Clever Window Treatments

This easy window treatment seems to float in front of the window and adds style, while still allowing plenty of light into the room. Figure A Figure B

Steps:

1. Create a colorful window treatment with a wooden frame and some decorative fabric. First buy a frame such as those used for stretching canvas at an art-supply store.
   
   
2. Pick a piece of decorative fabric and stretch it over the frame, attaching it to the back of the frame with staples (figure A). The fabric should overlap the sides of the frame by approximately two inches.
   
   
3. Drill a long screw through the frame at four points, then place plastic spacers over the screws (figure B). Attach the frame to the lower sash of a double-hung window. Allow enough space between the frame and the window by using the plastic spacers. The frame should move up and down with the window.
   
   

There's more to window treatments than drapes and blinds. Babcock provides the following ideas:

• Add a pair of small shelves to a kitchen window to display plants or interesting objects. Buy a couple of pieces of 1/8-inch hardwood shelves, and have them cut to fit the sill and sash in the middle of a wood-framed window. Sand the edges and paint the shelves to match the windows and by driving wood screws through the top of the shelves and into the windowsill and sash.
  
  
• Make a simple curtain out of a single piece of fabric. Take a piece of fabric, hem the edges and sew loops at the corners. Mount wood pegs or drawer pulls on either side of the window frame, and slip the loops over the pegs. Just hang both loops on one peg to open up the window.
  
  
• Windows are the eyes of a house, and if a home has a pretty view, don't block it by totally covering the window. A simple, large handkerchief attached with pushpins can provide some privacy without blocking the view entirely.
  
  
• Some window treatments can me mounted to the outside of the house. For example, nail a silk-pine branch to the outside of the house to enhance the view out of a window.
  
  
• Remove the boring frame from a window and replace it with a frame made from 1 x 6-inch boards. No.2-grade spruce has lots of nice grain and knots. Add a wide shelf to sit large plants on. Cut triangular pieces of the spruce to make brackets to hold the shelf. Finish the whole affair with a high-gloss varnish, which will soak into the wood and add even more texture to the grain.