Window shades are an excellent choice for a home office. Unlike curtains and sheers, which hang below the windowsill, shades fit within the window frame to give your home office a professional look and feel. When designing custom shades, you get to choose your preferred material, colors, designs, and other essential elements of the window treatment. It's important to create functional and visually appealing shades. Below are a few tips to guide the process.

Determine Your Office Color Scheme

Your shades' color should blend seamlessly with the rest of the colors in your office. Therefore, the first step is to establish your color scheme for the office space. Which shade do you have on your walls? Do you have an accent wall in the office? Are you going for a neutral or colorful palette?

If, for example, your office has a neutral theme with white walls, neutral-colored rug, and muted decor colors, you can add a pop of color to the room by installing brightly-colored window shades. However, if you already have a lot going on with color, opt for neutral window treatments. 

Choose the Best Design

Window shades are available in various designs. These include Roman shades, roller shades, honeycomb, and tie-up shades. The major difference between these types of window treatments is in their operation. When opened, roller shades roll up and disappear into a tube. Roman shades fold up at the top of the window into a neat horizontal stack. 

Alternatively, honeycomb shades fold up into crisp pleats, while tie up shades require you to tie up the fabric manually using the attached ribbons. All these designs are suitable for formal and informal settings; therefore, they are perfect for a home office space. Thus, choose one that meets your individual preferences.

Think About Function 

Window shades should be both functional and aesthetically appealing. Thus, when designing them, consider their function. In a home office setting, you need to address the following issues:

• Ease of operation
• Light filtering 
• UV blocking capabilities

One advantage of making custom shades is you can make them as functional as you would like. For example, to ease operations, choose motorized shades over manually-operated ones. If your window receives a lot of glare and light during the day, get shades that can filter the light, reduce glare, and block UV rays. This will improve comfort levels when working during the day. UV blocking shades also protect your office furniture from UV damage. 

Buying window treatments is a one-time project in most homes. Thus, consider the above factors to ensure you invest in quality and functional window shades for your home office. Contact a company that makes custom window shades for more information.