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GET SOME PRIVACY

We like to encourage “out of the box” thinking. In fact, we like to get REALLY out of the box, as in, all the way out of the building. We are convinced that curtains are not just for living rooms or bedrooms…or even just for windows. We think curtains can be on the move.

There has been a push in recent years for “open workspaces” in the corporate world. This type of workspace puts lots of employees in one large room with little, if anything, to separate each employee from the next; much like a 1960s newsroom, minus the clacking typewriters. The idea is that this environment will encourage collaboration and allow the company to be more creative and productive. A recent New Yorker blog highlights some research that indicates the reality is quite different. Open workspaces are noisy and privacy is lacking. These conditions lead to distracted, less productive, less satisfied employees. Health may even be affected as workers in an open workspace tend to take more sick days than those in an individual office.

Lately, we’ve been thinking big. Really big. Like, arena big. These thoughts took us all the way to Kansas, where there is no place like…Wichita State University (WSU). We were happy to outfit WSU’s Charles Koch Arena with curtains, curtain tracks, and drapery hardware worthy of the Shockers. Curtains probably aren’t the first thing that springs to mind when you think of heading to an arena to watch a basketball game or concert, or to a stadium to watch football, but they can be very useful in these venues.

We’re not going to lie, decorating tall windows can be intimidating. Two-story and other tall windows are becoming common features of roomy, modern homes, but are a challenge for hanging window treatments. We’ve noticed that some home owners simply give up without hanging anything. This approach will certainly put you in the clean, simple, modern design category, but may also push you right into the stark, sterile, and cold category. You’ve got to warm up those windows with some curtains.

Installing a drop ceiling is a great way to hide an existing ceiling that isn’t aesthetically pleasing, and create a cozy feeling in a room, but it can make hanging curtains a challenge, but certainly not impossible.

Sometimes, even your curtains need a quick getaway, or at least a quick, easy way to be released from their track. Snap carriers are an ingenious gadget that allows just this. These carriers are hung directly from a curtain track, but rather than have a hook, they have a “female” snap that fits into the “male” snap on a product called snap tape. The tape is sewn into the top of the curtain or drape, and allows the whole panel to be snapped right onto the carriers.

You probably don’t need to attend an educational seminar on sleep disorders to know that you sleep better in the dark. The production of sleep hormones can be affected by just the light from a child’s night-light. We’ve heard that ideal sleeping conditions are a pitch-dark room set to 67 degrees Fahrenheit. That seems a little chilly to us, but we couldn’t agree more about the light…or lack of light. Unfortunately, most bedroom window treatments do not effectively block enough light to create ideal sleeping conditions.