House Beautiful: Windows

Windows and window treatments influence and enhance the decor of every room, affecting its view, light, and privacy. And, when you focus on scale, proportion, color, and harmony, a world of wonderful possibilities opens up! Select from treatments appropriate to every decorating style, from ultra modem to historic. Imagine exquisite festoons of striped silk taffeta in an elegant living room, or the sheer flutter of organdy drapes trimmed with grosgrain ribbon. Louvered shutters instantly evoke summer days; consider ones painted a bright Caribbean blue, or a beautiful variation with graceful curved tops. Sheets can become curtains too, and they will look especially glamorous when suspended from a metal shepherd's crook pole. The mechanics of window treatment -- how and where to use them -- appear -- along with traditional and offbeat materials and accessories. Plus: profiles of six home owners who have devised their own unique approaches.

Windows are the eyes of a house, and perhaps it is true that in them can be discerned its character and very soul. A grandly arched Palladian window, a small colonial saltbox window, a crystalline sweep of glass. The shape and proportion of each reflect the style of the house they adorn. From the inside, windows are vitally tied to the architecture, too. High ceilings, for example, are an open invitation to create rich swags, fancy pelmets, or a lush cascade of richly striped fabric, as French designer Denis Colomb did in the room pictured on the opposite page. But done-up windows can suffocate a room that has small dimensions or low ceilings. "Sometimes the best thing to do with a window is nothing at all," suggested legendary designer Billy Baldwin, underscoring the appeal of the undressed window. Elsie de Wolfe, America's first decorator, had a different set of requirements: curtains for privacy at night, and, by day, uncluttered panels filled with sunshine and appealing views. The art of window decoration certainly has its practical side in controlling light and affording privacy, but a beautiful window, de Wolfe was fond of saying, should be "such a gay, animate thing."