Modern Methods of Window Treatment 
HOW TO HANG CURTAINS AND SHADES—THE PROBLEM OF PROPER LIGHTING 
—WHAT MATERIALS ARE IN GOOD TASTE WITH VARIOUS FURNISHINGS 
by Louise Shrimpton 
Photographs by Geo. E. Doust 
A FEW years ago 
windows were 
regarded less as aper¬ 
tures to admit light and 
air to houses than as 
decorative features— 
puppets to be “dressed” 
in lace and heavy dra¬ 
peries. Whole pages of 
upholstery journals 
were given up to de¬ 
signs showing how to 
make elaborate swirls, 
knots, lambrequins and 
variously contorted 
over and under win¬ 
dow draperies. Prop¬ 
erly to launder the long 
lace curtains in vogue 
for front windows was 
a task that periodically 
upset households. A 
naked window was a 
scandal, and besides the 
numerous curtains that 
swathed them, dark 
window shades kept 
half or three-quarters 
down, carefully guarded windows from any stray bits of sunlight. 
In the suburban or city house as well as in the farmhouse with its 
tightly drawn shades, the proper function of windows, adequately 
to light rooms and to furnish them 
with oxygen, was ignored with un¬ 
commonly cheerless and unhealth¬ 
ful results. 
A marked advance in knowledge 
of hygiene and simpler ideals in 
house decoration are doing much to 
revolutionize present-day window 
treatment. Simply draped cur¬ 
tains take the place of compli¬ 
cated arrangements. Instead of 
heavy germ-harboring materials, 
fabrics light in color and texture 
are selected. In the small house, 
scrim, muslin, net or silk are su¬ 
perseding the once ubiquitous lace 
curtain, and draperies are often 
made up and hung by their owners 
with results of individuality. The 
halfway-down window shade still 
seen in the ordinary house has dis¬ 
appeared from the distinctive one, 
where shades are rolled up to the 
top in the daytime and are lowered only to give seclusion in the 
evening or to darken sleeping rooms. 
The style of window treatment is governed by the style of the 
house and its furnish¬ 
ings. Much also de¬ 
pends upon the size, 
proportions and plac¬ 
ing of the window; 
whether it is wide or 
narrow, with small 
panes or large; whether 
it is small and placed 
high in a wall, or of 
the large variety 
known as French; 
whether it is a case¬ 
ment, requiring special 
treatment, or one of a 
group, perhaps in a 
projecting bay. 
Whatever the style 
of window or of house, 
the window shade is of 
prime importance The 
white shade now often 
seen shuts out much 
less light than the 
opaque varieties. In a 
house of Colonial de¬ 
sign especially, the 
white shade gives a 
cheerful and pleasing effect inside and out. Still, even in the 
white, the half or quarter way down window shade cuts off much 
light, and that of the most valuable sort—the light that enters a 
room nearest the ceiling and above 
the apparent horizon line. As 
Russell Sturgis has called :'t, “the 
precious light of the sky, coming 
in through the uppermost third of 
the window, that light by which 
the beauty of the interior can alone 
be judged.” 
It is strange that the purpose of 
the architect in planning spaces to 
admit this “precious light” should 
ever be deliberately frustrated by 
the home-builder. It may be as¬ 
sumed that the architect, in open¬ 
ing spaces near the ceiling takes 
into consideration the quality of 
light desired; that he often plans 
windows to admit a specia 1 view 
of countryside or street, spoiled by 
cutting down to the sky line; and 
that his composition of light and 
dark spaces in an interior permits 
no curtailment. To run directly 
counter to the architect’s scheme, making darker spaces with 
window shades upon a window than above or on either side of it. 
seems a grave mistake. There are still many rows of well built 
There are no shades on the small windows, which are hung with thin Japanese silk in 
grayish white. The drapery at the French door is of monk’s cloth in similar tone, 
and at night the curtains are drawn in place of shades 
A group of four windows simply treated with curtains of Japa¬ 
nese cotton having a pale green and lavender pattern 
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