WINDOWS TO THE WORLD

Kyle and Debbie Eudy's windows use Roman fold shades under a pleated cornice.

Jane Curl, owner of Witness Designs, 31 N. Main St., removed a window shade to check the look of light lemon sheers covered with a striped swags and cascades.

Cracraft-Miller Furniture & Decorating in Jackson displayed side panel drapes on a decorative black iron rod.

Rust & Martin Inc. displayed a swags and cascades window treatment with imported embroidered sheers.

Sometimes flanked by fringe or flounce, sometimes more simply adorned, windows are the physical framework that link home life with the outside world.

Little wonder, then, that window treatments add the finishing touch, some may say a defining touch, in the look of any room.

"Window treatments are very personal, very individual," said Jane Curl, owner of Witness Designs on North Main Street. "Some people like their indoors and outdoors almost unified, others want to cover and have complete privacy."

Varied interests are often illustrated through selection of window treatment options, along with other interior design choices.

"Most people have an eclectic environment in their home, rather than being real traditional or real contemporary," Curl said. "You can~ take a variety of styles, pull a little from this and a little of that, and come up with something unique."

While the typical homeowner likely does not change his window treatments with the seasons, the urge that spring brings forth freshness is not lost on the window treatment market.

When the weather warms, so do attitudes about surroundings. Interest in drapes, curtains and blinds reflect that need for change. "There's always a spring peak, when people do their spring cleaning and updating," noted Phyllis White, senior merchandising manager of soft home lines for JCPenney in West Park Mall.

Likewise, developments in home furnishings are indelibly linked with the fashion world, explained Mike Rust of Rust & Martin Inc. on Tanner Drive. Just as wide variety of style is apparent in the fashion world these days, window dressing options are almost limitless.

Overall, said Rust, "clothing today is generally more casual, more laid back, and that's exactly what's happening in the home. Across the board, we're seeing a more casual feeling in people's houses."

Casualness is not being exuded through any sense of looseness or sloppiness, nor particularly through a country look, he stressed, but rather, the casual attitude is most often reflected through choices of fabric and texture.

Linens and linen prints are among the more popular fabrics being chosen for window coverings, he noted. Linen prints are a great blend with tapestry fabrics.

Plus, said White, gauze materials are other favorites, and are often chosen to complete a draped, soft effect.

Layering of patterns, fabrics and textures is quite popular, several local home interior experts agree. "It lets everybody get a very individualized look," Rust said.

Layering is sometimes combined with blinds or shutters, which provide elements of permanency and privacy. Such hard, or permanent, treatments are often viewed as long-term investments which can be updated by changing an outer layer.

"We're using a lot of wood blinds and plantation shutters, still with a treatment over them that brings the color and pattern to your window," noted Phyllis Seabaugh of Cracraft-Miller Furniture and Decorating on West Main in Jackson.

"Swags and cascades are still wonderful, and they're being trimmed," Seabaugh noted. Bullion fringe, in particular, is complementing sofas, bedspreads, chairs, pillows, and may appear on window treatments in lengths ranging from three to nine inches, she noted.

"We're seeing a lot of simpler window treatments, also," Seabaugh said. Decorative rods and finials -- the end pieces that fit onto the rods -- add zing when paired with simple panels.

Rust, too, sees growing interest in the more simple look. For instance, he noted significant resurgence in the popularity of straight hang drapery.

Updated versions of former color favorites are also garnering second looks. Moss green, maze, autumn colors and naturals are among the newer tones expected to grow in popularity as the fashion cycle evolves.

Besides options in style, price ranges, too, can vary greatly. Helping customers become aware of their options is one of the main goals of people who work in the field.

Since window treatments are often left in place for an extended period of time, the goal is not to date oneself, Rust said. However, that doesn't preclude using new and updated looks, he explained. "There is a classical way to do just about every type of style, color scheme, treatment, ways that are not faddish, ways that are good, decorative, long-term looks."

After the homework, after the advice, it's the homeowner that decides the rightness of a look. "It comes down to personal taste and the style and feeling of the room," Seabaugh said.