Enhancing A Great View with Window Treatments

I’m afraid I’ve fallen behind in posting window treatments the past few months, mostly because of my preoccupation with my daughter’s wedding, but fall is here, and things are getting busier in the workroom, so you can expect lots of new custom home furnishings here soon. I plan to post some of my old favorites, too, for those of you who are new to my work.

To start off, I thought I’d share some photos of the valances and panels we installed last week in a home at Alpine Lake, a resort community in the beautiful mountains of West Virginia, about 90 miles from here.

Here’s the “before” picture of the bare living room windows:

After meeting with the client and selecting some styles she liked, I drew up a few renderings in my Minutes Matter Studio program to give her some idea of what the treatments would look like on her windows. Here’s the Morrison valance on the sliding doors:

It looks pretty good, but I thought I would try adding some banding on the lower edge to jazz it up a bit. Here’s the smaller window with the extra detailing added:

Much better! That little accent gives the valance a nice, custom look.

The client needed to work with the existing furniture, and it was quite a challenge finding fabrics to coordinate with the mauve upholstery, but we found a pretty floral from Fabricade that fit the bill. Take a look at the results:

The depth of the valances was planned to fall just below the top of the doors, to allow easy access to the deck. The horns were self-lined with the floral fabric, and the entire treatment was lined with a substantial, high-quality, napped sateen lining. Napped sateen lining approximates the look and feel of a separate interlining without the extra cost in labor and materials.

The cascades (jabots) were lined with with the same deep rose fabric used for the valance banding.

 
Extending the drapery panels out onto the wall on the smaller window added much-needed width, helping to balance the broad expanse of the double sliders on the adjacent wall.

My client simply loves her new window treatments, and what’s amazing is the way they have enhanced the woodland view from her windows. So many people hesitate to put anything on their windows, afraid that they will be covering their view. Photo spreads in high-end shelter magazines regularly show lavishly decorated rooms with pitifully bare windows. It makes me itch to put some fabric up on those walls!

Properly designed custom window treatments add warmth, color, texture, and beauty to a room, and they can make a great view even better! Would you hang the Mona Lisa in the Louvre without a frame on it? Window treatments are the perfect frame for a masterpiece view.

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I’m Leslie. A painter, teacher, and lover of all things creative. A sketchbook artist who captures everyday life on the pages of my illustrated journals. I love sharing, connecting, and encouraging people to find their creative voice through sketchbook journaling. Read more about me, my art, and my life HERE.

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