Window valances beautifully frame windows while providing privacy and elegance to living rooms. From formal gathered swags to casual tailored pleats, valances introduce style in any design scheme. When thoughtfully chosen, these decorative accents cultivate sophistication through texture, color, and creative draping effects. Beyond their ornamental qualities, valances also filter light and soften street noise.
We’ll explore popular valance types, fabric options, and expert hanging tips for a polished look. You’ll also discover how to coordinate sizes and styles for formal, casual, or transitional living rooms. Read on to learn insider techniques for sophisticated window dressings that unlock your space’s full splendor.
Choose the Right Window Valance Style for Your Living Room
Window valances showcase diverse silhouettes for unique living room statements. Formal designs like swags and jabots add upscale elegance. Meanwhile, everyday styles like pleated and gathered valances provide casual refinement. You can also layer valances over other treatments for textural interest.
Formal Valance Styles
Formal window valances impress with luxury accents and refined draping. Swags, tails, tiered, and jabot styles craft an atmosphere of sophistication. These ornate accents suit traditional living rooms or create striking focal points around bay windows. Their opulent look also complements crown molding and chandeliers in spacious formal spaces.
Casual Valance Styles
For laidback living rooms, casual window valance styles invite effortless finesse. Choices like gathered and pleated valances diffuse light beautifully while their fuss-free silhouettes match relaxed rooms. Tailored designs also epitomize versatile simplicity with crisp, clean lines. Casual valances help everyday living spaces feel curated rather than haphazard.
Layered Valance Styles
Layer window valances over existing curtains or shades to cultivate depth. Combining roman shades with a swag valance lends a tailored opulence. Pairing understated base treatments with valances enables DIYers to achieve decorator style. Experiment with different lengths and levels of sheerness when mixing and matching window dressing elements.
Select a Valance Length and Size
Proper sizing establishes visual impact when installing window valances. First, decide on the length based on your room’s proportions. Floor-to-ceiling designs make a majestic statement. Window height provides a classic frame. Shorter valances keep the focus on other room features. After choosing length, pick a width extending past the window frame on both sides. This prevents fully exposing hardware while beautifully showcasing windows as the focal feature.
Floor-to-Ceiling Valances
In spacious living rooms, floor-to-ceiling valances craft an awe-inspiring impression. They emulate the look of graceful floor-length curtains without obstructing views or floorspace. For coastal cottages and quaint villas, breezy linen valances reach from ceiling to floor without appearing overwhelming. In glamorous penthouses, indulge in the luxury of silk valances that puddle elegantly on the floor.
Window-Height Valances
For most living rooms, standard window height valances provide classic elegance. Hung near the top of frames, these versatile valances exhibit timeless sophistication. Feel free to experiment with different depths. Shallow valances simply frame windows while fuller varieties filter light. Window-height swag valances infuse traditional refinement with their gently draped silhouettes. Tailored window-height styles also project an everyday custom look.
Short Valances
In compact living spaces or to spotlight conversation nooks, short valances keep ornamentation minimal. Hung near the window top, these petite accents frame views without obscuring them. For cottages and apartments with coved ceilings, short gathered valances create a custom alcove effect. In lounge areas with lower ceilings, tailored half-length valances enhance intimacy. Their fun size also encourages creative combinations and DIY projects.
Coordinate Valance Fabrics and Colors
Fabric selection completely transforms the mood projected by window valances. Play with color, pattern, and texture for lively or soothing ambiances. For cohesion, coordinate valances with existing furniture and room colors. Vivid hues establish dynamic focal points while neutral solids recede. Pops of pattern enliven spaces and complement artwork. Sheer textures filter glare and noise for serenity. Consider goals and room use when picking fabrics.
Match or Complement Room Colors
Choose window valance hues that harmonize with current wall and furniture colors for unifiedroom schemes. If your living room features robin egg blue accent chairs, echo that shade with airy valances. For calming feng shui spaces decorated in neutral tones, introduce analogous colors like sage green valances. Contrasting shades also make vibrant statements, like bold crimson valances against dove gray sectionals.
Patterns and Textures
Explore different fabric patterns and textures when selecting window valances to interject visual excitement. Heavyweight textured valances insulate for sound dampening while light filtering sheers create ethereal effects. Playful damask prints complement serious wood furniture. Simple stripes evoke casual seaside living against weathered floorboards. Crushed velvets suggest restrained opulence in formal spaces expecting dignitaries and old money heirs. Mix and match!
Solids
For many, richly colored or vividly white solid valances epitomize classic sophistication. Budget-friendly solid valances convey custom elegance without designer price tags. Red makes a dramatic statement or project refined style with wine-colored accents. Crisp navy valances punctuate coastal cottage windows. Ivory linen valances light up sun-drenched rooms. Even basic black transforms spaces through this timeless neutral’s tendency to fade into the background.
Prints
Reinvent tradition with printed window valances mixing classic motifs with contemporary color stories. Modern graphic ikat or animal prints paired with streamlined mid-century furnishings create artistically chic vignettes. Global-inspired patterns like Suzani floral medallions, Native American arrows, or Japanese ukiyo-e scenes bridge cultural boundaries with exotic focal points. Abstract painterly prints or graffiti-style graphics signal urban edge against exposed brick walls.
Sheers
For breezy effects, incorporate sheer window valances to filter light atmospherically. Flowy sheers soften harsh light in sun-drenched spaces and buffer noise pollution from busy streets. Airy sheers maintain visibility while obscuring crisp silhouettes at night for privacy. For beach houses, lightweight linen or cotton gauze valances sway gently in oceanfront breezes. Modern metallic sheers project a gossamer futuristic vibe against sleek towers in financial districts.
Textured
Experiment with textured window valances to infuse captivating depth. Neutral textured fabrics like slubbed linens and nubby wovens add natural visual richness. Novelty textures like flocked velveteen, chenille, or faux suede provide irresistible tactile dimension. Mix multiple textural layers for fun – pair embroidered sheers over chunky wool plaids or fuzzy faux fur under sleek satins. This creates dimensional intrigue drawing the eye while showcasing fine craftsmanship.
Expert Tips for Hanging Valances
Installing window valances using proper techniques perfects their decorative effects. Carefully measure windows then select suitable mounting mechanisms to match valance weights. Gathering or draping accentuates style details for polished results. Finally, creatively conceal exposed necessary hardware with graceful extensions or contrasting elements. We’ll overview methods for expert hanging finesse.
Mounting Options
Choose mounting mechanisms suiting the thickness and weight of your window valance fabric. Adhesive velcro strips easily secure lightweight valances on most surfaces, enabling rearrangement. Avoid open flames since velcro releases toxic fumes when burned. For medium-weight fabrics under 15 pounds, use decorative nails or tacks over wood frames or drywall anchors on masonry. Heavier fabrics require screw-mounted hardware like brackets.
- Velcro
- Nails
- Command strips
Gathering and Draping
Gathered window valances achieve their voluminous silhouette through precise pleating and clipping. After the mounting hardware is installed, gather and pin the fabric to evenly distribute fullness across the top edge, clinch with fabric clips. Allow the sides to drape freely for soft cascading movement. Test clipping variations to adjust control over the side drapes before permanently stitching pleats.
Concealing Hardware
Unfortunately, hardware enabling the hanging of window valances remains visible unless integrated into the design. Some options for subtly concealing fixtures blend components matching valance colors or extensions bracketing hardware. Alternatively, deliberately contrasting visible hardware using metal finishes like oil-rubbed bronze against linen adds modern interest.
Stylize Different Living Room Types
Tailor window valance selections to flatter the existing spatial style of a living room. Formal spaces expect opulent ornamentation like heavily draped swags. Meanwhile, casual family rooms welcome fuss-free gathered valances harmonizing with relaxed furnishings. The flexible nature of transitional rooms invites experimenting with light filtering sheers contrasting textural wovens. Use valances to elevate any living room’s strengths.
Formal Living Rooms
In grand formal living rooms, frame expansive windows or French doors using statement-making window valances. Opt for luxurious fabrics like thick damasks and table-skimming lengths. Multiply the perceived ceiling height with sumptuous floor-to-ceiling silk organza valances gathered into period-appropriate billowing swags or festooned cascades. Conceal complex hanging mechanisms within the valance’s comprehensive width. Paint and gild trims and adornments outlining valances in gold leaf for decadent touches befitting aristocrats.
Casual Living Rooms
For laidback casual living spaces filled with slipcovered sofas and mix-and-match flea market finds, inject breezy refinement with unfussy window valances. Tailored linen or cotton valances maintain the casual vibe while framing views. Small gingham print accents or embroidered cottage chic motifs enhance the welcoming charm. Unlined casual silhouettes diffuse harsh sunlight gently while retaining visibility. Maintain accessibility in main family gathering areas with valance lengths kept above seated head heights.
Transitional Style Rooms
Transitional living rooms blending traditional and contemporary elements enable virtually limitless experimentation without commitment. Change valances seasonally to refresh these flexible multifunctional spaces effortlessly. Layer sleek roman shades with tailored valances during summer then switch to cozy textured wool plaids for winter insulation. Sheer metallic screens for moonlit evenings transition to soundproof blackout solids for home theater movie nights. This adventurous versatility keeps transitional rooms as intriguing to design fanatics as chameleons in nature!
Window valances unlock living rooms’ full potential through framing and softening overlooked architectural elements like staid windows. Consider style and proportions for a flawless fit. Then infuse personality with creative fabrics, textures, and colors tailored to the existing decor. Hanging valances using specialized techniques perfects their ornamental effects for polished sophistication. Revitalize casual, formal or flexible transitional spaces with these transformative accents.
Valances needn’t be boring brown relics from your grandparents’ era. Reimagine their role as customizable spotlights illuminating design ingenuity. Whether projecting avant-garde artistic edge or upholding beloved tradition, window valances filter and focus attention on our living spaces’ strengths. Boldly reclaim domestic happiness by welcoming their decorative audacity.