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Some country homes don’t actually need much in the way of window treatments.For example, if your house has views to die for, all you may need to do is ‘get out of the way’ and let the views speak for themselves.
(Think of it as displaying a beautiful painting against a completely neutral background.)
On the other hand, you can completely transform even a city apartment with country style curtains and/or shutters.
In Europe, country window treatments often consist of both shutters and curtains; either of them can give your home a country look and feel.
Shutters
Exterior wooden shutters are still in use in many parts of Europe, both in the country and in the cities.
Often, as in this picture, the shutters aren’t actually in use during the summer (them flowers tend to get in the way a bit ;-)
But in the winter, exterior shutters protect the windowpanes against hail and storm, and help insulate the room against freezing temperatures.
This function is probably not essential any more in the day and age of double glazing and global warming, but the shutters also have a decorative function: they provide color and visual structure for the facade.
In Southern Europe, exterior shutters are widely used as country window treatments as well. They keep the fierce sunlight out and the rooms cool.
They are usually painted, often in the same color as the window frames. Occasionally, the interior woodwork is also included in the window treatment color scheme.
The most popular colors for exterior shutters are blue in (a favorite color in Provence - they say it keeps flies away) and green (very popular in Tuscany). You can find anything between deep fir green or midnight blue and light, grayish tints of either color. Various shades of red and brown are used as well, but not as much.
Southern European houses often have interior window shutters (storm, hail and winter temperatures not being much of a problem here).
These shutters are usually solid wood affairs that darken a room almost completely.
In the photo to the right, you can see that the shutter is attached to the window frame rather than the wall (well, this one's a tad wonky, but then, so is the wall).
Louvered interior shutters are not widely used as country window treatments in Europe, but it seems to me they’re gaining popularity among the city folk – particularly the type with movable slats that open and shut with the help of a sliding batten or iron bar.
Louvered or slatted interior window shutters can also look good when they cover only the lower part of the window (a kind of wooden ‘café curtain’).
If you go for this solution, you could use window curtain treatments over the shutters to soften the stark, angular look a little.
Curtains
Traditional country window treatments are simple and fuss-free.In the olden days they were usually home-made: the fabric was woven, knitted (!) or crocheted.
Here are a few examples of traditional country fabric window treatment ideas.
The shape and style of window curtain treatments is quite similar throughout much of Europe: country style curtains are parted in the middle and tied back to the sides with a ribbon or a simple band.
There is no fancy pelmet - the curtain is either fastened to the window frame itself, or hung from a simple curtain rod right above the window opening.
Choose between several fabric options for traditional country window treatments.
The fine white curtains in the picture above are hand-knitted with thin cotton thread – I’ve added a little close-up photo (above right) so you can see how it was done.
The blue-and-white curtain to the left may well have been woven locally; a check is a simple type of weave that doesn’t require any special kind of fancy technique.
The fresh blue-and-white is typical of Swiss country fabrics; in Austria or the South of Germany, these little country style curtains would have been red-and-white.
Apart from country window treatments, checked fabric was (and still is) often used for cushion covers and bedlinen, complemented by white linen sheets and crochet lace curtains …
… which you can see in the picture to the right.
This crocheting technique, ’filet lace’, is fairly easy to do, and young girls used to learn it from their mothers or in school.
Depending on how fine a thread you use, you can produce extremely delicate lace (my Mom used to make handkerchief borders with it!).
For a less time-consuming way of producing country window treatments, crochet lace was (and still is) often used just as an edging for simple cotton or linen curtains (you’ll find an example of that on the page about Swiss Country Decorating.)
Filet lace is also a good way to adorn just the top of a window frame, as in the picture to the left.
If privacy is not an issue, and your room has a view, it might be quite nice to keep your window curtain treatments to a minimum.
Now – did you find the country window treatment information you were looking for? If you'd like more pictures and ideas, check out the page on French Country Curtains. for a few more (and slightly more fancy) specimens.
Also, I’m planning several more pages about window curtain treatments. So if you have a particular question or interest, please feel free to contact me and let me know what kind of information you need!
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