Ventanas, LLC

When you have some sort of window covering, shutters especially, gazing out the window can sometimes seem like looking through a prison cell. Tilt bars cloud your vision and your vision for what you want your windows to do and look like in your home.

Luckily, Norman Shutters make shutters that feature a hidden tilt. Made with premium hardwood, the Normandy Shutter collection comes in soft neutral colors. You can have your shutters made completely custom, even to fit those impossible arched windows. The Normandy Shutters use a patented wood drying technique that allows the wood to hold up in whatever environment they are used.

However, the big draw to the Normandy Shutters is their hidden appeal. There is no visible tilt bar. The lines of the louvers continue from one side to the other, without being obstructed with a bar. One of the main reasons clients are drawn to these types of shutters is that they don’t mess up your molding with screws and the like as it can be with other shutters. The décor frame adds a decorative molding touch to unadorned windows while the inserts hide the installation fasteners. In order to close the shutters, all you have to do is grab on to a louver or two and push down to keep the light out. The shutters almost appear as if they came before the window, fitting in perfectly. Windows look clean, elegant and effortless.

Premium hardwood shutters aren’t a thing of the past. The classic appeals of hardwood shutters have a new twist. With the Normandy Shutters, you can appreciate the view out your window or just the overall appearance of your window and molding without feeling the weight of installation fasteners and tilt bars. No more prison cell, just clean lines on your shutters so that you can get back to staring out the window without obstructions.

When it comes to window coverings, Helser Brothers have established as respected innovators and suppliers of window covering solutions. Led by two brothers, the company hones in on customer devotion and social integrity. It is no wonder the Helser Brothers would come up with a completely customizable tool for their clients with their build your own finial software. Now, anyone can try their hand at designing a key aspect to window treatments.

The build your own finial software invites virtually anyone that knows their style to play around with ideas on finials. The easy to use software can be accessed right from your computer. Opening up the program, customers can compose their own rod, bands, rings and brackets, selecting from a number of categories and color options.

Playing around with the tool, you can design your own finial, making for an incredibly custom look that you can’t get off of the rack. Some of the elements clients can choose from include crystal, iron, baguettes, ceramics, woods and resins. You can then email, print and save your design for later reference. By being able to play around with the Helser Brothers build your own finial tool, you can really figure out what you like and don’t like in terms of your window treatments.

At times, home decor and window coverings can seem daunting for the average Joe or Jane. Professional help is often implored, but with this tool from Helser Brothers, anyone can play designer and create exactly what they are looking for in a finial. With the ability to save, print and email your creation, you can always pass it along to your designer so they know exactly what you are looking for in terms of your window accents.

Color trends often first spring up in the fashion industry. Cascading into other areas of daily life, colors that show up on the runway will often make their way into the home stores next. Fashion designers look at the Pantone colors as industry standards. In the process, interior design mimics those clothing styles and colors.

When it comes to your home and the choices you make in color for your window coverings, you may be inundated with the latest fashion color trends and want to see those colors in your home. While splashing the latest turquoise craze on the runaway up on your windows may seem appealing now, it is always important to keep in mind that trends are just that. Less is always more when incorporating current decoration trends for the home.

For those fashion hungry colorists, you can enrich your home and be up to date with the color trends by making sure the trendy color items you use can easily be changed. Things like pillows, accent fabrics and wall paint can all be changed easily when the color trends change course. By keeping foundation pieces neutral such as couches and bigger pieces you have to live with and on, those trendy color items you just had to have this season won’t be out dated next season.

As the fashion world gets the color trends first, home decor tends to get the memo second. However, we can all take those trends in color to our homes, in little splashes. Afterall, no one wants to end up with the latest color trend of avocado bathtubs for 10 years to come.

Much of color and combining color with patterns all comes with a common goal, to achieve a certain mood or effect. It is important to make certain those colors and patterns are lasting and not just a fleeting feeling. After all, you do have to live with it, literally and figuratively.

When considering colors and patterns for your home décor, it is necessary to consider your personal preferences, how you use the room and how the space is laid out. Designers also stress looking at the design and style of a home. A modern marvel might not be the best place for traditional country cottage colors.

With window treatments and other elements to interiors, it is much like makeup in high school. A lot of color and polish can be too much. Bright colors really should only be used in moderation as too much can grow exhausting over time. At the same time, painting a wall one color with window coverings the same color and furniture all the same color can lend a numbing effect. Contrasts are important, which is where patterns can step into the picture. Just like with too much color, too many patterns can be overwhelming. A common rule remains selecting three different patterns that contrast in scale, but all relate in color.

If you are looking to redo a room or space, color and pattern can give off some of the greatest sense of visual change. Using both involves considering the purpose of the room. Monochromatic or analogue color palettes may provide peace and tranquility while more energetic spaces call for those splashes of color and texture.

You and your designer may select a color for your window coverings, have them installed, sit back with coffee in hand to admire the new addition to your home and wonder, how did that color reach my windows? Colors are a key part of not just the window covering industry but all industries. What many may not know is just how powerful an industry’s influence on color can be. Causing a domino effect, those blinds may not just be a color you were strangely drawn to.

Associations like the Color Marketing Group actually forecast color trends. Forecasting isn’t just for the local weatherman or woman. Color Marketing Group is made up of Color Designers involved in the use of color. Their members exchange information on color marketing, with a focus on identifying the direction of color and design trends. A venue for professionals who design and market color, the Color Marketing Group has developed into a premier international association.

Bringing it back to the receiver of those predictions, you may wonder just how one can “forecast” color trends. While it doesn’t seem as simple as predicting it will snow when you see dark clouds up ahead, it actually can be. Color Marketing Group holds conferences twice a year, forecasting colors that haven’t already been applied to a particular product. In order to do so, members look at a number of influencers that may have nothing to do with your window coverings. Those influences can be social issues, politics, the environment, the economy and cultural diversity.

Looking at those influencers, the Color Marketing Group can put together how they foresee color trends to go. The association believes what happens in one industry in regards to color can impact another. It is surprising how the color of your window coverings can say so much not just about the window covering industry but the feeling of the times and other industries outside of décor.

You might envision a color trend meeting for 2011 to take place in a bunker somewhere over the rainbow. While color trends are often a mystery to most and dictated by a few influencers, the New Year may bring you a new desire to redo those window coverings and paint colors. When it comes to color trends for interiors for 2011, meetings of the color people, including Yolo Colorhouse and Pantone, have come up with some enticing predictions for 2011.

Yolo Colorhouse has put together some popular trends in color for 2011. Some of their ideas relate to the wave of technology, bringing everyone and everything to your fingertips as reflected through home decor. As the world moves faster, colors start to blend, creating sultry and seductive teals paired with shadow hues and warm colors like twinkling lights. Yolo Colorhouse also points out a number of trends in color, from the knitting craze of weaving together bright hues with grounding neutrals, the organic color movement of rich earthy browns and vibrant beet purples, to going green with natural material-like color palettes.

Pantone also weighed in on color for interiors for 2011. Announcing nine color palettes for home furnishings, Pantone cites quiet pastels of light blues, pinks and golden yellows along with colors that are easy on the eyes such as dusty roses, avocadoes, and warm taupe. Other trends in interior colors for 2011 include jet-blacks coupled with metallic, clean Zen colors and that burst of wit and whimsy with jellybean color palettes. More trends predicted more fragmented colors, pulling from all around the world.

Heading over the rainbow and reading up on color trends for 2011, you might have the sudden urge to do some redecorating. Clicking heels to head over the rainbow of colors is not just for the Dorothy crowd. Anyone can follow these trends in color for the upcoming year.

Going green has truly reached nearly every area of life, from reusable grocery bags to cell phone cases made of bottle caps. In the window covering industry, green is not just one of the shade color options, but rather it can be a way of saving money and lowering those energy bills.

Companies such as Hunter Douglas have come up with ways not just to save energy but also to put more money in your pocket. Around the holiday season, it is always nice to save a few dollars here and there, so why not let your windows do the saving for you?

On select energy efficient products from Hunter Douglas, customers can qualify for a Federal Tax Credit up to $1,500 when they purchase select energy efficient window coverings. Customers must purchase the covering and have them installed by December 31, 2010, just in time for the New Year. Obviously, this a time sensitive credit, so those looking to redo their window covering for nosy relatives coming over for the holidays or just to save on their energy bill, will have to act quickly.

One of the qualifying products is the Duette Architella Honeycomb Shade. Honeycomb proves sweet for your energy bill in more ways than one with these shades. The honeycomb within a honeycomb design yields the highest level of energy efficiency in the country. The coverings boast of reducing energy loss up to 50%.

Most of us don’t turn to our windows for extra cash. The saying of money flying out the window holds true for those without energy saving window coverings. Instead of watching money fly out with the latest blizzard, any home can keep the extra cash with the federal tax credit on efficient window coverings, especially when they need it most throughout the holiday season.

With summer just around the corner, homeowners are starting to think about using their outdoor spaces to their fullest extent. Patio shades, or screen shades, are the solution to controlling the afternoon light, so we can maximize the time we spend on our patios. A well-positioned solar shade can block the late afternoon light so we can enjoy our outdoor furniture through much of the day.

When designing an outdoor space, pay close attention to the direction of the sun, and think about what time of day, the space will be used. Often-times, a southern or western exposure will benefit from a screen shade to provide protection from the sun. These can be installed on cables that will keep the shade from “billowing” in a light breeze. Be aware that a strong breeze can either rip the fabric, or destroy the cables, so you should never lower the shade on a breezy day, unless you’re there to raise it up when the wind kicks up.

The great dilemma when it comes to roller screen shades for residential and commercial applications revolves around the fabric density. How dense is dense enough? It depends. If you live in a sunny climate such as Denver, where the east and west sun is the most intense year-round, you might want to consider a fabric with a 3% openness factor (conversely, a 97% density). For northern and southern exposures, a 5% OF (95% density) will probably be sufficient to protect furnishings and floor coverings. It will also take the sun’s glare off of the TV or computer screen.

Even though most fabric manufacturers offer screen shades from 1% OF up to 10% and 14%, be aware that these screen densities are rarely sufficient to remove glare, and will not keep UV rays from damaging interiors. While many homeowners and office managers may want to choose these weaves because they don’t want to obstruct their views, they often end up replacing them in the long run because they don’t do the job they were meant to do. When in doubt, denser is better.

When measuring for window shadings, whether they are cellular shades, roman shades, privacy sheers, Silhouettes, or any type of window covering that mounts directly at the window, it’s important to make the right decision as to whether you want to mount the shade inside the window trim (inside mount), or outside the trim (outside mount). The first consideration is whether or not there is enough room on the inside of the trim to mount your brackets. Some trims are either not deep enough, or have too much detail to allow a flat surface onto which you can mount your brackets. If this is the case, an outside mount is necessary. Likewise, if light gaps are an issue (say in a bedroom, where you want total blackout), an outside mount might be the best option, so you can extend the shade 2-3 inches on either side of the opening. This will give you the most light control.

If there is sufficient depth to the window casing, and you prefer a custom fitted look, an inside mount is the preferable option. Assuming the window is “square”, you can achieve this look if you can measure correctly. A professional window fashions consultant can help you determine your options.