We get asked this question all the time. And to be honest sometimes the question is pretty simple and at others times a picture of the situation definitely helps. There are so many choices in today’s market it can be overwhelming at times. Most homes today use a combination of drapery panels, pleated blinds, sheers, roman shades and valances.
Lets first talk a little about styles of rod pocket style valances and rod widths. When it comes to valances, the width of rod you need can play a major part in determining which styles of rod pocket treatments can and can not be used.
Gathered valance styles give you more flexibility when it comes to what size window treatment you will need than a flat rod pocket style has. Since the gathered valance is gathered on the rod, the exact rod width is not so important. Fullness of most window treatments is averaged at about 2 times rod width.
A lot of times you can use multiple valances on a rod in order to get the fullness you desire, however, this is not always true. You need to make sure the valances when placed on the rod together look as if its one treatment. We have listed all of our valances as to whether inserts can be used to get a wider treatment or multiple treatments can be used on one rod.
The flat rod pocket styles are great alternatives to having board mounted valances that can cost 3 – 4 times as much. The only concern with the flat rod style is that there should be no gathering of the rod pocket which means the width of your rod and the returns will play a major part in determining whether that particular style can be used.
Depending on the style of flat rod pocket valance you are considering, some of the treatments can be made any width up to a certain size, whereas others are only available in the sizes given. So if you have a rod width of 40 and 2 returns each 3, you would need a flat rod style width of 46.
If the treatment width cannot be altered and is only made in lets say a 52 width, then you could (if you have the wall space) expand the face width of your rod to 46 and the treatment could be used then, keep in mind 6 is for the return on each side.
Whenever in doubt about any of our products, please take a moment and give us a call and we will try to help you decide on what would be best.