Designs for Problem Windows

Tags

curtains, Decorating, design, difficult windows, interior design, window treatments

Frequently a discussion with a new clients begins like this, “I have these windows, but ______________” (insert architectural problem of your choice here).  Some windows are too close together, some an odd shape, some too low, some too high. 

My job then not only becomes one of design and fabrication, but problem solving as well.  I think these are my favorite projects to tackle.  The offer a challenge, and when a window treatment is properly designed, the end results can make that problem disappear.

 

For instance,  this family room with high cathedral ceilings has small side windows – out of proportion to the rest of the space, and dwarfed by the fireplace:

Adding drapery panels mounted higher than the windows brings the space into proportion, and visually enlarges the fireplace windows:

 

These windows were sized appropriately, but the space felt cold and very linear:

Some paint and a rich brown fabric warmed the space, while panels and an upholstered cornice added some shape and softness:

 

These doors need some dressing up, but also have to remain functional.   Mounting treatments directly on the doors will cut down on light, and visually lower the ceiling making the space feel cramped:

This design utilizes all available space AND still allows the doors to operate – by splitting in the middle!  The treatments are actually mounted on hinges to swing with the doors as they open and close (stay tuned for an after picture!):

 

This living room with cathedral ceiling has a grand window, but it appears to be floating on the wall with nothing to ground it.  It also competes with the client’s piano for attention:

 

Installing a darker chair rail and flooring, using a subtle change in color below the chair rail, and repeating the dark color in the hardware makes a cohesive space.  The window now plays a supporting role and is in balance with the piano:

 

The layout of this window grouping made for a potentially awkward installation and design with all the vertical and horizontal lines:

 

Framing the center window with panels and swags visually gives weight to the outer sides and adds softness:

 

This little nook feels a bit short and almost cramped:

 

Adding a treatment mounted at the ceiling and a cushion brings the space into proportion and instantly becomes a cozy place to sit and read:

 

This window has a soffit projecting into the room above it, making installation tricky, as well as visually detracting from the space:

 

 

 

The design solution:  use an asymmetrical treatment that brings the eye in to the center of the windows and away from the upper corner:

 

 

So what problem windows do you have??  I’m always up for a challenge! 

Fall Decorating

Tags

Decorating, design, DIY, Fall decorating, Halloween, interior decorating, repurpose, Simplfy by Sara

Check out my guest post today for Simplify by Sara and find some inspiration for your fall decorating:

http://simplifybysara.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/fall-decorating-its-right-in-your-own-backyard/

Another Re-design Before & After

Tags

Decorating, design, furniture placement, interior decorating, interior design, repurpose

I got to go to work and play today.  That’s what I feel like every time I get to re-design someone’s space.  Today’s client was a lucky winner! I raffled off a one room Interior Re-design service at a recent event held by Women in Business Social Networking.

The room was a fantastic family space.  Lots of natural light and and high ceilings added to the spacious feel.  The client asked for a room that was fun, energetic and a place where a family of five could spend time together.  She had some stunningly beautiful Asian decorations, and I wanted to highlight these in the re-design. Here’s what the room looked like when I first saw it:

A few additional items that the client did not already have were needed to give the room a feeling of cohesiveness.  With her permission, I went shopping for a new area rug and some accessories.  Aside from the rug I also bought a decorative plate, a mosaic candle sconce, a silk tree, some ready-made panels, and some throw pillows.

The After:

I love how the area rug completely pulled the space together.  The throw pillows for the sofa repeated the colors in the rug, and the extra accessories helped spread the color throughout the room.  I also recommended she purchase another chair for additional seating, as well as a round end table for the space between the love seat and sofa.  All in all, an enjoyable day with a really fun, fantastic result!!

New Baby, New Bedding!

Tags

custom baby bedding, design, interior design, nursery, window treatments

I recently completed a nursery for a client in need of custom baby bedding.  We selected the color palate, and I fabricated a crib skirt, reversible bumper, quilt, and even a crib sheet!  Maching shades on the windows completed the look. Enjoy!

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Interior Re-Design: One Day Decorating Services

Tags

design, interior design, Interior Re-design and Decorating

I’m proud to announce that here at Becker Window Fashions I am offering a new service:  Interior Re-design.  Interior re-design uses items you already own to re-create your space into a room you can fall in love with all over again!  Re-design is completed in only one day, and is a great way to give your room a quick pick-me-up, or re-define its function.

Re-design services begin with a client consultation a few days ahead to allow me to learn about your space, what your decorating style preferences are, what function(s) the room should have, and to learn more about your wishes for the finished result.  At this appointment, some clients opt for a Color With No Regrets consultation as well, especially if they plan on, or are thinking about, painting the room before beginning the re-design process.  Read more about the color consultation here.  Some clients will also opt to include a budget of their choice for me to shop for additional accessories.

On the day of service I will arrive in the morning to start re-designing your room(s)!  Clients are highly encouraged to use the day to run errands, shop, go to work, or however they please.  While this is not required, the newly designed room is best when the end result is a complete surprise (Think HGTV!). If  the client has been at home watching the process, the end of the day is not nearly as exciting, and sometimes our emotional attachment to the placement of  items inhibits the resedign process.   After revealing your new room, I will make recommendations to you for items you may want to consider adding to the space to really finish it off.

Redesign services start at $350 per room.  Please call for a consultation appointment, or more information at 484-300-9019.  Also, check out some before and after shots of some recently re-designed spaces.  Rooms went from ho-hum, to WOW!!

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Award Winning Workroom

Tags

design, fashion, interior design, International Window Coverings Expo, Paris Haute Couture, window treatments

Well, I’ve put it off long enough!  Time to bring everyone up to speed on my winning entry for the Custom Home Furnishings Alumni Contest 2011 (featured at the International WIndow Coverings Expo in Las Vegas).  You may remember from an earlier post read about it here, I won a window treatment design contest, and the winning design was to be featured in Las Vegas. 

I had to think a while about what I wanted the design to be.  I wanted it to be fantastic, but I also wanted it to be meaningful and special.   After my Mom passed away, I inherited all of the little French hand-sewn dresses she had made for my sister and me when we were growing up. 

French hand-sewn/smocked dresses

  Every Easter, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Summer,  you name it, she would go to the fabric store, pick out lovely pastel-colored fabrics, ribbon, entredeau, and take several weeks to make a dress for each of us by hand.  And no, she did not use a sewing machine.   She loved the art of French hand-sewing, and they would always be ready to wear them just in time for that special event.  Part of the dressed always incorporated a technique known as smocking.  My sister and I would always anxiously await the design our new dress would have on the front.  One summer it was ice cream cones.  The next Christmas it was red cardinals. 

Pin-tuck detail

But we instinctively knew these design were well-planned, and whenever we put those dresses on, we knew we were wearing something special.

Staring at those dresses, that same instinct took over:  I knew I had to incorporate some sort of smocking into my design.  Smocked drapery panels are becoming more popular, but due to the intense amount of labor involved (read:cost), I’m afraid I don’t sell many of them.   So, I finally I had a base from which to work for my design. 

Christian Dior 2011

 But that wasn’t enough.  As my earler post alluded to, I was simultaneously paying attention to the Haute Couture Week in Paris.  Such wonderful designs in the fashion world were on display with beautiful rust and blue colors, lushious sheer and tulle fabrics, and layers and layers of sensual textures. 

 

   I had my second inspiration.  But the question: How was I going to combine classic smocking with elegant fashion?

Never one to turn down a challange, and  I ended up submitting 3 designs, two of which the judges liked, and they asked me to pick one of them for the expo.   Here is the winning design:

My Winning Design

Wondering how a winning design comes together?  Here’s some photos from the weekend I worked on the treatment.  Enjoy!!

Unrolling the drapery fabric in the table

The finished smocked and hand-beaded panel topApplyig trim for the godet insert on the bottom of the panel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preparing the arched cornice smocked header

 

 

Finished in Vegas!

 

Good Eats

Tags

design, interior design, Pantone, window treatments

So, I don’t always post about window treatments. 

 Today I just had to share a picture of the lasagna I made for dinner.  I don’t make it often since it takes so long.  I make everything that goes in it:  bechamel (white sauce), marinara, and filling.  It is usually an all day process.  This particular variety is a spinach mushroom lasagna.  (I also added some ground meat for my husband’s palate).

homemade lasagna

 Many years ago my initial view of Italian food was anything that came from Olive Garden.  So, I always assumed I didn’t like anything Italian.  Then, almost 13 years ago, on our honeymoon in Italy, my husband and I discovered gastronomical bliss.  Much to my pleasant surprise, Italian food is NOTHING like Olive Garden!  (duh!)  We dined on some of  what I can only describe as the best food I could ever imagine existed.  Bruchetta, simple pasta with four cheeses, braised rabbit, vegetable roasted to perfection, oven-fired pizzas, and fresh gelatto. 

 While today I am hard-pressed to remember specifics of what we ate, what stands out so predominatley in my mind is the atmosphere.  When we travel we enjoy taking “the road less traveled”.  So we fully immersed ourselves in the local culture, going off the beaten tourist paths, and going to the places where the locals hung out.  A particular memory:  walking into a pub-like trattoria and being seated at a large table with several other locals.  We were served whatever was on the menu that night, along with the house wine, and while we muddled through our guide book Italian phrases, we were welcomed with open arms.  Several other similar dining experiences followed while on our trip, and so began my culinary journey.

 I returned with a new-found appreciation for how good simple food can be.   I quickly learned that fresh ingredients are the key (as in most fabulous dishes).  So my lasagna is nothing but.  When in season, my marinara is made from the tomatoes from my garden.  The basil and oregano, also garden supplied.  The bechamel sauce is traditional – a clean white sauce with a bit of freshly ground nutmeg.  I love how this lasagna is not overly “tomato-sauced”.  It is more rich and creamy, and goes great with a fantastic bottle of Chianti.

Which brings me to my next passion:  wine.  My husband and I also own a vineyard.  No we don’t make wine yet, but we do sell the grapes to a local winery.   But you can be sure that we never sit down to a meal without some sort of  grape juice.  We don’t consider ourselves wine snobs, but wine “geeks”.  For us, wine is about the experience of sharing a great bottle with friends over a meal.  It’s about enjoying dinner as an event, and not just a means of filling our stomachs before we’re off and running to the next event on our schedules.  It is a lifestyle we’ve embraced, and it is who we are. 

Our Vineyard

Becker Vineyard

Me inspecting the harvest

So thanks for allowing me this diversion from my regular sewing & decorating topics.  But just in case some of you are left feeling like that’s a part you’re missing, here’s the official Pantone color of 2011: http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20821&ca=4 

I think talking about lasagna is more fun. 

Vegas Baby!!

Tags

design, interior design, International Window Coverings Expo, Minutes Matter, Paris Haute Couture, window treatments

A big part of the job here, aside from actual sewing, is designing.  I spend more hours than I can count designing potential window treatments for clients.  I take into consideration the room’s architecture, spacing, colors, scale, and textures to name a few.  And this is before we even think about the style!   The client and I discuss personal preferences, and with the parameters set, I set out to come up with a design that will fulfill their ideals, and also address all the information I have gathered about the physical space.  Sometimes designs present themselves immediately, other times I am faced with a design “challenge” and the ideas require more time to work through.

I recently had the opportunity to design my little heart out – no expense was too great, any style, fabric, color, texture, or trim was fair game.  A blank slate!!  It sounds like the perfect scenario, but in reality attacking a new project with absolutely NO parameters is, well, let’s just say,  complicated.

No, I didn’t stumble upon a new client who had just won the lottery.  I entered a design contest.

I had one week to submit up to three designs.  Any design.  No limitations. 

Staring at my blank computer screen (since most of you know I use my design software, Minutes Matter.) I was suddenly overwhelmed.  What should I do??  What colors should I pick?  What should it look like?  (What will the judges like?!) 

I quickly realized that I had a newfound appreciation for the parameters set by my clients and their spaces.

I had recently seen online photos from the Paris Haute Couture week featuring the greatest current fashions on the runway. http://www.canada.com/life/fashionshows/Photos+Christian+Dior+Parie+Haute+Couture+Fashion+Week+2011/4155733/story.html

Suddenly I knew what I wanted to do.  I submitted my three designs.  

Well, I just found out today that I was one of 6 winners chosen.  My design, along with the others, will be featured in Las Vegas at the International Window Coverings Expo in April. 

So what is the winning design??   You’ll have to wait to see.  I’m not allowed to reveal it yet.  (Allow me to brag a moment: actually, two out of the three I submitted were selected, but I can only pick one.)   My husband named the design I’ll be using.  I was creatively tapped out when it came time to give a title to my art.  He insists that the title is why I won.  I’m thinking he might be on to something… nah!

I’m still in shock, I think.  But I do know one thing.  Sometimes a blank slate can be REALLY fun.

Tea Time

Tags

cake plate, design, interior design, SImplify by Sara, toile, Traditional Home, window treatments

OK, I am in love with this!  My dear frined Sara, from Simplify by Sara ,read my post on toile fabrics and sent me this.  Now I need to bake a cake and have a proper English Tea!!

Red Toile cake plate

Solar shade

Tags

design, interior design, offices, solar shades, window treatments

Just a quick note to show off today’s installation.  A small project, but the fabric selection made all the difference on this office window.  The great range of colors in this stagecoach valance really highlighted the richness of the paint.  I also added a solar shade under the valance to cut down on the intense sun glare on my client’s computer screen.   Fun!!

Valance with solar roll-up shadeSolar shade is completely hidden when not needed