Cream Dupioni Silk and Tapestry

    We created these hard wood cornices and covered them in a cream colored Dupioni Silk.  At the bottom we added a much heavier tapestry to add visual balance.  Then we mounted them 19feet up.

The long point on the cornice is 42". The short point 26" and the tails measure 52"

Okay, here's a tip as to how we managed to hang these without scaffolding. We cut wholes under the flagged pieces at the top of the large cornice, used two 20 foot  extension ladders, grabbed that baby and carried it up. After placing it on angle irons that we put up earlier we reached through the whole and tightened the screws.

When the room is this large and the ceiling height measures 20 feet you need large statement pieces.  In order to keep the statement pieces from being so bold as to seem as though they pop off the wall you can tone down the effect by using a soft neutral colored fabric.  Then add a little bit of detail with an accent fabric.

Here are the fabrics we used. Please give us a call if you are interested in seeing more. 

 



Magenta and America's top Executives

A panel of 900 CEOs organized by USA Today participated in an online 60-second color

 personality test, and the results were striking: The bosses don't like yellow or red, but

they're big fans of magenta – at least compared to the rest of the population.  

You'll find the link to read this article and take the test below.

I snapped these photos in the home of one of my favorite clients. 

She's bold, compassionate and confident.

She is also a very successful business woman.

 I value her critique as well has her encouragement.

That's me putting the final touches on the window treatment.

Check out this sofa and the feathered pillows.

You can click each picture to enlarge.

Follow this link to read the article and take the test.

http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2010/02/ceos-true-colors.html

Shaped Cornices

One of my favorite jobs in the workroom is creating shaped cornices.

enlarge any picture on this blog by clicking on it

The designer, Noelle Myers wanted a tight fit between the cabinets. She also wanted a small notched cut in the upper left corner.  We added small contrast welt in green and then glued on tiny yellow box pleats.  Go on click the picture and check out the details.

We created a single arched cornice for the window over the kitchen counter and a double arch for the window in the family room.

Larger than Usual

You can see how large the balloons on this shade are when you compare them to my size.

 Sometimes balloon shades can be very intrusive.  Selecting the right size balloon makes all the difference in great window treatment design.  Usually a designer would opt to have 3 balloons on this window.

 

The room was huge and there  were 

two 44 inch windows . 

The folds on the roman shades below are

larger than usual too.   

There were 6 shades in this room and we didn't want the polka dots to appear the dominate the project so we made the folds larger and added a trim banding to draw attention away from what seemed to be million's of little dots.

 
The shades were operable, so the more you pull them up  the more volume you have at the top of the window. 

I wish I took a picture of them at their highest point to show you how nice they looked.

Silk and Viscose

I knew we would find it, the perfect fabric, the right color and the perfect "hand" (hand is a term used in the design industry to articulate how textiles feel and handle).

The fabric is a combination,  20% Silk and 80% Viscose.  Viscose is a man made fiber processed from wood pulp.  It falls somewhere in between a synthetic and a natural fiber.   Viscose breathes like cotton and is soft to the touch.  It adds stability and softness to silk.

 Viscose is also helpful because it allows me to manipulate and handle the fabric.  Again the term "hand".

The hand featured in this photo is that of the homeowner :-).

 We knew we had the right fabric so we moved forward with the Kingston Valance and side panels over paper shades.

Later we added sheers.

        The Drapery Shop offers this fabric in more than 60 colors.

It retails for $39.00 per yard.

Creativity with an Exacto Knife.

I enjoy the creativity I'm allowed to unleash in the workroom.The cornice below was created using an exacto knife to outline the floral pattern.  Then trim was glued to check the frayed edges and add a slight outline to the bottom of the design.

Click on this picture to enlarge and see the detail.

I call this type of cornice, Miss Barbara.  Named after the client, of course.  She wanted a simple cornice but my "creative juices" began to flow.

Here are the panels we made for the sliding glass door.

Roman Panels?

The designer wanted me to create what he called roman panels. "Roman Panels", I asked. "Yes, Miss Mary you know,  roman panels".  He emailed  me a picture, gave me the specs and I got to work.

He picked up the panels, hung them and sent me

pictures of my work. 

Usually we install most of the drapery treatments we make.

 The chairs around this dining set are nice.  I wish he would have included them in the photo.  I seem to have a chair fetish. I'm  definitely going to incorporate upholstery in my service package.