It’s hard to believe we have been living in our current home for 5 years this month! I remember the day it came on the market, I jumped when the email listing came through and called our agent right away to view it. Within 24 hours it became our house but not without a bunch of hoops to jump through!

I guess we weren’t the only family that loved this house, we ended up in a bidding war with 2 other families for it! We had always dreamt of our kids being able to walk to school and living in a neighbourhood where a school was located. For months we looked but didn’t want to take on the task of renovating a home from top to bottom! When this one came on the market they had already done a lot of updates, the hardwood floors were completely redone throughout and the house had been painted a nice shade of grey. The kitchen was already white so didn’t require to much work so that was also a bonus for us!

We moved in and got to work; we finished the basement, updated the kitchen and master bathroom. We even painted the exterior of the house to take our home outta the 90’s. One thing we really wanted to do was update the window coverings but unfortunately we didn’t realize how much these renovations would end up costing us! We were so excited for the opportunity to work with design Q on updating our window coverings this year, and can’t believe how much it has transformed the look of our home!

We had a real mix of window coverings on our main floor, there was wood blinds, draperies (even in the kitchen nook) and the old school sheer curtains in our front window. Well there was nothing wrong with any of them, it just never was our style! We wanted to bring a more modern look to our home and are so happy with the updates we did.

Our first step was to set up an appointment with Nan who is an interior designer and window covering specialist at design Q. She came to our home to take a look at what we were working with before we headed down to their showroom . Our idea was softer lines, and a less chunky look while bringing in more modern touches to our space.

Nan was incredibly helpful in walking us through all of the options out there for window coverings, and to be honest I had no idea there were so many (including colours and fabrics). We were excited to head to the showroom next to see all the options available for us!

We had talked about our lifestyle with kids and pets which helped Nan show us what she thought was best for the functionality of our home. We headed into the showroom to take a look at the options available. It was incredibly helpful to see the colours and finishes up on the walls, it helped us visualize how it would look in our home!

We narrowed down the curtain rods, roller shades and draperies we wanted to two options each and then sat down to decide what our final decision was. We had brought in a wood sample with our paint swatches on it to help us decide on the colour as well!

We finally decided on the colours we wanted to go with (it takes me a long time when it comes to big decisions)! Up next was getting Scotty to come out and do some measurements in our home so Nan could get our order in. He was very helpful and our cat Mr Grey absolutely loved him!

We were thrilled to find out that the window coverings we chose were all Canadian made, we love to support local! Maxxmar Blinds are located in Ontario, their warehouse space is right beside the office building they work out of. Everything is ordered, manufactured and shipped from the same location making turn around time quick to the customer! The custom draperies are sewn right here in Edmonton which also allows for quicker turn around times!

Once we put in our order with Nan we got to work prepping our space for installation. Denny needed to do a bit of patching and painting on our walls to prep for the change in hardware going in. We took the existing draperies down ourself but Scotty was able to help us take down the wood blinds when he came to install our new window coverings.

Before and After

Kitchen Nook BeforeKitchen Nook After

Our kitchen nook is somewhere we spend a lot of time together. We gather for meals as a family and our dog is constantly going in and out the door to the backyard. The space is small to begin with so we always thought it would be great to take the drapes out to open it up a little bit! We removed the wooden blinds to soften the space and put in roller shades including on the door!

Kitchen BeforeKitchen After

We love having windows over the kitchen sink to bring in natural light, but didn’t like that the blinds needed to be opened and closed everyday to bring in the light! With the change to roller shades we are able to have soft light shining into the space all day and we can easily pull them up or down. The wood blinds in this area were always so dusty (and harder to reach) so we are looking forward to the quick and easy wipe to clean option!

Family Room BeforeFamily Room After

Because our kitchen is open to our family room it was important to us to keep the flow with the window coverings. We went with the same Maxxmar roller shades but chose one long curtain rod as opposed to 4 choppy pieces. We went with a soft white linen drape for this space to keep it light and airy because we have such a large couch in this room. We still have the look of the 4 panels of drapes but love the change of having a rod all the way across. It completely changed the look of the room!

Dining Room BeforeDining Room After

Our dining room is away from our kitchen but the space is open to our living room. This was our opportunity to work with a different drape to change up the look of this space and make it a little more formal! We chose a heavier drapery and opted to leave the roller blinds out of this room. We went with the same curtain rod because we loved the finish of it and it went well with our cabinet pulls and light fixture in this room.

Living Room BeforeLiving Room After

Our dog and cat LOVE this front room window, you can find one of them sitting in it at all times. It was important for us to choose a window covering that could be left open for them to enjoy the great outdoors. We went with a softer look, with a sheer striped roller blind that changed the look of the room from the dated curtains we had. The shade easily rolls up and down so the pets can keep a watchful eye on all those birds that hang out in our front tree!

Because this room is open to the dining room we decided to keep the draperies the same for the flow. The addition of the roller blind does give it a different look then the dining room!

A few close ups of the choices we made for our window coverings:

  1. Curtain Rods throughout the house
  2. Roller shades in the Kitchen and Family Room
  3. Linen Draperies in the Family Room
  4. Draperies in the Dining Room and Living Room

We are SO HAPPY with the change this has brought to the design of our home. It’s amazing how much window coverings can update your space! The window covering program is new to design Q and we have been so happy with the entire experience from our initial meeting to the install. Customer service is everything these days and these guys were amazing to work with!

This blog post was written in collaboration with design Q. Views expressed are my own based on our personal experience working with them to order window covering for our home.