(I first wrote “the best bottom-only window treatments,” but it sounded kind of gross.)
You may have found yourselves in this very situation, Gentle Readers: you want to cover only the bottom half of a window, but you’re not quite sure how. You need some privacy (or you want to obscure something unsightly, such as your neighbor’s garbage cans), but you also want to see the trees and sky 24/7.
Here are my favorite solutions to this decorating dilemma.
Stained wood blinds, with smallish slats — no wider than 2″. Pretty much exactly like this:
Not the huge, white “plantation shutters,” which people think are neutral but aren’t; and not teeny-tiny bifold shutters, which, unfortunately, can look dated unless they’re in a granny-chic cottage. In which case the whole place looks dated, but in a charming, intentional way.
We’re about to do half shutters with short (from above the window to the sill) curtains in several second- and third-floor bedrooms. It’s going to be amazing. Don’t forget that you also can do shutters top AND bottom…but that’s not what this post is about ;)
Café curtains / Brisbees. I think I’ve mentioned that long ago, a window treatment fabricator told me that “Brisbees” is the new word for café curtains, and that I should never say “café curtains” again. I took her at her word. Well, after several years of informal polling, I have yet to find anyone else who uses the term. Now I’m stuck. I may slowly eliminate the B-word from my vocabulary and address the whole situation in the revised and updated version of my book someday.
Anyway. These short curtains (hey – why don’t we just say that?) are an excellent half-window treatment, and they can be quite elegant. (I bet that’s why we were desperate for a new word: we all think of a French bistro when we hear “café curtains,” don’t we?)
Keep the rods and rings small and the fabric sheer and pliable. Lightweight fabric has the advantage of translucence, so you get privacy AND a glow from the sun.
Not that you should rule out regular weight patterned fabric. That can look pretty fab, too:
Flat panels. These are the least common of the 3 treatments I’m discussing, which is a great reason you should consider them ;) They’re simple, flat, fabric panels with no pleats…SO simple, in fact, that I advise against using a solid color unless you add trim.
Here, you could push the panels aside if you wanted to open the window, but I bet they look like this most of the time:
Below, it appears that the panels are held in place by inside-mount rods at the top and bottom of each. This means that they always look crisp and neat, but you cannot push them aside (it’s difficult to do that with any rod-pocket treatment), nor can you open the windows. Something to keep in mind.
So those are my 3 favorite half-window treatments, Gentle Readers: shutters, short curtains ;) , and flat panels.
Ah – I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the “top-down/bottom-up” style, which is an option for fabric Roman shades, natural woven (grassy or bamboo-y) Roman shades, and pleated or cell shades.
I use top-down bottom-up treatments sparingly. The thing about this style is that you are forced to have a valence at the top to disguise the mechanism, and you will see strings when the treatment is half up or half down. Tight strings and dangly strings. Lots of strings.
That said, sometimes a top-down bottom-up treatment is what the situation requires, so that’s what we go with. And because we’ve chosen amazing fabric or the perfect grassy weave, they look fantastic.
That’s the thing about decorating, Gentle Readers. You can have your favorite go-to styles and write up all the rules you want, but at the end of the day, every house is different, and every homeowner is different.
That’s why we’re lucky to have options. And interior designers ;)
Annie Elliott Design is based in Washington, D.C. In case you missed it, here’s last week’s NBC4 story about my book: My Neighbor Saw Me Naked, and Other Reasons You Need Drapes. You can buy the book right here!