Treatments for Problem Windows : Decorating: The right use of shades, shutters, Venetian blinds, curtains or draperies can solve design problems.

Every window presents at least one problem that can be solved by choosing the right treatment.

The arched Palladian window is popular as a replacement window these days. Though graceful, its half-circle crown is hard to cover.

The preferred look is to leave it bare. But if privacy and light control are needed, use a pleated synthetic shade or sheer that follows the line of the window, suggests Brenda Wegner of J C Penney’s custom decorating service.

Another good idea is custom shutters that fit the arch, says designer Maxene Efros who has a workroom in New York. The frame is stationary, but light can be controlled by tilting the slats.

Other problem windows include bay windows, sliding doors, French doors and large expanses of glass that are inaccessible.

For a bay window not easily reached, such as behind a kitchen sink, try a small balloon valance alone or over a sheer curtain that admits light, Wegner says.

In fact, she says, interest in soft treatments such as swags and valances has never been greater. “They add warmth to windows that for privacy’s sake must be covered with shades or blinds,” she says.

With exterior sliding glass doors or French doors, use vertical blinds or draperies that stack to one side when opened. If you use draperies that divide in the middle, choose a rod that is a little longer than the window is wide. When open, the coverings will not obscure the entrance.

Efros, whose main clients are decorators and architects, says avoid a covering that requires expensive custom work if cost is a factor. Those elaborate multilayered drapery treatments favored by decorators are expensive.

“For a sumptuous look,” she says, “you need to use a great deal of fabric and it has to be lined and often interlined, sometimes with a double interlining.” Like a couture garment, such a treatment also requires costly hand finishing.

Instead of cutting corners, try something that takes less time and money to look good, such as an unconstructed swag on a painted pole with a soft, pleated shade for privacy.

Another low-cost idea from Efros is to treat draperies like a shower curtain, fitting them with grommets and hanging them with metal or wood hooks on a pole. If you use a canvas fabric, it will hang well without having to be lined. Get your canvas from a boating outfitter and it will already be treated for water resistance.

Venetian blinds with wood slats are enjoying a revival. The natural wood tones are the most fashionable, but white or ivory blinds with colored tapes are also an “in” look, as are deeper colors. For musician Herb Alpert’s New York apartment, Efros recently paired black-lacquer blinds with red tapes.

Many people want to maintain their privacy while enjoying a bit of a view. They can do both by installing shades that pull down from the top. The old roller shade is one example.

Roman shades can be made so that they open from either the top or bottom, as can the soft-pleat shades, Efros says.

Perhaps the most puzzling problem is the window that towers far above arm’s reach. The glass wall beloved by modern architects also presents a problem for window covering experts.

One solution is motorized drapery rods.

“Motors have gotten more compact, come down in price and been improved, for example, with better clutch systems,” Efros says.

A motorized drapery rod can run as little as $200, and motors for more complex treatments have come down from about $750 to about $500.

Once the motor enters the picture, almost anything is possible: draperies that automatically open and close in response to the intensity of sunlight or remote control window coverings.

Efros recently was asked to bid on a job in which one requirement is the ability to operate the draperies from another city.