Posts Tagged ‘Draperies’

Drapery Decorating
Roger King asked:

Hanging drapery fabric to your living or dining room windows will add style, control light, and enhance or obscure a view. Drapery panels are usually more formal in appearance, and are mostly heaver than curtain fabric. Typically lined, pleated, and floor-length, drapery curtains are attach by hooks to a decorative rod, and some sort of cord device that hangs behind either the left or right of the drapery panel. Choose complementary treatments in rooms that open to one anther or that share the same style furniture.

If your window styles and sizes vary within a room, use the same fabric but in different fabrications, such as classic swags and draperies. The styles and colors you wear may reveal the color you’re most comfortable living in. Whatever your style preference, don’t let your window treatment’s form obstruct its function. In formal room, choose full, flowing window treatments that complement the fabrics of the furnishings. Use pattern or color to transform a window into a formal point.

For starters, window treatment doesn’t have to be fabric. Either way, don’t overfill the room with fabrics; “less is more” in the design scheme. Choosing the right drapery fabric can make all the difference in fashioning great treatments. There are many ways of hanging sheer drapes, conventionally with a casing or eyelets, or you can use a gathered heading tape with a track or pole. Tall windows in high-ceiling room are perfect candidates for classic drapery and valance treatments.

So before you choose a window covering, consider the way your window open and close. Whatever type of curtain or drapery you select, how you top it and tie it back can have a major impact on your design schemes. Combination treatments give you freedom to manipulate the apparent size and shape of your windows. For the most pleasing look, choose drapery fabric that matches the degree of custom in each room.

Decorative Draperies and Upholstery

1960s Beaded curtains are back

Drapery Decorating

Oh, you might imagine this is a flashback to the 1960s, but beaded curtains have returned in a totally new way. Groovier than ever designs create exciting plays on light and texture and even work as room dividers.there are a few paths to including beading in your window designs. The entire curtain can be made from beads and hang in colorful strands from the pinnacle of the window down to the floor.

This makes a great room divider and can be hung from the top of an entrance. It is perfect for areas you would like to define, but not absolutely close off from each other. Beads can be strung in such a manner to form lovely mosaics. The finished designs will appear as complex tapestry, or can be as easy as a monochromatic hanging of different transparencies of plastic or glass beads.

Even wooden beads can be employed to make a natural looking window treatment. Beaded curtains may also be used to shut off a closet area. This works rather well in smaller rooms where closet doors may take up too much space when opened and closed.

Full curtains made of beads aren’t the only possible way to include beads into the final look of the window dressing.

Beads can be stitched into fabric to add glint and interest. Use contrasting colors, or just reflect light with a tone on tone bead stitched in random patterns across the fabric. Beads also make a sublime edging to drapes, sheers or curtains. Imagine a caf style curtain in a sunroom or family room with a fringe of beads. The room right away becomes an informal but classy place for everyone. Adding a fringe of beads along formal drapes creates a more formal and stylish look superb for the living room. You can also dress up furniture with throw pillows accented with the same beaded edging as the drapes. For those that find stitching too gigantic a pain, you can get ready to use drapes or curtains and add your own bead work. Some fringes are designed with a pleasant heavy backing that can actually be hot fastened into place. bear in mind that stitching will give it a more pro looking finish which will stand up to dry cleaning or laundering better than craft glues. Decorating with beads is simple and fun and a fast do-it-yourself fix. Adding new window treatments or beads to existing curtains or drapes will give the room a decorator feel at a little part of the price tag. Using full beaded curtains or drapes is also a superb face lift for closet doors or room dividers. Swag them back with a decorative rope tie and you will have sweeping frame full of light and color as the entry into your most fashionable rooms.

Drapery Decorating from 1920-1939