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Design Perspectives

Privacy As Priority
Interior decorators need to state this case to homeowners.

by Karla Nielson, Allied Member, ASID; Member, WCAA

Many years ago when I was beginning my experience in the window treatments part of interior design, I had a job selling residential window coverings for a large national chain of department stores. It was a great experience. It formed my love for the field and eventually led to a Master’s degree focusing on architectural windows, which resulted in writing Window Treatments, the book that is the basis for WCAA’s Certified Window Treatment Consultant program. As I made more than 500 sales calls during this time, I learned much about how people lived, what their expectations were and how to meet them. One experience I had is engraved in my memory. It taught me one of life’s most important lessons: the need for prioritizing privacy.

I made a sales call to a new home—a one-story ranch or rambler style, upscale and in a new development with a great view. The couple who owned the home had three teenage daughters. They selected a casement window to filter the light and bring a lively texture and visual interest to the casual but beautiful great room. I closed the sale and placed the order.

About two weeks later, the woman homeowner came into the store to see me. I was shocked to see her. She was battered and bruised, her arm in a sling. “What happened to you?” I gasped, thinking that she had been in a car accident, perhaps. She ignored my inquiry and stated flatly, “I am here to change my order.”

Sensing that further query was inappropriate, and that something was really wrong, I replied, “That’s no problem. The fabric is here but it has not been cut. What would you like to change?”

“I want to line the draperies and I want sheers beneath them,” she replied in a rather matter-of-fact way.

We found the right lining, the right sheer, changed the rod, added on the fabric and labor, increased the installation charge and signed a new order form with an increased deposit. With that complete, I looked at her with compassion now and asked gently, “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“Well,” she began slowly, “soon after you came to our house, my husband was on swing shift. A man broke into our house with the intent to rape one of my teenage daughters. She screamed and awoke me and the other girls. She was hospitalized, and he hurt the other girls, and you can see what he did to me, but we chased him off. It’s really important to me to know that no one will be able to see into my home. I want all the protection I can get.”

TIME FOR EDUCATION

As I write this month’s column, there is a massive search being conducted in Salt Lake City, UT, for Elizabeth Smart, a 14-year-old girl who was abducted at gunpoint at 2 a.m. from her bedroom in front of her little sister. Her abductor told the little sister, “Don’t tell, or I will kill your sister.”

Never has a community tried harder to recover a child than I what have witnessed. Although I live 50 miles away, I see Elizabeth’s photo on Missing Person fliers everywhere I go. There must be thousands in the city—in nearly every store, on church doors. When her story aired on “America’s Most Wanted,” more than 6,000 leads were reported.

Does this mean that protection and privacy are a much bigger problem than anyone has ever dared discuss before? I wonder, could increased protection at the windows have prevented these two tragic instances?

The home and business security industry is booming as more people come to grips with the reality of rising crime rates. Faith Popcorn, the revered futurist, calls this trend “cocooning and fortressing.” Yet in all my nearly 30 years as an interior design professional, the thing that has bothered me most was naked windows at points of vulnerability where someone could see into a building and assess the potential for break-in or unlawful entry. Shelter magazines are full of them—nothing at the window in a room filled with high-end furnishings.

I have often wondered if the problem is lack of education and skills on the part of the design professional. Doubtless there are times when the architecture is stunning and no treatment is needed aesthetically. In fact, architects have often referred to interior decorators as “inferior desecrators” when they do anything to take attention away from or compete with the architecture.

This bone of contention is very real and won’t go away in the near future. Perhaps the real reason is that window treatments do require a little math and a lot of knowledge and the expertise just isn’t a part of interior design training. It’s a real problem.

Having taught at Brigham Young University for 29 years, I have had countless female students who have needed continual warning to close their draperies. Once we had the Police Chief come to alert the girls in the Interior Design Club to the dangers of leaving doors unlocked and windows uncovered. I believe not only are most people ignorant of the dangers of untreated windows, they are passing on this lack of knowledge to their daughters (and sons). It’s time we did some educating.

MANY REASONS FOR PRIVACY

Protection against personal assault is the first and most important reason for covering windows with a privacy treatment. There are others.

Most people now own many types of electronics, and the newest computers and entertainment items are getting smaller and smaller, easy picks for a thief. In our family, for example, three of the six computers are now laptops. The black market resale value on these items is such that they become easy pickings for those who can see into the home or office building. Keeping electronics, art and other valuables in rooms where they cannot be seen from outside is a key factor in assuring their safety.

Another very important reason for privacy is psychological safety. Even rooms with breathtaking daytime views enjoyed by the occupants become insecure and vulnerable at night when there is no means of privacy at the window. The window becomes a black void where anyone could be hiding, even if there are exterior landscape or motion-sensor lights to reveal anyone close by. Even from a great distance, a bare window is an open invitation to those who would seek to steal or harm.

Knowing that with privacy window treatments you cannot be seen at night goes a long way to assure psychological comfort.

ASSURING PRIVACY AND SAFETY

The personal safety of girls and women must be extended to everyone in the building or home in case of break-in. Likely, a thief is armed and often not reticent to use a weapon. Some people believe having a gun close-by is a major deterrent and can be used to scare away an intruder and to defend oneself. But to deter the breaking and entering before it happens is also a very good idea.

This can be done through exterior lighting and locks on all doors and windows. Alarm systems receive high marks, especially when there are notification stickers placed on every window and near doors and when the alarm is connected to a local police station. Keeping the windows covered is perhaps the best deterrent of all. Motorized systems, perhaps with timers set to close draperies and alternative treatments automatically, are as logical as home alarm security.

ASSESSING WINDOW TREATMENT PRIVACY

Window treatments vary broadly in their level of daytime and nighttime privacy. We see toward the light, meaning that an interior and its occupants are at risk when it is lighter inside than outside. For this reason, light sheers assure daytime privacy, as do all alternate treatments. It is rare that during the day an interior is lighter than the exterior. However, at night and in dark daytime circumstances where interior lighting is required, the issues of privacy and safety are crucial.

Perhaps at the top of the list of priority requirements every interior decorator should ask, “What level of privacy are you seeking?” If the client has no concerns for privacy, then that fact should be documented in writing on the order form and be included as a disclaimer.

Why? Because we live in a litigious society. Imagine if you sold a window treatment that did not assure privacy and there was a break-in (resulting in mental distress for years to come), a burglary (resulting in loss of valuables), an assault (physical or sexual harm), or a loss of life (unthinkable, but possible). Could the window treatment professional and the company for which he or she works be held liable for the harm done due to a lack of due care and responsibility to act in the interest and safety of the person and the interior? The answer is a resounding yes.

In fact, you can be sued even if you have done everything you know to do, including providing a totally secure window treatment. But the chances of being at fault are much less if you advise and record (create a paper trail) the fact that the client selected a full daytime and nighttime privacy treatment. Besides the fact that you could be sued, how would you feel mentally and emotionally knowing that you may have been at fault for harm? It’s a sobering thought.

To understand what treatments really assure privacy, try a little experiment. Select a variety of window treatments and have someone hold large samples against a window. Go out and look (from a distance as well as up close). Some translucent treatments reveal shapes and forms, even clear outlines and movement. Even mini-blinds, which we assume to be private, are not truly secure when the routed holes are visible or exposed.

Often the professional will recommend a product based on color, texture, cost, ease of operation and overall aesthetics. Perhaps we should look seriously at making privacy the top priority. It could save a life.

Karla J. Nielson, Allied ASID, WCAA, is assistant professor of design at Brigham Young University. She is a practicing interior designer and has authored several books including Window Treatments and Understanding Fabrics. Nielson is a regular correspondent for Draperies & Window Coverings addressing the areas of fashion, education and merchandising.