The Handprint of Shades

Shades often prove to be the preferred window treatment for the kitchen -- their straightforward look is free of pleats, swags, and puddles that require maintenance. When presented in a snappy print, window shades accomplish two goals: They inject a carefree mood, and they fit into the working nature of the kitchen.

plaid window treatments
A small-scale blue and white plaid fabric window shade relates to this
kitchen's fruit-motif wall covering in terms of scale.

Although shades that match the wall covering or another fabric print found in the room can work when properly designed, contrasting prints reserved just for the shades ensure the window's role as a focal point of the room.

shades for window treatments
Deep rose on the lower wall and above the chair rail in the patterned wall covering
appears again on the window in a different print that uses the same color family.

The new print for the window shade must somehow relate to the other patterns in the room -- either by repeating the same color, or by picking up a color from the overall room palette, or by relating to the wall-covering pattern in terms of scale.

window treatments with prints
The window treatment echoes the walls with the same fabric and is finished at the
bottom edge with lace trim in the same deep jewel tone used on the lower wall.

A small-print wallpaper is handsomely matched with a small-scale plaid shade, for example. Or dark burgundy or rose in the kitchen palette bears repeating, in a different pattern configuration, on the window shade.

For more decorating ideas around the home, see: