While we embrace the Spring-like weather this month, let’s focus on the charm of a custom-designed window treatment that has the ability to control the quality of light coming into your space. We agree that plants near a windowpane in the home are a beautiful element that livens up a room and brings joy. However plants can be very fussy when changing their environment. Watching a plant slowly lose it’s life is very stressful when you don’t know what you’re doing! If you find yourself lacking in plant care knowledge, we are here to help guide you in successfully relocating your houseplants to the outdoors and inspire you to consider custom-made window treatments that are also known to create unique interior spaces throughout any season.  

As a plant parent, you may agree that the difficulty keeping plants alive lies with two elements. It seems to be a matter of too much water, not enough water, too much light, or not enough light, right? We realize that your plants may be on their last leg after a long winter indoors. Warmer weather couldn’t come soon enough, and this transition from indoors to outdoors could mean life or death for these bundles of joy.

Plant Care Advice

1. Know Your Plants’ Specific Watering Needs

Plants are unique and some need more water than others. It’s likely if you have more than a few plants, they’ll each require a different amount of water.  It’s actually very easy to determine what makes your unique plants thrive these days. There are quite a few helpful phone apps to use that will give you all the information you need to know about water for your unique plants. A simple search for ‘plant care’ in your phone’s app store will reveal free and relatively inexpensive guides for us to use.  Learning how much water your plants need can be found using your phone. If your plants have made it through the winter, you’ve done very well knowing the moisture level of the potting soil. One thing to think about though, after bringing plants outside, they may need more watering than they did while indoors. It’s good to note that the wind really does make any surface water evaporate quickly, so keep an eye on the soil’s moisture level more often when outdoors. One of the easiest ways to check if your plant needs watering is to stick your finger into the soil. This gives you a clearer indication of the soil moisture content than simply looking at the surface. 

2. The Ideal Outdoor Temperature

Deciding when it’s safe to bring your houseplants outdoors bodes a serious question to consider: outdoor temperature. Luckily for the plant killers among us, the experts have specific advice to help us with this aspect of proper plant care as well. Keeping plants alive is something we can learn to do with this guidance. Depending on your climate zone, the date you bring the plants outside will vary. The key is to avoid any frost possibilities. The safest time will be after Mother’s Day for most areas, but it’s best to keep an eye on the weather forecast and find the exact date of the last frost of Spring. Experts say a good rule of thumb is to bring plants outdoors 3-4 weeks after the last frost. This is a key to success, and a wonderful opportunity to regulate the next important factor for success: controlling the amount of light your plants receive before they are fully acclimated to direct sunlight. 

3. Controlling Sunlight

Believe it or not, a transition to full sunlight too quickly can do more damage to your plants than imagined. It’s good to note that plants are susceptible to sunburn just as we are. To be honest, there is no turning back from this condition once the deed has been done. Unfortunately, if your houseplant’s leaves are sunburned, the only thing you can do is cut those leaves. It’s not the end of the world to cut a few leaves, but if you managed to keep your plants alive throughout the winter, it’d be a shame to ruin your good plant parenting in this way. So it’s essential to pay attention, avoid the shock,  and slowly transition them into full sunlight. Successfully transferring your houseplants to the outdoors means providing just the right amount of direct sunlight for a few weeks to get them acclimated.  So, while we wait for the perfect timing regarding outdoor temps, we can use the 3-4 recommended weeks to properly filter the sunlight streaming through your windows. Allow 2-3 hours of full sunlight through your windows each day then screen the direct light for the remaining parts of the day. Lafayette Interior Fashions has an easy solution for you.

The Lafayette Window Treatment Solution

One of the most effective ways to transition your houseplants from indoors to full sun is to use a transitional window shade system.  Allure® Transitional Shades by Lafayette Interior Fashions can assist you tremendously in relocating your temperamental plants; making a smooth transition to outdoor sunlight. The magic of Allure® Transitional Shades lies in the unique vanes created with fabric bands in varying opacities. These allow you to adjust the light coming in the room from complete shade to full sunlight and all light filtering variances in between. The ability to control light precisely is just what you need when you have plants that lived in darkness all winter long. Transitional window shades allow you to provide your plants with filtered sunlight, direct sunlight, and full shade no matter what time of day. Not only do these window treatments allow you to provide the correct amount of sunlight, but they also provide you with a stylish and beautiful space in your home! As we’ve stated before, experts say the outdoor temperature is one thing to consider when relocating your plants however, what’s equally as important is the amount of sunshine. This means you must open your light filtering shades just a little at a time.  

Allure® Transitional Shades are the perfect window treatment that can up-level your interior space and create a beautiful quality of light and style. Unlike traditional roller, sheer shades, or roman shades, this type of window treatment allows you to enjoy the view outside and at the same time, vary the amount of light coming through the window. Transitional shades come in a large selection of colors. Plus, custom-shaped windows can be accommodated because every window treatment from Lafayette is handcrafted in the USA. Check out the array of options here.

Take it a Step Further with Motorized Window Treatments

With the use of a phone app, you can program your window treatments to transition at certain times of the day. The future is now! Having options for window treatments with motorization is here! Somfy® Wire-Free motors are easy to install, quiet and reliable. Your motorized window shades are integrated into your smart home using Amazon Alexa and Mylink® using your smartphone. You can schedule your motorized window treatments to move throughout certain times of the day. Motorized window treatments are finally an affordable luxury many realize they can’t live without. Motorized window treatments make it very easy for plant parents. You can literally set it for allowing direct sun a few hours a day, and forget it… not too bad for the so-called ‘plant-killers’ out there.

Lafayette Interior Fashions Makes Plant Parenting Easy

After the 3 week period of filtered sunlight, and before placing the plants directly on your balcony or patio, keep the plants under a shaded area for about a week. When you see they’re doing well outdoors, move them to direct sun for a few hours a day until they can be out entirely and not get sunburned. Remember to check the soil’s moisture level more often now. You’ll see they will love you for this slow transition. 

Preparing your inside plants for their day in the sun could seem very time-consuming and daunting. However, we believe it’s worth every minute of care. You’ll not only be proud of your plant parenting; we think you’ll love your interior space even more! Keeping your plants alive and thriving could be a powerfully gratifying feeling, and we hope to have shed ‘light’ on the situation… pun intended

Simple Steps For Success:

1. Know your plant’s watering needs
2. Set plants near a window for 3-4 weeks allowing direct sunlight for 2-3 hours per day
3. Filter the direct sunlight for the remaining hours of daylight using Lafayette’s Allure® Transitional Shades.
4. Move plants outdoors under a shaded area for one week. 
5. Move plants to direct sunlight a few hours a day for approximately one week; frequently checking the moisture level of the soil.
6. If you are in need of transitional shades, contact your Lafayette Dealer

*For those of us who are challenged plant parents: consider using Somfy® motorized shades to program the specific light filtering options throughout the day.

Custom-crafted window treatments take your home decorating experience to a whole new level; and the options at Lafayette Interior Fashions will amaze you! Find your Lafayette Dealer.