How We Think About Window Treatments

Blair Burton

Oct 15

5 min read

Updated: Oct 19

The right treatment begins not with the window covering, but with the architecture, the light, the view, and how a room is meant to be lived in.

Blair recently spoke with The Spruce about a deceptively simple question: Does every window need curtains?

The short answer is no.

But the more interesting answer has less to do with curtains than with how we think about the room as a whole. What follows expands on Blair's full comments shared with The Spruce, with supporting imagery from our project portfolio.

When I think about window treatments, I try not to begin with the treatment itself. I start with the window, the architecture around it, what we need that entire wall to do for the room, and the purpose of the room itself.

Photography: Julie Soefer | Styling: Jessica Holtam

Sometimes the Window Is Enough

Beautiful windows don't automatically require decoration.

If the architecture already has enough presence—or if the window frames an extraordinary view—adding drapery simply because a window is there can actually take something away.

That is especially true with steel windows, large expanses of glass, and homes situated where the landscape itself provides privacy. In those situations, I tend to begin with the assumption that less is more.

Modern Haven Living Room. Photography: Julie Soefer | Styling: Jessica Holtam

The photographs above depict three different architectural languages making essentially the same point: sometimes the window is already doing everything we need it to do.

I also feel very comfortable leaving windows untreated in kitchens and breakfast rooms. Harsh light conditions notwithstanding, there is something fitting about allowing these “morning spaces” to provide an unmediated experience of the upcoming day's weather.

Belgian Farmhouse kitchen. Photography: Julie Soefer | Styling: Jessica Holtam

Here the lack of a window treatment isn't an omission. It's part of how the room is meant to be experienced.

Sometimes the Glass Is the Treatment

There are also times when the glass itself can do much of what we might otherwise ask a window treatment to do.

Leaded or decorative glass can provide a degree of privacy while still allowing natural light into a room. But I love it for another reason, too: it gives the light character.

Belgian Farmhouse Hallway. Photography: Julie Soefer | Styling: Jessica Holtam

In this hallway, the leaded panes become almost a form of living art. As the sun moves through the house, the diamond pattern is cast across the walls and floor, changing throughout the day.

That's an effect I wouldn't want to cover up.

The glass also brings craftsmanship, texture and a sense of history to the architecture. Rather than feeling that we need to add something to the window, we can allow the window itself to become one of the materials of the room.

[Editor's Note: Blair recently spoke with House Beautiful about using leaded glass as an architectural element and the way it can transform natural light within a room.]

“Untreated” Doesn't Always Mean Untreated

Of course, real houses have practical requirements.

We may need privacy. We may need to reduce glare or protect interiors from intense sunlight. A bedroom needs to become dark. A television room may need light control at certain times of day.

That doesn't mean the functional solution needs to become a prominent part of the room.

We often use concealed shades when we need privacy, glare control or sun protection but want the window to appear as though nothing is there. The architecture remains visually uninterrupted while the house can still respond to the people living in it. Here are two examples of nearly invisible window treatments.

Refined Rustic Retreat Primary Bedroom. Photography: Julie Soefer | Styling: Jessica Holtam

Photography: Julie Soefer | Styling: Jessica Holtam

The goal isn't to make every window treatment noticeable. Sometimes success means barely noticing it at all.

Sometimes We're Treating the Wall, Not the Window

At other times, when I am using curtains, I'm thinking less about treating the window than treating the wall.

Drapery can completely change the perceived proportions of a room.

We have several upstairs bedrooms in our own home with relatively small windows placed high on the wall. If I treated only the window openings, I would emphasize exactly how small they are. Instead, I use long panels that extend to the floor.

Westover Hills Bedroom Images. Photography: Julie Soefer | Styling: Jessica Holtam

In my daughter's bedroom, for example, the Roman shade handles the window itself while full-length blackout curtains give the wall height and softness—and provide superb sleeping conditions when they're drawn. God forbid a teenage girl doesn't get proper rest.

Here, the shade and curtains are actually performing different jobs. One addresses the window. The other changes the architecture we perceive.

Window Treatments Change How a Room Feels

Window treatments are also one of the most effective ways to control the emotional character of a room. Fabric can soften hard architecture, bring intimacy to a large room, make a modest window feel more important, or frame a beautiful view.

Photography: Nick Johnson (Images 1 &4), Julie Soefer (Images 2,3 &6), Molly Culver (Image 5)

Bedrooms often ask for something different. Softness and enclosure become more important, as does the ability to control light.

That is why I don't believe there is one “right” window treatment.

Our own house is actually a good study in this. In some rooms we layer sheers with heavier drapery when we want softness and privacy along with greater light control.

Westover Hills Living Room. Photography: Julie Soefer | Styling: Jessica Holtam

Elsewhere, we might use something much more tailored. In my husband's office, a tailored shade with a decorative edge becomes part of the design itself. Each solution is different because each room is asking for something different.

Westover Hills Office. Photography: Julie Soefer | Styling: Jessica Holtam

Bringing Natural Materials to the Window

Woven grass shades are one of my favorite ways to add warmth and texture.

They filter light beautifully, and because their color and irregularity come from a natural material, they tend to sit comfortably alongside wood, stone and other organic finishes.

The treatment feels less like something applied to the window and more like another material belonging to the room.