Flutter By

Have you noticed the new trend in decor?  It's the butterfly, she's everywhere!  As a strong motif or part of a more varied print, for the most part, the butterfly reads as a floral and therefore could be used in any room in your home.
Here are just a few of the fabrics and wallcoverings we have come across:

Benson, Natural from RM Coco

The embroidery on this is gorgeous.  The background is a linen look fabric.

Flight of Fancy, Lapis from RM Coco

Another embroidery and some of the butterflies are metallic. Cotton sateen ground fabric.

Flight of Fancy, Charcoal from RM Coco

A Lulu DK fabric from Duralee. This is a print, not an embroidery, but it also has some metallic accents

Another colorway of the Lulu DK fabric from Duralee.

Butterfly Garden from Osborne & Little. This photo is from their website.

Deya wall panel from Matthew Williamson. Available through Osborne & Little.  Talk about transforming a wall!

Fabric from Studio G, available through Clarke and Clarke

Formentera sheer fabric from the Deya collection by Matthew Williamson.

We have this fabric in the studio in 2 colorways.  It is so soft and sheer.  The butterflies will surely look like they are fluttering when the wind blows.

Photo from the Osborne & Little website.

Not Your Mother's Roller Shades

Growing up, my mom made all the window treatments in our home.  Well, I would bet my grandmother made the pinch pleated draperies, but my mother made everything else. 
When she learned how to make a roller shade, you better believe suddenly every window in our house had one!
For years, the roller shade with the scalloped hem was everywhere and they were usually made of cheap fabric, or worse, plastic!!  And they were always white.  Then the style fell out of favor and was replaced by mini blinds, then honeycomb pleated shades, wood blinds and plantation shutters.

We are about to install this pattern in a bedroom.  Stay tuned!

We recently found the next generation of roller blinds from LuXout Shades.  The fabrics are sourced from all over the world. There are solids to go with every decor and prints that can become the focal point of a room. And these shades are Made in America, in Virginia, in fact.

Take a walk in the woods without leaving the comfort of home.

Unlike the shades my mother made, the roller at the top can be hidden with a headbox.  The hems can be plain or scalloped and bedazzled with an assortment of trims.  

Our customers are loving this product. Depending on the style and options, the roller shade can fit any decor from traditional to eclectic to contemporary.

Imagine this in a beach house.  Or in the beach house you are dreaming about.

Blackout Bedroom

Occasionally, when working with a client on one project, we will spot a fabric for another project.

This gorgeous grey fabric with a geometric stripe woven in caught our eye and knew it would be perfect for the master bedroom. The husband wanted "blackout curtains" so he could sleep late and not be bothered by the sun peeping in.

But there were so many windows in this bedroom plus sitting room and the lovely fabric was a bit expensive for long drapery panels everywhere.

We hit on this idea of traversing drapes on the back windows and Roman shades on the side windows and in the sitting room. (Actually, it was the mother-in-law who thought of this!)

The custom made pillows in shades of grey, cream and gold were the finishing touch!

I love the mix of masculine and feminine. But mostly I love the fact that the husband thinks he's going to sleep in!  These clients have a newborn baby!! 

Drapery fabric by Unique Fine Fabrics.

Large grey pillow fabric by RM Coco.

Trim by Trend

Geometric pillow fabric by Fabricut

Velvet floral pillow fabric by Trend

One fabric, Two rooms

If you want to unify two spaces, especially if they are side by side, try using one fabric for both, like we did here: 

fabric by Kasmir

Here is the Dining Room, before:

And after:

And a different view: 

                  

And here is the Living Room before:

And after:

Another view:

And finally, a close up of one of the drapery panels and the hardware:

Get an "A" in Geometry

Geometry was the only kind of math I did well in.  I've asked other designers about this and many agreed that they were good in Geometry, too.  Not one said they got an "A" in Calculus!  We tend to think in space and shapes.
The geometric embroidery on this fabric was really appealing.  In a room of solid fabrics, it gave us some pattern to work with.

The family room was in really good shape, decoratively speaking.  It just needed the finishing touch of window treatments so we chose to do soft stationary drapery panels with a French pleat header. Some people call it a Euro pleat.  And those corner windows - a matching pair! thank you Mr. Architect! - were going to be a challenge.

My installers did an incredible job, as usual.  They make an installation like this look easy.

I give this project an A+  !!!

Fabric by Kasmir

Drapery hardware by Graber 

Blinds were customer's own

Neighbors . . .

Now you see them. . . 

                Now you don't! 

Graber offers the Overture Shade featuring two layers of sheer fabric that work together to keep your space bright or block the light and even harmful UV rays.  The entire shade rolls up into the cassette headrail.  The clean airy design is just right for this new luxury townhome in downtown Leesburg.  Beautifully soft on their own,  or layered underneath a fabric window treatment. 

                    Helping clients with design 
                                       is our passion.
                   (and so is a clean desk.  But you'd never
                       know by looking.)

All that glitters. . .

vervain.com

How easily we are distracted by baubles, sequins, 
and shine, especially at this 

wonderful,

sparkly time of year!

Sophisticated gold and cherry tones have us swooning and looking for more places to decorate.  Wouldn't this make a lovely holiday tablecloth?     

Luzzano in Carnelian by Vervain

Time to get the cobwebs down?

  So maybe you didn't literally use spiderwebs as your    Halloween valance like we did,  

but is it time to TREAT yourself by dressing your windows?  

Driftwood Plantation Shutters

   

Our client sought a clean look for controlling light in her reading nook.  We warmed the space by suggesting plantation shutters in a Driftwood finish.  The effect is not only inviting, but thoroughly authentic with lovely flaws.  She loves the perfectly imperfect result;  we do as well.  

Shutter detail

Color Makes the World Go 'Round

Remember dancing with a pinwheel on a summer day?   800 colors of window shades look like pinwheels to us----and offer light control, privacy and energy efficiency!

Courtesy of Color Lux by Comfortex

Connecticut Blue

If you think choosing a fabric for a project is difficult, try finding a matching solid for lining and facing.

For our upcoming Greenwich, CT project we have two window treatments. Both designs include a colored facing for part of the treatment.  The fabric above, from Charlotte Moss, was easy.  The client wanted something silky and this faux silk in a rich gold color from Maxwell Fabrics was perfect.

And then we went in search of blue.

You may remember this powder room, also located in Connecticut, that we showed a while back:

The Dana Gibson wallpaper had the most delicious, vibrant shade of blue that turned out to be a challenge to match for banding on a white Roman shade we were making for the window.  We ended up using a Dana Gibson trim, because there was no solid blue to be found!

Now we call this particular shade Connecticut Blue, because it is the exact same blue as before.

We are not ones to give up easily!
We found a beautiful cotton sateen that will work perfectly!

This one from RM CoCo.
Want to use Connecticut Blue in your next design? Bring it!

Blue and white fabric from Bailey and Griffin, available through Duralee.
 
 
 

A Little Design Hack

Maybe you remember these sheer draperies from a couple of months ago:

The homeowners decided they wanted tiebacks for this window treatment.  Easy enough.  But they were out of town and wouldn't return until long after the tiebacks were installed.  Which posed a bit of a dilemma.  How to hang the tiebacks. 
The finished draperies extended quite a ways beyond the width of the window.  If the drapes are the same width as the window you can usually get away with a hook or a nail in the side of the wood trim surrounding the opening.  In this case I was going to need to install something in the wall.

I don't enjoy punching little holes in people's walls without their consent, especially in a brand new home.  Then it hit me! Command Hooks!  I use them all the time for Christmas decorations, hanging pictures, etc.  I found some very small, clear hooks and they worked great!  And if the clients don't care for them or want to change the height of the tiebacks, it is easy to remove them.  Magic.

And You Don't Have to Wave at Every Golfer!

Last week's installation in Williamsburg was interesting because it was the first time I'd every designed something "blind".  I was sent the measurements by the homeowner and she chose her fabric from memo samples I sent her.
This is the room I walked into:

 

That trash on the chair is mine! 

 

What a light, bright room with lovely views of the golf course! Which is OK if you are sitting out on the deck, but there was no privacy when you were inside.
The fabric we used was an embroidered linen-look from Duralee.

The sheers were chosen to coordinate with one of the embroidery colors, and were also based on the following phone conversation:
"Are your walls more grey-ish or more yellow-ish?"  "More yellowish."  Talk about your leaps of faith!  I have to say, those sheers were such the perfect color against the walls, I wanted to do back flips.
We used a napped lining which gave the pleats a beautiful roundness:

 The hardware had a bronze finish and we used very simple finials:

And here is the finished design of stationary panels over sheers:

 Isn't that chair in the foreground to die for?  We recovered it at their previous residence.  Feels like I've been working on this room for 10 years.

 And now there is no need to wave to every golfer or neighbor who passes by!
Sheers are from Kasmir.
Decorative drapery rods from Select Hardware.  Traverse rods from Kirsch.