The Last Word On Drapes

Boy, it’s been just like old times on The Petch House Blog over the past week. There have been a lot of comments on my plan for drapes on the dinging room windows. Some good, some bad, but mostly good. The whole process has been positive and very helpful. I am so glad now that I am not going with my original idea of the swag draperies. It is not that it wouldn’t have looked nice, but I think I will be happier with what I am doing. The design meets all of my original criteria.

Not too formal.
Simple in design.
Doesn’t hide the woodwork.
It has a definite nod to the past.
It won’t break the bank.

So, here is what I’m going with. To read the back story click Here and Here.

Still a work in progress with the paint stripping


These are the windows. A few suggested a single, continuos rod, but visually I’m not sure that would work here with the picture rail. I think it would just look odd. Another person showed a picture of a rod that went across the front and sort of sliced off the bay from the rest of the room. Again, I just don't think that would look right in this setting.

I will buy unfinished wood poles and brackets and stain them to match the rest of the redwood dado and casing in the room. The poles will be mounted just below the corner blocks. You can see a selection of wood poles and brackets here. I like the “European Style Bracket”, mainly because I think they are unique, but also I saw some antique ones listed on Ebay that were very similar to those. They remind me of the Victorian era door stops.



Above is the look I’m going for. Notice how the drapes hang inside the casing and don’t hide the woodwork. They are surprisingly simple in style, yet still formal and elegant. The drapes hang from rings with the poles exposed (those look like brass). The drapes are drawn back with ropes with tassels. I’ll be doing the same thing.



The real difference between mine and what is in the photo is that I will have roller shades behind the drapes. From the looks of that house, I don’t think privacy is an issue. I bought the shades at Smith+Noble and are similar to the shade above. Ignore that drape in the photo.

The last piece of the puzzle was the fabric for the drapes. On Sunday I made my first trip in to a fabric store in my adult life. As I child I was dragged through a few by my mother, so the experience was not completely foreign. Still, it was about as close to foreign as I can get without leaving the country. It didn’t take too long for me to find what I liked, and the best part is, it was on sale at 40% off. Anyone who has read this blog long enough knows that it wouldn’t even need to be my first selection and the 40% discount would be enough to seal the deal.



So here it is. There is still more to buy. Next week drapery lining will be 50% off, so I will buy that then. I also need the rope tie-backs, and some sort of edging. I’m not sure what the proper name is. I’m referring to the dingle-balls or rope edging. I saw all of this stuff at the fabric store today. I just need to go back next week when the lining is on sale and buy it.

I still need to decide if I want to do some kind of contrasting color fabric in the drapes like in the picture above. I’ll look at what is available when I go back to the fabric store next week. Once I get the rods hung I’ll ask someone at the fabric store if they know of a seamstress for hirer and have everything sewn up. The drapes and shades won’t be hung until the messy job of floor refinishing is done, so I am weeks away before the “after” picture will be posted.

The hard part is over. Now I just need to do the actual work.