If you’ve ever rented an apartment or condo especially in a city high rise, you know how hard it is to treat your windows. Since most landlords frown on damage, you’re usually left with the typical vertical or mini blinds with no way to soften the edges of the room or absorb echoing city noises. As they say, “necessity is often the mother of invention!” That’s exactly what we were saying when we had to address this very issue in a high-rise condo in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.
As with just about any condo building, this unit’s windows were on the outside walls made of poured concrete. Trying to mount brackets for hardware requires a lot of patience and special tools and can permanently damage the walls. Rather than run that risk, we opted for a more “temporary” but no less attractive solution.
Command™ Hook perfectly cradles cafe rod and finial
Using Command™ brand hooks in brushed nickel to compliment cafe rods in the same finish, we were able to install the hooks per the manufacturer’s instructions and then rest the cafe rods on them. Each hook reportedly holds approximately 5 pounds. So, we played it safe by using un-lined, lightweight curtains and cafe rods.
Lightweight panels and rods insure a secure installation.
The end result isn’t as perfect as it might have been using more traditional methods. But it did give us the opportunity to showcase the views and soften the harsh edges of the concrete framed windows.
Window treatments in place.
Necessity forces you to think outside the box and get creative and ways you might never have considered. Having troubles with your own decorating dilemma like this? Give us a call, we’re more than happy to help you invent your own solutions!
Decor Designs, Inc. 815-245-2433
From Decor Designs Owner & Chief Creative,