In 2000, Microsoft released an initial version of an XML-based format for Microsoft Excel, which was incorporated in Office XP. Take a few minutes to purge your office of everything you’re no longer using. At the kitchen window, the favorite checked pattern is best delivered in a casual mounting — as a cafe curtain loosely attached to the rod for a loopy look at the top, or, even simpler, as only a gingham valance dressing up the window with a few gathers and ruffles, kept carefully in check. A better solution is to break up a single pattern by introducing another print or solid. Traditional prints call to mind memories from the past, even though they may not be exactly the same as yesterday’s print. The important safeguard to keep in mind is avoiding too much of one thing. In an effort to contain its spread, Truman issued the Truman Doctrine, which offered help to any country trying to keep communism out.

Red and white checks are a classic country pattern that can be used in almost any casual environment to lift spirits with their simple, upbeat looks. A sure approach in using the valance successfully is to go for the unexpected — perhaps a valance in a beautiful vintage lace, to stand in soft contrast to the geometry of a country checked wall. Or the valance can be the room’s focal point through use of a totally different pattern and color from the dominant covering at the walls. For kitchens in which the walls are painted a bold, solid color, consider the opposite approach with shades: a striking pattern that repeats the dominant color, but couples it with another to prevent overkill. When the walls are completely covered with a busy print that’s fully repeated at the windows, the effect can end up resembling a motel room — a space with not much character.

Or a multifaceted window treatment can incorporate more than one print. Although café curtains have a quaint look when used as the only treatment on the window, they are equally adaptable to coupling with another, fancier design. To call the most attention to a window, the dressing doesn’t have to be full and flowing. Wider windows require careful thought in determining just the right dressing. On shades topped with a patterned valance, it defines the room’s atmosphere, as well as its windows. Shades often prove to be the preferred window treatment for the kitchen — their straightforward look is free of pleats, swags, and puddles that require maintenance. Café curtains, small and casual panels of fabric attached to the curtain rod through a hemmed pocket at the top, are arguably the single most commonly used window treatment in the kitchen. This holds true in window treatment designs, too. Valanced window treatments can say a lot with only a little fabric.

With all of that visual data, animators can duplicate lifelike facial movements and emotions. What’s more, the room can unpleasantly encroach on our vision; no diversion is present to attract the eye. Used in a dining room with traditional mahogany furniture, they take the formal edge off the decor, making it warm and friendly. When this is the case, the windows, as one of the dining room’s most important architectural features, have an obligation to set the mood with appropriate dressings. Windows, especially those in a more private part of the house such as the kitchen, don’t have to be adorned with swaths of fabric yardage or view-blocking blinds to be well-dressed. That change would have been enough to alter the weather even more. One of the easiest designs to make yourself, cafe curtains have been made by home seamstresses for decades. Before diving head-first into confrontation, you’ll want to examine your own behavior and track record to make sure you don’t make the situation worse.