The MAGIC of WINDOW TREATMENTS

There are many beautiful things in the manufactured universe, and FABRIC

is certainly one of the most magical. I have always loved fabric. I first recall being entranced by it as a child, when I discovered a bolt of vintage silk in my mom's closet. She had brought it with her from England. It was a delicious red color, and I could imagine a rajah's trappings to go with it. When I was twelve, my parents enrolled me in a sewing class at the local Singer store and I got to select the fabric and pattern for a dress (black and white checked gingham!) that I made myself (with zipper!). I was hooked. I loved walking the aisles of fabric stores wherever I could find them, and made many of my own clothes. I even made my wedding dress - an exquisite, simple, elegant Vogue pattern.






When I enrolled in the Interior Architecture and Design curriculum at Northwestern University, I discovered all the magic of interior fabrics. The showrooms at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago begcame my regular haunts! Rows and rows of fabrics and trims - surely this is Heaven!

Window Treatments are one of the most creative ways to enjoy beautiful fabrics. With the perfect balance of shape, color and texture, each treatment is a canvas, and that is exactly how I approach designing a window treatment.

Also wonderful to consider in your "window treatment canvas" is how the outside light plays into the mix. Different times of day produce different light effects, both in color and shadow, and the results can be thrilling, when you walk into a space and see the light dancing on your wall or floor through the pattern of your fabric or shutters.

I have a wonderful workroom that I have used for years. I specialize in very individual treatments, and this seamstress has all the background and skills to help me put my ideas together in the most practical form for the client. I am an artist, and I treat each project as a canvas specific to that client. I don't have any standard treatments. I start each treatment with an in-depth discussion with you to find out what you need and what you love. And then we work to narrow the field to those solutions that are right for you (including your budget). If you do want a "standard treatment" (simple pinch pleats, for instance), we have no problem executing it. But I love to put in a little detail that distinguishes your treatment from anyone else's...

I don't have a particular period. I love all interior design! I do traditional through contemporary based on the client's preferences. Clients usually come to me because they have specific needs and desires. My task is to coordinate all the elements that you love and fuse them into a cohesive whole. Creating a beautiful, individual project canvas is what I love to do!

All the above treatments were designed by me. Check out my new Window Treatment Slideshow to see more. These are not professional photos (I took most of them myself), but you can still get the idea! See the Slideshow link in the column to the right, just under my website url.

RENOVATION IN ANDERSON HEIGHTS

BEGINNING WITH THE DRAPERIES, ART AND RUGS.....



These clients own a wonderful home in Anderson Heights in Raleigh, not far from Five Points. They have lived there for years, and love the neighborhood so much, that they decided to stay where they were and renovate. We are still working on the final touches, but I wanted to get this much up on my blog, so the rest of you could see what fun we have been having with our art collection and custom rugs. The picture below is the BEFORE for the Dining Room, and below that is the empty Music Room, which they added during the renovation.

BEFORE

When I first saw this Music Room, I envisioned it as an art gallery. There aren't many walls, but with proper selection of original art and custom area rugs, we could make this room a peaceful yet dynamic experience.

After we designed the draperies (see below for full details), we began the search for some original art. I had seen the work of Scott Upton at Flanders Art Gallery a year before, and had recommended that my clients take a trip to the gallery to see his work. When they did, they were captivated!! We tried several different pieces for this space, and when this blue one went up, my clients were sold. So we began our color scheme with this work. We have since added some additional pieces on the other walls, and they will show up in a later blog post. Flanders has been great to work with!

The design for the rugs in these rooms had to begin with the Music Room. It was critical to choose a color combination that enhanced the Scott Upton, as well as flowed with the rest of the downstairs. And it needed to be simple enough not to detract from the painting, but still have enough detail to be interesting and balance with the rest of the traditional decor in the home. The colors turned out perfect in the space. These jpegs don't do it justice, so if you would like to see the rooms in person, I am sure my clients would be happy to give you "the tour"!

Once we arrived at the right rug for the music room, the challenge was to come up with a design for the adjoining Dining Room space, which is just a few feet away and completely visible from the Music Room. We explored many possibilities, and eventually chose a design that is actually a continuation of the border scrolls in the Music Room. But in this rug we used a plain double border, and let the scrolls dominate in the middle.

This is a close-up of the Dining Room rug, with the Music Room in the background. Both rugs use only 2 colors each, and they are the same colors. But the Music Room field is tip sheared, which makes it look like a third color (while keeping the price down!)

We did a lot of analyzing of color poms to get the right results in these rooms. The Music Room is very sunny, while the Dining Room light varies. We wanted to be sure that the results would be pleasing at all times, both day and night. We are thrilled with the final product!

CLOSE-UP OF CUSTOM LINEN DRAPERIES: I had a close-up here but I accidentally deleted it after I had completed all the rest of the layout. And since I am a designer, and not a webmaster, I give up! I'll post a close-up later on, but you can read about it here:

We chose to wrap the exterior of the room with these linen panels, to improve the acoustics for the piano. I designed a simple pleated panel with horizontal tucks at the top and the bottom. The sheers are fully operable, to provide protection from the direct sun in the morning.

Below are the renderings of our final selections for our custom rugs. After we chose the styles we were interested in, and the wool colors, we had renderings made of each possiblility. There was no charge for these renderings, and we explored at least 20 possibilities. We narrowed it down to these 2, and ordered custom strike-offs (24 x 24 inch corner samples), to be sure that they were perfect in the rooms. We were very happy with our choices, and then ordered the full size rugs. Davis and Davis Rugs has been wonderful to work with. There are hundreds of designs to choose from, and I can render all the standard designs myself with software on my laptop. There are over 120 wool colors, and I have the samples. When we want something that is not standard, they are so helpful, and they will render whatever you want done.

ALSO: they do WALL-TO-WALL carpeting, and have many beautiful designs that they can customize in your choice of colors.

Stay tuned for a continuation of this Project!

As we wrap up the details, and the photos are taken,

I will be posting it!!