All my inspiration shots (like this vignette from the web portfolio of new York designer Sara Story) have big stunning windows which give opportunities for charming drapes, shutters, casings and more. In my basement, I have the exact opposite: one 20″ x 16″ window. As I pointed out before, it has the effect of a pinhole cam — the one little place where natural light finds it way into my basement.

Here is the thing: when you have so little to work with, it nearly makes the decision harder. It has to be right. If it is dressed too much, the proportion will be off; if not enough, it looks like some low-cost little basement window. Which obviously, it is.

I love the thought of a shutter like this one by designer Kay Douglass. It could be open all the time but still frame out the window and give it some architectural (big word for small window) interest and some detail through great hinges:

Another thought is to hang a rod from the ceiling in the little bay area where I find my tiny window, and to frame it out in sheers or crisp white linen panels so it looks like a pretty little nook. I am leaning towards the last option considering that this basement reno hasn’t afforded me much opportunity for bringing on the pretty, so even the softening effect of some linen panels would be a welcome change.

Anyone else out there have painfully small windows? how did you dress them?

Photo credits:
1. Sara Story’s Gramercy Park project
2. Meg Crossley
3. Kay Douglass project, photography by Simon Upton, published in House Beautiful