A primary bedroom with a four poster bed and floral drapery, and a family room with two walls of windows. Sheer horizontal shades in a warm wheat tone tie both rooms together.
Do sheer horizontal shades work in a primary bedroom with drapery?
They work very well. Sheer horizontal shades sit close to the glass and handle light and privacy, while the drapery panels hang in front for color and softness.
This Carlsbad primary bedroom has three windows. A wide center window looks out over trees and red tile roofs, framed by floral drapery panels in red, green and cream. Two narrower windows sit in the corners on either side of a carved four poster bed, each behind a nightstand with a black shaded lamp.
That is a lot of pattern and carved wood. The shades had to stay calm.
We used sheer horizontal shades with wheat colored fabric vanes on all three windows, each with a matching fabric headrail at the top. The warm tone sits right with the tan walls, the rattan armoire and the drapery, and it softens the sun without hiding the view. Rooms like this, with bold fabric and big glass, are a big part of our work on window treatments in Carlsbad.
How do sheer horizontal shades control light and privacy?
Soft fabric vanes float between two layers of sheer fabric. Tilt the vanes open and you see out through the sheer, and tilt them closed for privacy.
The close photos show how it works. Each vane is a band of woven fabric, held flat between a front and a back sheer facing. When the vanes are open, light passes through the sheer and the view shows clearly, just softened, like looking through a light curtain. When you close them, the vanes overlap and the room goes private while still glowing with daylight.
You can also raise the whole shade. It lifts into the headrail, and the window is fully clear.
This mix is why sheer horizontal shades suit rooms where you want daylight most of the day. Blinds are harsher. Their slats look hard, and the light comes in stripes. Here the sheer facings spread the light out, so the room stays bright without harsh lines on the bed or the floor. In a sunny Carlsbad room, they also take the edge off glare in the late afternoon.
Should a family room use sheer shades or zebra shades?
If you want a soft view out most of the time, sheer shades. If you want a simpler banded look, zebra shades. From across a room they can look alike, but they behave differently.
A zebra shade is one loop of fabric with alternating sheer and solid stripes, and you line up the stripes to open or close it. Sheer shades have fabric vanes that tilt like a blind, so they open wider and the view is clearer. They also look softer up close.
This family room has two walls of windows: a wide set on the left and a large window behind the sectional, split into three shades. It is a busy room. Brown leather seating, a dark wood entertainment center, orchids and a palm blade ceiling fan fill the space.
With the vanes partly tilted, the TV stays easy to see while the room keeps its daylight. We compare both styles on site often, and our zebra shades are a good fit for some rooms. For this one, the softer sheer won.
How do you cover a wide window wall with sheer shades?
Split it into several shades side by side. A wide window wall usually gets two or three shades, sized so the breaks line up with the window frames behind them.
The window behind the family room sectional is a good example. It is covered by three shades: two narrow ones at the ends and a wider one in the middle. Each break falls at a frame line, so the gap between shades lines up with a mullion and almost disappears. Each shade can also tilt or lift on its own. Close the one taking the most sun and leave the others open.
Splitting also keeps each shade a size that is easy to lift. One huge panel would be heavy and harder to run straight.
The headrails are mounted high, close to the ceiling, so the shades cover the whole window wall and make it look taller. If you have a room with a wide window wall and want soft light without giving up the view, book a free in-home consultation and we will bring sheer and zebra samples to compare in your own light.
