- Start with Alva -
Window Treatments… I feel like they are the Cinderella of Home Décor. Yeah, I said it… no one wants to deal with window treatments or let alone, pay for them. As an Interior Designer, I see time and time again, people forgetting to budget for window treatments, not being knowledgeable in how much they cost or not being familiar with all the different options... and there are A LOT of different options. Not to mention, the overwhelming amount of window treatment companies out there – so, where do you start?
For our Home Office renovation, I started with Alva. Alva is an online window treatment company that encourages homeowners to take charge and tackle their window treatments without leaving the comfort of their home… and let me tell you – I’ve ordered my fair share of window treatments and this process was EASY (except for one small hiccup when installing – but it all worked out!)
Like most homeowners, when we moved into our home, we didn’t immediately order window treatments for all the windows… the main reason being cost but the other reason being, we didn’t use all the rooms. We installed treatments in our bathrooms (because well, privacy) and our Family Room and that was it. So, when it was time to renovate the office, I knew I wanted to install some type of treatment to keep the light glares to a minimum.
Since we have an older home (built in the 60’s), we have some odd shaped windows. The office has a huge corner window and the trim butts right up in the corner, making it difficult to find a treatment that could be outside mounted, overlap in the corner and still function properly – but I found it through Alva!
I always want to be transparent and honest when I share companies or products on this platform, so here is my honest review of our Alva window treatments
I knew I wanted a fabric type shade in our Home Office, so we used Alva's Cascade Roman Shade treatment and they recommended a “slim headrail” for our particular window situation. It was the perfect solution for our corner windows because the headrail sits almost flush to the wall, while not allowing a ton of light to seep through the sides – exactly what I wanted!
One of my favorite things about Alva is that they will send you 5 free sample swatches so you can test out the fabrics in your space. I love when companies do this for 2 reasons: One, because ordering a big-ticket item online, is already nerve racking enough, so it’s nice to see a sample of what you’ll be receiving. Two, because it’s necessary to look at the fabrics with other elements in your room, to make sure it will work within the space you’ve designed.
Of course, I asked my followers their opinion of what swatch worked best for the space - and the feedback was almost unanimous! Plus, that was the swatched I loved the most too - and the one we ended up ordering!
After receiving the samples and selecting a swatch, I shared the ordering process on my Instagram stories, and I have nothing but good things to say about it – it was easy, seamless and fast. I truly feel that anyone could order window treatments off their website. It’s as easy as measuring the height and width of your windows, inputting the numbers, selecting the shade type, fabric type and clicking order!
In my opinion, the fabrication and shipping time were very quick. I know from experience that if I had ordered these from an Interior Designer or custom work room, they would have easily taken 4-5 weeks to be fabricated and installed… with Alva, they were fabricated and shipped to me within 2 weeks!!
The install posed a few challenges for us, probably because our window treatments were so wide… it’s not easy to install anything that is over 100” in length… but Alva’s customer service team helped answer the questions and concerns I had.
The “slim headrail” solution is a newer option that Alva doesn’t fully offer on their website yet – due to that, the install instructions we received were not meant for the “slim headrail” and we ended up having to re-install the shades correctly, after installing them incorrectly on the first try. Nathan wasn’t pleased with me… BUT, now they are up and BEAUTIFUL.
The quality of the roman shades is top notch too – the fabric matched the sample I had perfectly & the linen is gorgeous. I added a privacy liner to the back as well, for even more light control, and it’s attached and constructed well. The shades required a little steaming once they were hung, no biggie, and now they hang perfectly.
If you’re in the market for window treatments and don’t want to deal with the hassle of having a sales representative come to your home, then have an installer come out to measure, then wait weeks for fabrication and installation – then check out Alva. Overall, our experience with them was great and I would definitely order through them again!
Here’s more photos of the room with our new treatments, because I just can’t get enough!
Talk soon,
Kay