styles or the house will look schizophrenic.
In a house such as the center hall colonial below, every pair of windows should be the same (not tough since they’re the likely the same room inside). You might want to do the same style across the whole second-floor row, but it would look fine to have, say, Roman shades in the bottom left windows and straight drapes in the bottom right.
Actually, we should think less in terms of style and more in terms of shape when considering the exterior view. For example, a lined Roman shade and a white wooden blind both will read as a straight horizontal line from the outside. So a row of those two styles would look perfectly orderly.
To the questioner: I can’t address the other parts of your question without seeing your house, so I distilled your question to the most pertinent point. For you, in brief, try wood blinds instead of shutters, and yes, it’s fine to layer drapes over them.
Picture credits: iStockPhoto.com