• Mini-blinds are inexpensive and easy to install.window blind image by mark humphreys from Fotolia.com
  
  There is a lot more to window fashion than just curtains and drapes. Wonderfully creative window treatments are available commercially, and many of the most unusual are easy to make yourself. Redoing your window décor is a way to experiment with new textures, materials, and colors in your home without breaking the budget.
  
  

Shutters

• Interior window shutters offer privacy when you want it and a full view of the outdoors at other times. Shutters are available in wood, faux-wood, poly, and vinyl. Plantation shutters have wide louvers, while traditional shutters are similar to those commonly seen on the exterior of homes. You can purchase painted, stained, or unfinished shutters, which can be cut to fit your windows. For unusual sized windows and a wider choice of finishes, many retailers offer custom-made shutters. Professional installation is available, or you can install the shutters yourself.
  
  

Blinds and Shades

• Blind styles include the usual plastic sheet on a roller or slatted venetian blinds (which have morphed into a vast selection of inexpensive 1-inch metal and vinyl mini-blinds), as well as a huge range of alternatives. For example, you can easily use the hardware from a common window shade to make a fabric shade to match your décor. Roman shades can be flat or ballooned, movable or fixed. A Roman shade is made of fabric and raised by a series of vertical cords that run from the bottom of the shade to the top. Roman shades are a do-it-yourself project for experienced sewers, but they are also available ready-made and custom-made at home improvement stores, online retailers, and big box department stores. Pleated fabric blinds offer another option and they are also available in a wide range of colors and prices. Bamboo matchstick blinds are very light, very inexpensive, and can hang from a couple of cup hooks at the top inside of the window frame. Window quilts are another option if you live in a cold climate. Quilts can be custom made or you can make them yourself with materials available at fabric stores. They can be fitted to run on a track, to be raised and lowered like a Roman shade, or to use a roller mounted above the window frame. Window quilts offer a significant thermal barrier.
  
  

Quick and Easy Do-It-Yourself Window Treatments

• Hang a curtain pole above your window and drape a long piece of light-to medium weight fabric over it. Drape the fabric beginning on the left side behind the pole. Bring the fabric to the front over the left-hand bracket and loosely bring it across the window, finishing by running the fabric behind the pole at the right-hand bracket. You can adjust the swag that drapes in front of the window to be more or less deep.
  
  Stretch a piece of sheer fabric between two tension rods placed inside the window frame at the top and bottom. Sheer fabrics are semi-transparent and very flimsy.
  
  If you do not need to open the window often, fill it with plants hung from brackets at the top of the window frame. Prolific hanging plants work well here, including spider plants, ivies, and pothos.
  
  For windows that do not open, install three or four shelves across the window and use them to display a favorite collection.
  
  Hang a collection of wide ribbons or strips of fabric from the top of the inside of the window frame using thumb tacks.
  
  Decorate the frame of the window with one or more bunches of dried flowers.