Apartment Living: Window Treatments Make the Difference

There are several limitations and challenges that apartment living poses for renters. This "Apartment Living" series aims to solve these dilemmas and show my readers tips that will assist in making their big, beige box a real home. 

Apartments, especially here in NYC, come in all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, so do their windows. My bedroom in my current apartment (#13) here in NYC has two different windows that make the room look very unbalanced. The easiest way to create balance in this situation is through the window treatments. 

My general rule of thumb is to mount curtains as high as you can to create an illusion of height, especially in cases where you don't have high ceilings. I know what you're thinking: "But shouldn't  I just mount the curtains above the top of the window? There's going to be a gap in between the curtain rod and the window if I follow your advice..." 

My answer is YES! The gap is completely OK-check out Pinterest or any shelter mag. Nobody cares. If the gap really bothers you, mount a roman shade directly below the rod to cover the gap and add another layer to your window treatment. 

Boom! Here's the quick fix after of my current bedroom. I mounted these faux silk dupioni (similar here) curtain panels from JCPenney at the ceiling. They hit the floor perfectly. I do not like to tailor anything if I can help it and have found that JCPenney is an amazing resource for budget-friendly, high quality curtains that come in long lenths!! 

The mounting these curtains at the ceiling and allowing them to fall to the floor equalized the different sized windows and have even helped minimize the AC unit under the right-hand side window. These set the tone for my room and the project cost under $200, which is what most companies charge for a single panel! 

I've also used this trick numerous times. My bedroom in Apt #11 had a tiny window that I hid by using curtain panels that spanned the entire wall!

See anything familiar? I lost the before picture, but the window is only as wide as the white sheers. I bought an extra-long rod and added black panels to create the illusion of a large window. This treatment created a focal point for the room that highlighted the 10 foot ceilings of the apartment, as well as the proper scale to offset the low bed and huge lamps. 

The lesson? Mount your curtains HIGH! You won't be disappointed!