Bahia Blind, installed!

Two layers of roman shades have transformed this very large living room space.  A dramatic treatment was called for, and Larsen's "Bahia Blind" stepped up to lend a sense of the exotic.  Denise planned two layers of fabric treatments to provide a variety of light-filtering and privacy options.

Denise's nighttime shot

My daytime shot

Differently scaled windows proved themselves a technical challenge for the workroom.
Mounted inside, horizontal striped linen shades are fully functional.  Over them, the Bahia Blind is operable on the tall windows, stationary on the smaller windows.

Our goal was to create harmony between the two windows.  I wanted the horizontal stripes to flow from one shade to the next, even though the tops of the windows were different heights from the floor.  In addition, I wanted the folds to align with each other, which required a few mathematical shenanigans, since there was no common denominator between the two windows.

There were many details I wanted to factor in.  I wanted it to be possible for the short horizontal shades to stack up under the stationary Bahia valance.   I wanted to use the full width of the Bahia for the valance, so I curved the board to bring the fabric back to the wall.  I wanted it to be possible, on the tall window, for either treatment to match the height of the short stationary valance, and also hide the transom window area which the homeowner did not care for.

Paramount in my planning was child safety standards.  For the Bahia Blind shades, we used clear rings and natural color ladder tape, both of which are totally unnoticeable, and the shade raises beautifully.  For the linen horizontal stripe, I used Rowley's mesh tube shroud in ivory; the shade folds up without hesitation.

As always when making sheer shades, the printed fabric gridded table was my friend.  I did not have to make a single mark on either fabric- I could see through to the grid and just counted up 6" to sew my rings or tacks.

I couldn't be happier with the outcome of this wonderful project!

 

The most wonderful fabric in the world!

We are the luckiest workroom in the world!........ we've been fabricating window treatments out one of the most fabulous textiles ever made: Bahia Blind by Jack Lenor Larsen.  I couldn't wait until installation day to post the pictures of this fabric.  If you are interested in learning more about this brilliant, fascinating textile designer, click on this link for a great article.  More at the end of the week.......  

Fab Fabric Friday and Pillow Day

The stars are aligned today- Fab Fabric Friday coincides with Pillow Day here at LDC.

Embroidered patterns just keep getting better all the time: the birds and circles already cut into squares are from Lee Jofa, and the lime quatrefeuilles comes from Cowtan and Tout and will become round boxed pillows with buttons.

This little bird is my favorite portion of this fabric.

Delicate silk embroidery makes beautiful pillows.  Here are two, also from Lee Jofa, that will be lined with napped lining and trimmed with lip cord.

How cool is this?  I don't know where it is from, but I love it.  Stare at it- it's like finding shapes in the clouds- I see images, and then they disappear when I look too closely.

A whole downstairs transformed!

Yesterday was a wonderful day of installations- too bad I forgot to set my camera properly.  The only images I have of the new treatments in this lovely home are these awful grainy shots, and you can't even see the detail of the fabrics that Denise chose.
Well, I wasn't going to post them, but changed my mind.  Maybe we'll get back there to take better pictures.

By the time we left, the family room was aglow with the afternoon sun blazing through the goldish-tan embroidered poly-silk drapery, topped with kick pleat valances out of a warm-toned coordinating stripe.

The striped fabric carried through into the adjacent kitchen and laundry room door. 

Relaxed romans in a small scale pattern on a warm red ground softened the library.

And easy-to-use hobbled romans in the homework room keeps the room neat and trim.

We left this home feeling pretty darn good! 

Hollywood Glam...

...that's the look Denise was going for, for this very large L-shaped bedroom with small, square windows.

And she did it!

As each window treatment was hung, I was blown away by the transformation that was taking place before my eyes.

It's very strange, but the top treatment fabric is blue.

The drapery is a blue silky underlayer with a goldish-beige crinkle sheer overlayer.

Everybody loves the curved board for the top treatments. 

Fab Fabric Friday

Is it Friday yet???  If it's not, it should be!
I'm running so behind on blog posts that I think I'll bump Friday up a day.

This cityscape from Kravet is one of the most fab fabrics I've ever used.

All the shades for this home (we've done 33 so far!) have been French blackout lined, with ribs, and Rollease clutch lift mechanisms.

The rib pockets are sewn to the inside of the lining, which becomes the outermost of four layers of fabric, along with black sateen, interlining, and face fabric.

After raising and lowering just once, these folds were perfectly trained.
You can see that this fabric has a high sheen- it's almost satin-like in finish though not in weave.

For a lower level guest bedroom, three shades in a row provide privacy, darkening, and urban pizazz.

Up for air- and into the clouds

Where to start?  The past few weeks have been so busy!
The project that eclipses all else at the moment is an 8000 sq ft house with- at last count- 38 windows getting shades.  We're a little over halfway through the shades and other treatments, and then there will be draperies for the biggest windows.

My favorite treatment so far, in this house, is the little girl's room.

She requested a cloud under the rainbow that is painted over the window and up onto the ceiling painted with blue sky and clouds.  We looked at a photo of a cloud made out of what looked like cotton balls, and I thought, that's nice enough, but I can take it a little further.

My inspiration was sheer, rouched panels we made last year.  I thought I could extend the rouched top into a valance that would span the window.

This little mock-up illustrated my idea for the client......

and then Denise selected a pretty voile with little sequin-like heat-set dots in multicolored pastels.  The resulting cloud looks like the sunrise.

Amazingly, about 12 yds of fabric were used for the valance alone!  It was cut into strips, shirred, and attached to the cloud-cutout fascia made of Firmaflex, letting the cloud shape show through. Shirred single width panels frame out the window.
In the end, the cloud valance extends across the window, the panels hanging beneath it.
White raw silk shades (ribbed, lined with French blackout, with clutch lift systems) provide privacy.