Everything You Need to Know About Window Treatments

0:00Hello, everybody. Welcome to Dear Alice. If you're new here, we are the designers and interior architects behind Alice Lane Interior Design and Alice Lane Home. We've spent the past 20 years designing custom homes, doing remodels and interiors. And each week we wanted to share some of the design principles and mistakes and insider knowledge that we're using every single day with our own clients. So we wanna just pay all this forward to you because we've learned a lot along the way. We don't gatekeep. We just wanna share everything we know. Today's episode came in, I believe a question came in about window treatments.

0:33People wanted to know about the different types of drapery we're in this really high decorating era and so we said let's do one on window treatments it's been a minute and let's just really break down the types of drapery yeah and i think honestly we did a whole podcast on it because there were so many of you that had questions on window treatments were like well the people spoken we've heard you and now we're going to get into it all right so today we're going to talk to you about the types of draperies we're going to talk about pleat styles we're going to talk about all the details hardware everything and we're going to show you examples from some of our projects where it's been successful and we can't wait to dive into it.

1:08Let's do it. I think hardware is where things most often go wrong and this is what's going to date your drapery and it's going to make everything a very very expensive mistake. It is true and like to all those that have installed window treatments in the past that have some of these things that are dated this is your time to upgrade. Window treatments are very expensive but but the hardware will set you apart. And oftentimes, even with new hardware and your same drapery, if it was timeless and it still goes with the room, you can switch out the hardware to be something great. So I'm really glad we're getting into this.

1:40Me too. I'm gonna say something controversial. Okay. I believe that you should not use finials. Yeah. Because this is the thing that's just gonna really make you dated. You know what I mean? It's kind of those 80s earrings. Yeah. And we're like, that's not cute anymore. So if you will just start with a lovely, I love a nickel rod. I made a decision 11 years ago just to use nickel rods, no finial. I just did end caps and I did matching nickel rings. I've never regretted this choice. Hey, I love that. I think it's great. I can think to, I'm not going to name any names, but I'm thinking about a past home, somebody that's close to me and they did wood rods, big finials, wood rings.

2:19Picture it in your mind. It's a lot. They did shears. Shears are everlastingly gorgeous, right? That would always work what didn't work was the hardware wood rods big finials wood rings it's like heavy with something so light i know yeah that doesn't like it feels really off balance it's not good in general and then i feel like the finials some of them can be like really curly and lacy or they'll be fleur-de-lis on the end if you will yeah pineapples yeah you know the ones yeah i know exactly this is the thing that gives you all of the regret where you're like what am i gonna do So if you will just play the game and just say, I'm just going to get either the French return, which is when the rod is going to elbow and bend back and touch the wall so that you don't even need to worry about the finial.

3:04That's beautiful. You'll never regret that. Or you get yourself a rod with just end caps, no finials. Yes. And I will say the actual diameter of the rod, it used to be back in the wooden rod days, it used to be a two inch diameter rod. we're doing the one one and a half depending on the span of it if it's a short window you can get away with a slimmer one but one and a half is usually good i usually don't want to go above that and i will say nickel is always a good idea like just does but i will do a gold if the hardware line is good honestly if a hardware line has several types of gold that's a good sign if they only have one type of gold not such a good sign they are hard to get along with and usually that gold will not get along with the gold of your light fixture or your hardware but if you are a traditionalist and you still want a little bit of fancy, you can still do the gold, but just make sure you get the right gold and make sure it's antiqued and burnished and feels authentic and not painted on.

3:57Before we go any further, I'm going to say this. If you're living with some of these things that are contradicting to what we're about to say, it's okay. I'm in the same camp as you are. My plan, take it room by room and just fix my sins of the past. We've all done that before. And that we wish we wouldn't have done X. But you know what's really fun about living a long time, Corey, is that you start to know and recognize how things have come and go. And then you can really start to trust your taste because you're like, I remember all four of these decades that from, I'm 50. So I really remember four decades from when I was one to 10 and probably wasn't as clued into the details, right?

4:37Yeah, it was day by day then. Yeah, totally. It was like the eighties. It was, it was amateur hour. Everything was awesome, you know, and then you start to start noticing things that are cool and you leaned in really hard in this decade and this decade, pretty soon you're like, okay, I know what I won't regret for the next decades of my life. Yeah. You know, or you might have a friend that's maybe older and wiser and you'd say, what do you think between these two? You know me, what am I never going to regret? Absolutely. Yeah. That's how I feel about draperies. I just recently had some new draperies made in my home office and it was probably about two times more than I thought it was going to be.

5:11It always is. Cost wise. Yeah. Especially in 2026. But well, yeah, but I mean, I'm even in the industry and I was a little shocked. And so that's why I'm saying I am willing to take a risk on certain things. But for some reason for me, I don't want to have to keep replacing draperies. They're kind of like appliances or faucets to me. Like I really want to make great decisions and have them last for a really, really long time. Agreed. That's the dream. Mic drop. And I just I wanted to start with hardware because I feel like that's where you're going to have a lot of regrets. If you don't just kind of stick it in the safe zone right there.

5:44I agree. And then these can last longer. A hundred percent. And yeah, we've all made those mistakes. The good news is we can fix them. Yeah. A couple of things that I just want to like point out that we've mentioned on other episodes on window treatments are things to avoid. I'm going to say it again, because we have to hear things a lot of times in order to remember them. We don't want to do grommets. Never have. Still don't. 20 years later, still don't want to do a grommet. Let's tell the people what a grommet is. It's a shower curtain. Yeah. It's a hundred percent. It's just basically you have a sheet of fabric, right?

6:12They don't pleat it or anything. They keep it flat, but they put these metal grommets going across the header and then you loop that into your rod. It doesn't look custom. It doesn't look beautiful. It will not be timeless. You're going to hate it. I say it to you right now, like just avoid them. Okay. I'm not condoning either, but would you rather do grommet or rod pocket? Rod pocket. Yeah. Me too. Hate them both. I feel like both of them, it's okay if you do both of them if you're in a dorm room. Fair. That's it. If you're out of the dorm, it's time to move on. Agreed. Maybe in your first home, you could do it too.

6:45The rod pocket, by the way, is like where there's a... Stuffed crust pizza. Yes, exactly. Yes. It's a casing that's been sewn. Into the panel of the drapery. And then you slide the rod through that. And then you gather it onto the rod because it's so tight. Yeah, you do. You gather it and then it looks like stuffed crust pizza. And then when you pull it, it gets stuck all the time. Do you know what it is? It's the Chinese finger trap. Yeah. Yeah. You cannot, you can't get it in or out. You cannot move it. It's gathered at the top. It's not a good look. I'm going to say when you've felt, we've had the experience of a metal rod with metal rings on it.

7:23And just the glide and the sound. Yeah. Does it get better than that? No, it's just like angel kisses. Like I can't. but that's in the door in the dorm room you don't need to experience that level of luxury you're not worried about that you're worried about privacy and skipping class blackout drapes yeah exactly the one time i saw it successfully done was english countryside like sometimes they'll do it there like underneath a rod pocket underneath like when you're not operating it all the time i'm just saying i'm just saying just like for everyday operation don't do it unless you live in an english countryside or like a cafe curtain too yeah but even then like the rings is still better operational You know, I digress.

8:01Anyway, let's keep going. What are bypass brackets? Oh, okay. This is, let's talk bypass brackets. Let's do it. Okay. So say you have a really, really long window and with a long window, you're going to have a very, very long rod and it can't just be supported by two brackets at the end. You're going to have to have brackets probably in like one to two other places to be able to keep that rod straight. And you're probably saying to yourself, how am I going to get a whole ring of fabric to go past those brackets? That's when this comes in, those like little C brackets they actually just create that shape of a C and they glide over those brackets really beautifully you don't see them they still look like a full ring from the front the back end of the ring is missing so it can bypass the bracket the rod support bracket yeah so that C can go right over the top of it and you can still have your rod be perfectly level and straight and nobody knows it from the front it looks like a perfectly formed full ring yeah it's a great solution so that your drapery can function.

8:58Some people just do drapery on the sides of the window and then they have a window covering over the window itself, like a Hunter Douglas roller shade or a grass shade, or, you know, one of those that kind of looks like a jute woven, beautiful like that. And that's going to control the light, filter it, give you privacy. That's what we were using. I would say in 90 % of the projects, there's some sort of window covering that you're going to operate that daily, you know, so that you can go to bed at night or so you can have privacy or when that sun is coming in harsh, you're just going to roll that roller down.

9:30You're probably not going to operate your drapery. You're not going to be closing and opening those big windows open and close. They're mostly decorative. In some cases, you do want that to be operational. So that bypass bracket is fantastic, especially on a really large window. But most people aren't taking those big drapery wands and trying to close those things in big rooms. And the reason too, is just that even when you do close those functional draperies and you take the wand or you roll down the functional roller shade, trying to get it back up and look good. It's just a chore to make sure all the pleats are lying straight and all those things.

10:03And so having them stationary, they look and function like they could function, but they won't always look pretty. So that's why we'll often say, okay, these are going to be stationary. Build them to be functional, but I want to look always beautiful. That is the goal. Yes. We're not going to go too deep into the shades, but I do want to say this. If you have shades, but no window treatment with it feels like you're still moving in or moving out. Right. That honestly, it makes it look complete. Those window treatments are really what we're touching on today. Yep. Let's talk about the Roman shade first.

10:33Yes, let's do it. I do love a Roman shade. I love a Roman also. It's there's something just so tucked up and tailored about a Roman shade because I love a Roman shade. That's just like the actual windowsill is deep enough to not only hold my privacy shade, like my functional Hunter Douglas, whatever, but also can just tuck in my cute Roman shade. Inside mount. Inside mount. I love an inside mount that's framing all that business out. Love that. I think Roman shades are fantastic tools in kitchens and bathrooms. Kitchens, you're not going to have draperies going down to the ground because it's all cabinetry.

11:06Yeah. So it adds a sort of this beautiful soft layer because kitchens are all straight lines and hard boxes and hard materials. In the course of a room. Yeah. It all has to be kind of waterproof and everything. And so you get draperies and it's sort of this soft, beautiful layer that just really looks like your home. And like Suze is saying, the inside mount is great. If you have French doors, we love a Roman shade to give you a little layer. It can be privacy, but also just makes the home just feel really finished. And in the era that we're in right now of design, I think the drapery, the trims are really cute on a Roman.

11:42Tapes are cute on Romans. Tapes are darling. Fringes are darling. And this is the personality level where you get to understand what are you. If you love something nice and trim and tailored, you're going to love a tape that's just going to define those edges and give some color and introduce something exciting. If you are, you know, a fanciful little number, there's so many cool trims, beaded trims or tassel trims or different things. The sunlight hits it and you're just, there I am. I see you. You feel seen when you get to add those little pieces of personality into a space. yeah it is all about the trims right now y 'all i think so we are stacking trims i will say yeah with the roman shade we of course love the stack of a straight bottom there is also sort of this belly soft bottom which feels i think a little more european it's more decoratory more romantic it's a relaxed roman yes a relaxed roman yeah a relaxed roman is really pretty i think that's really pretty too if you are a more casual person and you just like you want to fill that belly the relaxes the way to go.

12:40I love that. I think it's pretty too. And then there's another one, which I think we'll start to see come on scene. I haven't seen it done very often, but the balloon Roman where it's gathered and there's all of this, do you know what I mean? There's like a lot of pomp and circumstance and almost feels like an opera drape or something, but it's, it's as a Roman shade. I think with all of the cornice boards and the bishop sleeves and the swags and the tiebacks and all of that we're gonna start to see some really high decorative window treatments coming into play they're not always everlasting no but i think you'd have a really good time with it for a decade you know and i will say i'm like depending on the house yeah depending on the house and the architecture of the home there are some homes where you're historic because i'm really discerning and critical on the actual fabric i use the tape i use this makes sense for this house 100 years ago makes sense for it now it will always be always always be a good idea yeah and so when we do have historic homes that's what we're trying to pay attention to what does this want to be we can clean it up with the fabrics that we use but let's still pay homage to the architecture yes good point well made and cornice boxes really they can be really fun i've seen bad ones i've seen good ones and a cornice box is actually this hard upholstered box that covers basically the top of that window so you're not seeing any of the mechanics of the drapery that's hiding underneath it, the panels that you're going to draw back and forth.

13:59But it's just, it usually is trimmed out. It has a cool profile. We'll have interesting tapes defining those edges to draw attention to it. It's darling. I think they're really, really great when done well. Yeah. Agreed. And these usually are informal dining rooms or bedrooms. You even see people do little cornice boxes over twin beds and then drape those to give you a kind of this princess moment. If you are a layered girl and you're like, I'm finally in my decade, we're doing maximalism again, I'm completely traditional. You're usually taping out that cornice box to follow that profile. And then your drapery underneath are usually running a tape either along just the leading edge, if not on the bottom.

14:37And then you're probably going to add a little trim tassel or something on the inside of that that catches the light when they're moving back and forth. So if you love a stacked window treatment, this is your game. You are in your era, my friend. You glow. Yes. I'm going to say where we're at is, you know with traditional kind of like trending it's really the time that you can flex with window treatment you can go as crazy as you want to with it everything's game right now it's true and i want to say because some of you traditionalists are probably like i still like a finial that's okay i think you just have to be discerning on the company the scale who it's from how tasteful it is and do you love it we don't love it and i was even looking at my bedroom draperies and they are full and they are silk and they have pleats and all the things, but I did do the French return and it cleaned it up just enough to make it feel we are living in 2026, but I still have the drama of the saturation and the color and the fullness.

15:33And so you can cross genres and help yourself a little bit by cleaning something up in that game. And I think it's, I think that's impactful too. I think doing things that date, you know, whether it's window treatments or furniture, or even architecture in your home, doing things that date it, as long as it's done in good taste, is great. I think you just need to know at some point, those are the things you fall out of love with the soonest. So if you're okay with replacing them, you know, in five, six, seven years, by all means, if you're loving it now and it's done in good taste, two thumbs up.

16:07Amen. Go for it. Just know you're going to replace it. Cafe curtains. Cafe curtains are a darling at the rodeo right now. She is a darling at the rodeo. Sign me up. I love this treatment so much. Great in kitchens and bathrooms. To define the cafe curtain, Suze, do you want to tell them what this is? A cafe curtain is you're having a rod still, probably like a thin little rod. Sometimes even type, remember the tension rods? This is the tension rod. This is the tension rod where you're sandwiching it between that windowsill right there. Or an inside mount. Yeah, an inside mount. And you're dropping it down.

16:37It's not mounted to the top. It's not mounted to the crown. We're going a third, two thirds up the window. And this allows for you to have privacy toward the bottom of the window, but for you to still see your view up the top. So this is why it's so great for a bathroom, because sometimes when you have a Roman in a bathroom, it's great, but you need privacy. You're about to take a bath. So you're gonna have to drop that thing. And then you just have fabric going all the way down and you don't get to see what's happening in the sky. Cafe curtains, you get to see what's happening in the sky. So you just have that, you draw it on your beautiful metal rings that go over your metal rod.

17:09And you have this beautiful softness, but you still get to see the sky and that's the ideal it is but also the look of it is just so charming it is it's called a cafe curtain for a reason it does feel like you're in a little cafe and these little half drawn curtains and this can be in a small pattern we've done this in neutrals we've done it with linen i think linen is a really probably one of our favorites for a cafe curtain yeah and we do a little pinch pleat at the top a little tiny set of rings and then yeah it just slides back and forth on that cafe rod it's the powder bath of window treatments i feel like because the panels are small your rod is probably not super long so you can like go balls to the wall with it we're doing this one in texas right now where we did do a pattern but it's all about the weight i think for and like we should talk about just like weights of like fabric when you're talking window treatments i think that's why we love a sheer or a hot when you're talking about a skirted silhouette on furniture, it's not going to make as much sense if it's a thick velvet.

18:09I know we've seen velvet drapes and we've seen opera, but there's something just that's so lovely about just something that's a lighter weight. It stacks well, it pleats beautifully. And that's the same thing with a cafe curtain. You're not going to want to do something mega thick. Yeah. It feels wrong. We've seen them installed wrong and you're just like, gosh, darn it. They did not do the right weight of drapery. Is it just me or is this summer hotter than ever? I will tell you the cure for this is being able to slip into cold sheets at the end of a long, hot summer's day. Have you tried the Cozy Earth bamboo sheets?

18:45They're the best. The best. Yeah. They sleep four times cooler than cotton and they stay cool. So they're not going to warm up with you like cotton does. Yeah. If you guys haven't tried them, I'm going to tell you it's the ultimate game changer. I'm going to say it's the ultimate gift. I actually love these year round. Absolutely. They're temperature regulating, perfect for myself and my significant other all year round. Yes. I love this sort of silky feeling too on my feet, on my arms. They feel luxurious. I can't go back to any other sheet, especially given how hot it is this summer. This is the ultimate cheat code for surviving summer.

19:20Absolutely. And they're made from viscose from bamboo. They're breathable, soft, and built for summer, head to CozyEarth.com and use our code DEARALICE for an exclusive 20 % off. That's code DEARALICE, all one word, for an exclusive 20 % off. And if you see a post-purchase survey, mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here. And this is probably the exception to the rule of this one that you might be using the function of it more often than window treatments on other windows in the kitchen or bathroom. So you don't want something that's crazy heavy. If you think of it like an outfit, if you will, I just saw Devil Wears Prada too.

19:59And I, of all the outfits, Stanley Tucci's outfits were my favorite. I still haven't seen it, but I need to. Oh my gosh. He rocked the casbah. Yeah. So if you think about an outfit, like just for a minute, think of him. Think of a well-dressed man, right? You think about every little thing was considered. His shirt, his vest, his tie, you know, his jacket. His glasses. His glasses, his pocket square. The cafe curtain is the pocket square. You don't want it to be a heavy fabric. Its job is to be this silky, lightweight thing. In women's fashion right now, scarves are huge. It's a silky, lightweight, tissue-y material that gives this sort of breath or contrast to the other fabrics that are going on.

20:38And its job is to be lightweight and breathy for the room. Just sort of know what your different tools are. And the cafe curtain is the scarf or it's the pocket square. It's that lightweight moment in fashion. We always say the window treatments are like that. The mascara. It's the eyelashes. It's a last finishing touch that should feel a little bit more, allow light to come in. Next up in window treatments, let's talk about panels. This is probably the most go-to thing that we're going to do in draperies. We love a panel in, gosh, almost any room. Any room. I can't really think of one not to.

21:12Sue, you talked about having silk panels in your bedroom. Yes. We have also a beautiful example of silk panels in a closet that we did for Rachel Parcell. This is a real ball gown treatment. Sue, tell the people what width of drapery you like that you did with your silk panels. First, panels are the fabric part of. Yes. And describe, I guess, explain what a width is. I think most of you know, but in case you don't. So a panel are long draperies, right? These are the ones that we're always saying you're going to mount your rod as high as you can go because we just want to really accentuate the height of the room draw our eye up so that is what the panel is on when we're talking about the widths of your panel when you look at your window you're going to see that your window is 60 inches usually a window treatment you times that width by two and a half and that creates the fullness of just how much fabric you're going to be ordering i like it when it feels full even if they're always going to be stationary and i'm not functionally drawing it because i have a shade right they're just going to always look good i want them to look like they can be drawn and they can still be full I think that this is the biggest giveaway of someone that knows what they're doing versus someone that does not know what they're doing yeah I'm a five times width kind of girl okay so you're gonna take that 60 you're in times out by five and that's the width how much fabric you're gonna be ordering if you also like to have a voluminous thick stack thick stack have a thick stack yeah there's just such I don't know there's just abundance you know and it just feels so generous you know when you see your stacks are happy on both sides of your window or if it's all justified to one side.

22:43Oh, snap. There's nothing more beautiful to me. I agree. To my eye than seeing all that fabric. It's an embarrassment of riches. It's an embarrassment of riches. So gorgeous. Yes. You can have a giant tree. I'll see the tree, but I'm going to look at that, that stack of drapery. It's going to take my breath away. That's exactly the softness that this room needed. So I'm a five times girl. So when you're talking to your workroom, just let them know that you like fullness and show them images. That's what I always do. I have to show the workroom images to say, and that's how I learned. They're just like, oh, you're a five times girl.

23:15Is that on each side, flanking each side of the window? They'll split it, but it's still a lot more than what the old industry standard was. There's still five times and they're splitting that down the middle. If you have the room to have panels on each side, or I'll have it all stacked to the right. And then it's just ridiculous. Let me just say, y 'all aren't doing the math for this. You're going to hire a drapery workroom and the drapery workroom is going to come out and they're going to measure your width as well as your height to determine your yardage because they know what they're sewing they know that they're going to be putting a cuff on the bottom which when we're doing a cuff on the bottom of the drapery we want that cuff to coincide with the height of your baseboard so you know that you're going to have a lot of fabric just inside of that they know what they need to make those pinch pleats at the top so they're going to do all of the drapery mass that's not your job to do that so the hem on the bottom it needs to be approximately the same height as your base it doesn't need to be but it's very chic if it is and that's why we're doing a podcast on dre pre today so that we can pay all of this forward to them to say extra credit if you match the height of your baseboard and say you haven't replaced your baseboard yet me i haven't replaced my baseboard yet but i know i'm not going to be any less than six inches so you did a six inch cuff honestly six to ten inch hem.

24:31Yeah. Is what I would go for. Cause again, there's this abundance of just when you see something that just has like a two inch, they got the last of the bolt. There was not enough as far as they had to use all that for the header. Yeah. Especially if they're floating and I like don't have furniture or something. You get to see that hem. Oh snap. It's so beautiful. You alluded to this earlier, but I just want to come out and say it. Your panel needs to be stacked when it's fully drawn as well. That should not be a flat piece of fabric that's now covering your window. Yeah. I don't even know if it should be for your dorm room.

25:04Nothing looks sadder. I would just take those off and just wait till you get paid again. It is true. I will say that privacy is a thing, obviously, if that's your only method of privacy. But if you don't like your draper, that was the first thing I did at my house when we moved in. I would just take those things down. I can't look at them another second. I'll replace them as I can. I cannot. That is not me. And it's Stockholm Syndrome. You will stop seeing it. Yeah, you'll fall in love with it. You'll fall in love with those stupid draperies that were never yours in the first place. Mari hates this about me, but I just throw stuff away haphazardly.

25:40When anything's missing in her house, she's like, you probably threw it away. Okay, I'm the scapegoat for everything. It's in the back of his truck. Yeah, but the reason I do that is because then it forces me to do it. Yep, and do it right. Yes. And if I don't throw it away, I'm just going to live with what I have because it's not being the squeaky wheel. It's not barking at me. You have no visual goals. Give yourself a visual goal. Yeah. Give yourself a deficit for a second. Like I said, with these panels, you're going to want to mount them as high as possible. That will. And so often, this is often what people get wrong.

26:12Is it, okay, well, I'm going to buy this panel from Target. It's these many inches. So I'm just going to mount that from the ground up. Again, I would say don't do anything. don't do anything until you can get the height if this is somewhere that you really want to plant yourself and bloom you're going to want to just figure out your hardware put that at the top have a workroom because the workroom is going to want to know your hardware too they're going to talk to you about that or they'll help you select that so you're going to get your hardware and then you're going to understand how long that drapery needs to go so again go from like the crown the bottom of the crown to the floor if you're grazing if you're drama cat you're going to puddle a little bit about a little six inch puddle that's really fun but you're never going shorter this is the high heels in the room you know how elevated and beautiful somebody looks if they have on a long dress right and they have a heel on this is the most beautiful elongating extension there is you do not want to wear a pair of flats with that elongated dress this is going to shorten everything when you hang that rod too short you're not living up to your fullest potential the job of the drapery is to elongate and soften the room we're gonna choke that up as high as we can get it on the wall and you're gonna just watch your ceiling soar when you put draperies in your bedroom that was bananas mama grew up those eight foot ceilings put on their high heels and they were glossy and your room looks so tall right and full and expensive and ball gown and just regal.

27:40It's so chic. You're in your 40s now. Yeah. Come on, sis. It's so beautiful. We have a couple different examples of different types of draperies. There's shears. I do think if you're using shears that a lot of fullness is a really beautiful game. Those tissuey fabrics look really gorgeous when they're full. Another great trick when you're doing panels is you don't just have to do white if you're doing a colored room. We're in the stage right now where we're doing more color than ever in interiors on walls a really great trick is to match the wall color to the drapery to have the drapery fabric match the wall color instead of just phoning it in with white or off-white and oftentimes when you do do white in a colored room it feels like oh they painted the room but they couldn't get the drapery yeah you know or it just feels like the safety move move that again didn't take the colored room to its fullest potential yeah you matched your silk to your wall color.