As a window coverings designer, I love seeing the delight on my clients’ faces when I show them the finished product. It’s amazing how the right window treatment will enhance the style and function of any space. Most of my clients are homeowners, just like you. However on occasion, my work helps serve a bigger cause. Which is why I’m excited to share a recent project I completed with Youth on Record, a Denver-based non-profit committed to empowering teens in some of Denver’s most vulnerable communities to make life choices that positively impact their future.
Youth on Record Students and Instructor
Through musical education, the School teaches students to develop the tools, inspiration and wherewithal to succeed in today’s world and to become leaders of tomorrow. The intensive, for-credit high school classes are led by a powerful group of culturally relevant Colorado musicians, all of whom have a passion for working with at-risk and underserved youth in the Denver Metro area.
When I was asked to help design window treatments for the School’s new building, I jumped at the chance to work with Youth on Record’s exciting and inspirational management team. During the School’s free design consultation, we discussed style preferences and the unique functional needs of their classrooms, community spaces and recording studio. Youth on Record required window treatments that would be energy efficient, enhance building acoustics and reduce distractions and visibility from the outside.
After exploring several options, I helped Youth on Record choose the following Hunter Douglas window treatments for their newly renovated space:
Applause® Honeycomb Shades
The primary functional concern for the windows in the school’s recording studio was sound quality. Which is why I recommended Hunter Douglas Applause® honeycomb shades, which are designed to improve a room’s acoustics while reducing the intensity of outside sound. The perfect solution to ensure the music recorded by Youth on Record’s talented musicians is crisp and clear.
Hunter Douglas Applause® window treatments
The honeycomb design of Applause® window treatments ensures superior energy efficiency, which will help regulate the temperature of the studio year-round, keeping it cool in summer months and warm in the winter.
For maximum privacy protection, the School chose an opaque/blackout gray material for the shades, ensuring expensive equipment and musical instruments were safely shielded from outside view, as well as contributing to the cool, “rock & roll” atmosphere of the recording studio.
Fabric selection: Aged Onyx (made from 40% recycled material)
Hunter Douglas Designer Screen Shades
Designer Screen Shades
The building Youth on Record occupies has several large windows that look out onto a busy thoroughfare. The teacher should be the focal point of the classroom, therefore in order to eliminate student distractions, I recommended semi-opaque designer screen shades that would reduce visibility to the outside, but still allow light into the space. The material selected for the screen shades was a dark gray, which enhanced the calm atmosphere of the school.
Fabric selection: White Hall 5% in Slate
For more details on Youth on Record’s programs and contributions to the Denver community, visit www.youthonrecord.org.
