apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i have a tiny bedroom to match my tiny apartment, the bedroom is about 9x9 ft. i bought linen drapes from pottery barn and got rods and harware from gracious home. the drapes are hung higher than the top of the window to expand the height of the small room and the drapes are close to the color of the walls.

i like maswell's suggestion. just to soften the wall a little, you can do sheers from ceiling to floor and a blackout roller shade underneath . depending on the room's dimensions and if you use the window at all, you could do a nice colored drape from ceiling to floor and put the bed against the window so it acts as a visual headboard? that way you could get a punch of color and black out the light...ehh just rambling thoughts off the top of my head...

If doing drapes, I'd perhaps ditch the shelving to the left of the window.

Or also consider a fabric Roman Shade with blackout lining.

Check out Smith and Noble! They have a ton of options, most with a black out feature!

Have a look at CountryCurtains.com as well (don't be put off by the name, they have lots of simple styles).

They have several blackout options.

Massive home stores like BB&B sell pre-made black out drapes (in a white poly cotton with a blackout innerlining) that you hang on a double rod with fashionable drapes in front. If you use the black out drape liner, I would use a heavy fabric like velvet for the decorative drapes, but in a light color like cream or tan, it will add a lot of dimension to the white wall without being too drastic of a contrast to the bright white walls (which I assume you cannot change). I think Pottery barn has lower priced velvet drapes in a variety of neutral shades. As an aside, I think your shevels are both too close to your window (and might be hung toohigh on the wall), you might consider moving them if you do plan to add drapes.

Hey, here's a pair of blackout drapes from Bed, Bath & Beyond, just $39.99 for 84" long ones.

Rather, Here it is:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=104430

A wide (to outer edge of any window frame), interlined (with black) and lined Roman shade would block out light, be attractively spare-looking and not be the dust-catcher that draperies are. Plus they are easy to vacuum when needed. They are easy to make, too, but expensive to buy.

Thank you guys for the suggestions. At first I thought it might look weird to do a roman shade over blinds, but now that patrick and carol have pointed it out, I think that would be the cleanest look. As I mentioned, it is really a teeny-tiny bedroom, so moving the shelves over isn't really an option (they are centered on a teeny-tiny short wall and there's no other storage at all), and I think long drapes may just overwhelm the whole room. Thank you again for the input!

They now have dual shades that allow you to have two window treatments in one - so a black out behind and a sheer in front. Smith and Noble has them. Before this option was available I had solar shades made for the back shade and Roman Shades in a textured nubby fabric that are lined for the front shade. When the roman shade is raised, the solar shades filter out light and give privacy and yet I can still see out. The raised roman shade looks really nice and decorative. When the roman shades are lowered, they act as a block to sun and keep out the cold in the winter.

I need to buy some curtains for my bedroom. I've read the recommendations for ceiling to floor drapes, however, my ceiling is 12 feet high. Do you think that this is too much curtain, too long?

looks like a terrarium to me.
when in full bloom/growth/insperation you will leave the window open to allow for some rain, air, muted comforting sounds of life beyond.

sorry, i meant the window and the wall not the room.
a little green house around the window as the window treatment.

Karen, how large/tall is the window? You would have a tremendous void space between the rod and the top of the window if the window isn't tall.*

Since you don't need to make the wall/ceiling seem higher, you don't have to go that high.

*Come to think of it, I'd probably put a palladian-style paned mirror over that window and hang the curtain rod above that. Now I wish I had this dilemma so I could do this.

Hunter Douglas' "Silhouette" is an innovative product with a refreshingly clean and sophisticated look. If you like the look of your existing horizontal blinds you'll love this modern version. You adjust the blade angles to control the light but unlike venetian blinds each blade can rotate fully upright which blocks out light like a roller shade. I'm doing my whole condo with Sihouette because of the look and versatility. The cost is relatively high though as it's a premium product. I suggest visiting your looking window decorating store to demo the product in person.

You can find some online information here:
http://www.hunterdouglas.com/hdg_photo_gallery.jsp?p=1
http://www.hunterdouglas.com/hdg_product_detail.jsp?id=1

Target has lots of shades. We bought ones that were pull up folding fabric in a white/beach color material. They have solid as well as material that lets light through.

Target Shades example.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-2/qid=1153232767/ref=sr_1_2/602-9816099-7555069?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B000G1E0PE

Valerie,

the window is 7 or 8 feet high. okay so if your ceiling is high there is no reason to further accentuate this feature. what's this palladian style mirror idea? never seen it done. however the style is a mix of modern(walls, color, doors) with 100 year old italian furniture.

You can accomplish in two ways, rather cheaply:
(1) a black out roller shade
(2) black out drape panels (wal-mart has some great looking ones for $15 each) plus a rod.

Either way, I agree with your idea of drapes...noone wants to look at an ugly rollershade.